Applied Health Sciences breaks new ground

A state-of-the-art building now officially under construction will provide researchers and students with new opportunities to collaborate on pioneering research in applied health sciences.

The 56,000-square-foot facility in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences (AHS) will include kinesiology research and teaching labs, as well as a 350-seat lecture theatre, which will provide new space for classes, public lectures and conferences. The building will also house the School of Anatomy, one of only a few anatomy labs outside of medical schools in Ontario.

“Over the last four decades, AHS has grown significantly in terms of enrolments, programs, people, and research intensity,” said Professor James Rush, interim dean. “Our physical expansion is only now catching up with the academic and research expansion.”

Pictured above at the ground breaking ceremony are Professor Rush, students Amanda Jones and Mamiko Noguchi, President Feridun Hamdullahpur, student Brendan Leu, and Vice-President, Academic & Provost Ian Orchard.

When the Faculty—originally called the School of Physical and Health Education—first opened its doors in 1966, it employed just five faculty members, operated with 400-square-feet of lab space and offered one-year programs in physical education.

Today, AHS offers 20 degree programs and specializations spanning three different departments, and has approximately 25,000 square feet of lab and research space. The Faculty has more than 2,100 undergraduate students and 620 graduate students.

A new program, the Masters of Health Evaluation, will welcome its first students in the fall of 2015. It is the first professional online program of its kind in Canada.

“Today’s academic landscape is changing. While Waterloo has always been a leader in innovative education models, AHS has embraced this approach and it shows in the range of programs we offer our students,” said Professor Rush.

AHS has 93 professors and the second-highest level of per-capita research funding at the University.

“Producing world-class research and providing exceptional training remains a top priority, and our new facilities will help support those initiatives.”

The target completion date for the project is the spring of 2016.

Photo by Jonathan Bielaski, Light Imaging.

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Commonwealth Science Conference a WIN

a message from the Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology.

The first Commonwealth Science Conference in almost 50 years was hosted by the Royal Society of London and the Government of India in Bangalore in November.

With the theme “Science for the Common Good” and the goals of celebrating excellence, fostering collaboration between Commonwealth researchers and encouraging young scientists, the CSC attracted more than 370 participants from 53 countries. Canada was well represented with 25 scientists and graduate students from across the country.

The University of Waterloo made a significant contribution to the planning for the CSC, with Arthur Carty, FRSC, executive director of Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, serving on the Steering Committee, as convenor for the Canadian contingent and as an invited speaker in the session “An Overview of Science across the Commonwealth”. Professor Linda Nazar, FRSC, from the Department of Chemistry and Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology gave an outstanding Plenary Lecture on Energy Storage and Mohit Verma, a PhD student in Chemical Engineering, Nanotechnology, won a prize in the highly competitive poster session. Professor Gu, Verma’s supervisor was also an invited participant at the conference.

A colorful opening ceremony with a spectacular display of tropical flowers, in the J.N. Tata Auditorium, featured an inaugural address by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, and welcoming remarks from Nobel Laureate Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, his Royal Highness the Duke of York and the Commonwealth Secretary his excellency Kamalesh Sharma.

In an opening session dedicated to student presentations, Tetsuto Miyashita, a paleontology graduate student from the University of Alberta gave a spectacular presentation on the development of jaws through studies of the dinosaur fossil record.

The conference covered a diverse array of topics from molecular biology and climate change, to ecology, semiconductor physics, materials science, entrepreneurship and paleobiology.

Outside of the Plenary and Parallel Sessions, highly entertaining special lectures were given by Lord Martin Rees, FRS, Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, University of Cambridge (“From Mars to the Multiverse”) and C.N.R. Rao, FRS, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (“A Long Journey in Pursuit of Excellence: Tall Oaks from Little Acorns”).

The program included an Indian Cultural Event – traditional Indian dancing (Odissi) which charmed the audience.

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