Tongs for the memories: President Feridun Hamdullahpur and Vice-President, Academic & Provost Geoff McBoyle served up more than just smiles yesterday at the "Lunch with the President" event held as part of Feds Winter Welcome Week 2014. Other senior leaders in attendance and flipping burgers were Vice-President, University Relations Tim Jackson, Vice-President, Advancement, Ken McGillivray, Secretary Logan Atkinson, Vice-President, University Research George Dixon, Dean of Arts Doug Peers, Dean of Mathematics Ian Goulden, Dean of Engineering Pearl Sullivan, Dean of Science Terry McMahon,

Feds Winter Welcome Week 2014 continues today with "Great Goose Games and Grilled Cheese Giveaways" from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre Great Hall. And tonight at 9:30 p.m., the Bombshelter Pub will play host to a Spice Girls Tribute band appropriately named Wannabe.

For a full schedule of Welcome Week activities, check the Federation of Students' website.

 

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Grade 10 Family Night hits campus tomorrow

The University of Waterloo will host an information session next week for Grade 10 students and their parents planning for a university education.

Grade 10 Family Night will take place on Wednesday, January 15, and will help students learn what they can do now to prepare for applying to any of Ontario's universities.

“Parents are one of the top influences on a student’s choice of university? says Jody Berringer, manager of liaison at Waterloo. "While some parents have attended university, this event will provide families with the most recent information available."

The event will include presentations on budgeting for a university education, admission requirements and application information, and current Waterloo students will discuss what they wish they knew about university while still in high school.

“Previous attendees have found the session very helpful to get advice ahead of time so they are prepared for the university admissions process and are aware of courses students should take in high school to help them later,” said Berringer.

Professor Geoff Malleck, from the Department of Economics, is the evening’s keynote speaker. He will share his insights from four perspectives: as the father of university graduates, as an instructor to more than 8,000 Waterloo students, as a former business owner, and as a passionate learner.

"Families invest a lot in post-secondary education. University has many components, and this event will highlight the benefits of having a broad experience for the best return on investment," he said.

The event starts at 6:45 p.m. and will take place in the Theatre of the Arts, located in the Modern Languages building. Free public parking is available in lot C. 

More information on Grade 10 Family Night is available online. 

 

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Waterloo model helps take water study global

by Victoria Van Cappellen.

Researchers from world-class institutions in Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany and the United States teamed up to determine the amount of carbon dioxide lakes, streams, rivers and other bodies of water hold as well as how much is transferred to the atmosphere. They found that rivers and streams emitted five times more carbon dioxide than lakes and reservoirs, and twice as much as previously reported.

Figuring out how much carbon dioxide inland water bodies contribute to the global carbon cycle is a difficult task. Researchers pulled together data from a variety of sources, including satellite data, census data on lakes and rivers, and experimental data on gas-transfer rates for freshwater to measure the amount of carbon dioxide release.

But a modelling tool called COSCAT (Coastal Segmentation and related Catchments) developed by University of Waterloo scientist Hans Dürr was used to scale up the findings to the global level.

Co-author Hans Dürr is a Research Assistant Professor for the Ecohydrology Research Group in the Faculty of Science. Dürr is also a member of the University of Waterloo’s Water Institute.

The model is a global database of water bodies, or catchments, that connect to oceans. This land–ocean water connection is important for the movement of nutrients, greenhouse gases and metals in water systems.

Overall, the researchers found that the global carbon dioxide evasion rate from rivers and streams was 1.8 billion tons of carbon per year compared with the 0.32 billion tons from lakes and reservoirs. Together, the global rate from inland waters is about 2.1 billion tons per year.

“This study is an excellent example of how new knowledge can be gained by bringing together different tools, techniques and ideas from hundreds of scientists to tackle a global issue” said Dürr. “More efforts like this are needed”.

The researchers found that the carbon dioxide evasion rate from lakes and reservoirs was lower than previous estimates, but that the rate from rivers and streams was three times higher. The carbon dioxide contribution was the greatest in smaller streams where turbulence levels are high. River hotspots included Southeast Asia, the Amazon, Europe Central America, Southeast Alaska and selected regions of Africa and South America.

This study provides new insights into how rivers and streams affect the global carbon cycle but emphasizes that additional research is needed to determine the carbon dioxide evasion rate for inland waters in the northern hemisphere. Regions in higher latitudes are predicted to experience faster than average temperature increases.

This research was partly funded by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ecohydrology, held by Prof. Philippe Van Cappellen.

Photograph by Hans Dürr.

 

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Senate nominations and other notes

Nominations are still open for a number of undergraduate student senator positions:

Faculty Seats

• One student elected by/from the full-time undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts, term 1 May 2014 to 30 April 2016.
• One student elected by/from the full-time undergraduate students in the Faculty of Environment, term 1 May 2014 to 30 April 2016.
• One student elected by/from the full-time undergraduate students in the Faculty of Science, term 1 May 2014 to 30 April 2016.

At-large Seats

• One student elected by/from the full-time undergraduate students of the university, term 1 May 2014 to 30 April 2016.
• One student elected by/from the full-time undergraduate students of the university, term 1 May 2014 to 30 April 2015.

Each nomination form shall be signed by the required number of members from the constituency from which the member is to be elected:

• For undergraduate students elected from a single faculty, the required number is 25.
• For undergraduate students elected at-large, the required number is 100.

Completed nomination forms should be submitted to the Chief Returning Officer, Secretariat, Needles Hall, Room 3060, no later than 4:00 p.m. on Friday, January 17. Elections, if necessary, will coincide with the annual Federation of Students elections.

In addition, the Secretariat has put out the call for nominations for a Mathematics faculty representative to the university's senate. The term for the senator, who will be elected by members of the Faculty of Mathematics, runs to April 30, 2016.

The nomination form requires the signatures of five nominators, and should be submitted to the Secretariat, Needles Hall, Room 3060, no later than 4:00 p.m. on Friday, January 24.An election will follow if necessary.

Information about Senate and its committees/councils can be found online.

The Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program (MAREP) at the University of Waterloo has released a new video series aimed at changing the way people think about dementia. The video series follows on the heels of the G8 Dementia Summit held in London in December.

“There is a common perception that a diagnosis of dementia means life has ended. That simply isn’t true,” said Jessica Luh, Associate Director of Education for MAREP. “This video series challenges the stereotypes and stigmas often associated with dementia and offers new hope for those diagnosed with the disease.”

Produced in partnership with Montreal-based Director Chris Wynn, A New Voice: living well with dementia, follows Mary Beth Wighton, a 45 year-old woman newly diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. Wighton meets three individuals living with dementia and learns the tools and strategies they use to maintain productive, meaningful lives.

The movie will have its premiere on Wednesday, January 15 at a public event held at Luther Village On the Park. Chris Wynn and Mary Beth Wighton will be in attendance.

“As someone newly diagnosed with dementia, it was important for me to know that this was not game over. The people I met while filming the series gave me new hope and showed me that I can not only cope, but thrive,” said Wighton.

Finally, renowned pianist Jean-Philippe Collard will be performing at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in the Mike Lazaridis Theatre of Ideas. Collard, who received an honorary degree from the University of Waterloo in the spring of 2011, will appear as part of Perimeter's Arts and Culture outreach activities.

 

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