Velocity Foundry now open for business

The University's newest incubator—its first specifically for hardware, materials and life sciences startups—officially opened its doors Friday, creating opportunities for the next great Canadian invention.

"Entrepreneurship has long been a pillar of the University of Waterloo," said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor of Waterloo. "This expansion of our internationally recognized and established Velocity program means increased opportunities for entrepreneurial activity and learning, and further demonstrates our commitment to experiential learning and innovation. It is my pleasure to welcome the resident startups to their new home, and I look forward to seeing them grow as companies."

Cutting the ribbon at the grand opening celebration were Mike Kirkup, Velocity director, Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor, Peter Braid, MP for Kitchener Waterloo, Daiene Vernile, MPP for Kitchener Centre, and Peter Huess, Velocity Foundry manager.

More than 20 startups are already at work in the new space. Velocity provides mentoring from successful entrepreneurs, as well as opportunities to collaborate with peers and share knowledge and expertise.

"The Velocity Foundry was created to provide space for the increasing number of hardware, material and life sciences companies being created by University of Waterloo students," said Mike Kirkup, director of Velocity.  "It provides a great landing space for companies from our Velocity Science program and we are delighted to provide the equipment and facilities to support the specific needs of these companies."

A free, not-for-credit program, Velocity has grown in leaps and bounds since its establishment in 2008. The operation now includes the Velocity residence in the Minota Hagey building houses 70 entrepreneurial students, along with the Velocity Garage in downtown Kitchener, an on-campus Velocity Science lab and workspace, the Velocity Fund, which awards more than $300,000 in grants to startups this year, and weekly on-campus programming.

 

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Webcast considers game-changing Millennials

Are Millennials—the generation that launched a thousand panicky op-eds about "kids these days"—changing the game?

 

That's the question that will be answered tonight at Simon Fraser University as Markus Moos, assistant professor in the School of Planning, discusses how Millennials' values, preferences and priorities could affect workplaces, commutes, home and community, both now and in the future. The guest lecture featuring Professor Moos will be broadcast starting at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 16.

“Millennials are increasingly found in cities, particularly trendy urban neighbourhoods They are making location and transportation decisions in a more volatile economy, with tighter budgets but also greater availability of public transit and condo apartments,” says Moos. “With a growing interest in urban living, online community and public transit, bikes and walking, Millennials' preferences raise new questions about the future of housing markets and transportation in cities.”

According to Moos, there are roughly 9 million Millennials across Canada – more than the baby boomers. Far fewer Millennials have driver’s licences than previous generations, which is particularly relevant as we reach a critical juncture in transportation planning.

Understanding how their values will impact housing, transportation, jobs and communities is critical for planners, employers, real estate and technology developers, and anyone who interacts with this new wave of change-makers.

 

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WatITis conference issues call for papers

The 12th annual Waterloo Information Technology and Information Systems (WatITis) conference is issuing a call for papers as its date has been set for Wednesday, December 3 in the Quantum-Nano Centre. This year's keynote speaker will be Ray Darling, the University's registrar.

The WatITis Committee is inviting members of the University community to actively participate as a speaker, presenter, or panelist for the conference sessions. Topics include, but are not limited to, teaching, research, institutional support, new projects, green initiatives, future developments or general interest for Waterloo staff in the area of IT.

The committee is also inviting staff to submit ideas for session topics that would be of interest to campus IT professionals. Student presenters are also welcome to propose topics or apply to be a presenter.

"From previous year's attendee surveys, we heard a strong desire to see presentations about tools and techniques that some of you have developed that may not have had wider campus exposure and may be of use to the rest of us," a statement from the committee says. "There was also an expressed desire to have higher level technical presentations on current projects and future developments in the IT area, both on campus and abroad."

Please send a brief synopsis of your topic and/or idea of submissions to Jenn Brewster, program committee chair, by Friday, October 10.

For more information, contact co-chairs Jenn Brewster, Craig McDonald, or visit the WatITis mailing list page to sign up.

 

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Researchers find new source of vitamin B12

by Victoria Van Cappellen.

New research has determined that a single group of microorganisms may be responsible for much of the world’s vitamin B12 production in the oceans, with implications for the global carbon cycle and climate change.

Professors Andrew Doxey and Josh Neufeld, from the Department of Biology at the University of Waterloo, led a study that discovered a previously unsuspected group of the Archea domain, Thaumarchaeota, are likely dominant vitamin B12 producers.
“We assumed that most major global sources of something as fundamental as vitamin B12 would have already been characterized, and so this finding changes how we think about global production of this important vitamin," said Doxey.

The researchers used computational methods to search through vast amounts of sequenced environmental DNA for the genes that make vitamin B12, identifying the likely producers in marine and freshwater environments.

“Because Thaumarchaeota are among the most abundant organisms on the planet, especially in marine environments, their contribution to vitamin B12 production have enormous implications for ecology and metabolism in the oceans," said Neufeld, also a member of the Water Institute.

The availability of vitamin B12 may control how much or how little biological productivity by phytoplankton takes place in the oceans. Phytoplankton remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, much like plants and trees, thus reducing the atmospheric concentration of the largest contributor to global warming.

The research also found that proportions of archaeal B12 synthesis genes increased with ocean depth and were more prevalent in winter and polar waters, suggesting that archaeal vitamin B12 may be critical for the survival of other species in both deep and cold marine environments.

The findings were recently published online in the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) Journal. The National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) funded the research.

 

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OHD office on the move this week

The Office of Organizational & Human Development (OHD) is moving from Hagey Hall (HH) to the 4th floor of Math and Computer (MC) near its current training & development room.

The move will occur on Wednesday, September 17. As such, the OHD offices and its services will be unavailable for 3 days commencing on Tuesday, September 16 through to Thursday, September 18 at 12 noon to accommodate this transition.

OHD staff will have limited access to telephone and e-mail during this time. OHD apologizes for this disruption in service but looks forward to assisting the campus community in a greater capacity once the transition to new office space is complete.

Questions about the move can be directed to Mark Lisetto-Smith, Communication & Events Coordinator.

 

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