Waterloo will be the fairest of them all at OUF

The Ontario Universities’ Fair (OUF) is taking place this weekend from Friday, September 19 to Sunday, September 21 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The OUF is the largest post-secondary educational fair in Canada and is often viewed as the kick off to the fall undergraduate recruitment season.

This will be Waterloo’s 18^th year participating in this event, which attracts more than 100,000 people.

Waterloo will have representation from across campus at our booth, including all 6 faculties, 4 University Colleges, Admissions, Athletics, Co-operative Education & Career Action, FEDS, Marketing & Undergraduate Recruitment, Housing and Residence, Student Awards and Financial Aid, and Study Abroad.

The OUF is a key recruitment effort for the University, and judging by the foot traffic last year in the above photo, there's no shortage of interest.

 

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This weekend, Hack the Planet North

Because Crash Override says so.

Beginning today, a thousand of the world's brightest students will converge on the University of Waterloo for Hack the North, a 36-hour hackathon held from September 19 to 21.

Organized by a group of Waterloo undergraduate students, Hack the North is set to be the first massive, international-scale hackathon in Canada.

More than 2,500 students applied to attend Hack the North, but organizers only accepted 1,000 of the most talented students. Participants from over 100 schools, including MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Pennsylvania and UCLA as well as schools in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Brazil, Korea and China will travel to Waterloo to compete.

“We want to empower more young Canadians to solve meaningful problems with technology”, said Kevin Lau, second-year systems design engineering student and Hack the North co-director.

Working in partnership with Major League Hacking and Waterloo Engineering, the event is organized by Techyon, a non-profit organization made up of University of Waterloo students. Hack the North has already caught the attention of some of biggest players in the industry. Engineers from Google, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Pebble, Yelp, Mozilla, Twilio, Kik, Uber, Cisco and Shopify will provide mentorship and host lectures throughout the event.

"Our mission is to spread the hacker ethos to every student on the planet,” said Mike Swift, MLH Commissioner. “A big part of that is supporting high quality student hackathons in regions, like the North, that typically don't have access to them.  The students at University of Waterloo have really stepped up and committed to the mission of supporting our community.  Hack the North is shaping up to be one of the top events this season and we couldn't be more excited to continue working with them into the future."

Hackathons are events where participants learn new skills and build things with technology over 24 to 36 hours. Attendees are encouraged to solve meaningful problems with their projects, but are free to express their creativity through technology however they want. Hackathons allow creative expression through technology and act as learning environments where participants can collaborate with mentors and learn new technologies from workshop sessions.

“Creativity and inventiveness are the keys to problem solving at Waterloo Engineering”, said Pearl Sullivan, dean of engineering. “Our students regularly attend U.S. hackathons and often win top awards. The Hack the North event has created an opportunity for our students, and students from around the world, to form relationships and work together to solve problems using technology.”

In addition to 36 hours of hacking, Hack the North will feature talks and workshops from industry leaders. Venture capitalist and former Facebook executive, Chamath Palihapitiya, will address the hackers in a “fire-side chat” with Jason Calacanis, Founder and CEO of Inside.com, on Friday September 19 at 9:00 p.m. Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator, will participate in another “fire-side chat” with Pearl Sullivan, dean of Waterloo Engineering on Saturday September 20 at 11:00 a.m. These talks and the closing ceremony will be live-streamed online.

 

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Town Hall will explore Sound Value System

The penultimate Strategic Plan Mini Town Hall will take place on Tuesday, September 23 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre's multipurpose room.

The topic? The Sound Value System theme. Theme leaders Beth Jewkes, associate provost, resources, Mahajabeen Ebrahim, the director of equity, and Amanda McKenzie, manager of the Office of Academic Integrity, will be present to discuss the progress made on the theme thus far and to take questions from the floor, from email and Twitter.

The interactive dialogue can be watched live, and questions will be taken from the floor, via email, and via tweets to the @UWaterlooLive account. The hashtag to follow is #uwth.

The town halls are organized to give an opportunity to members of the university community to learn how the Strategic Plan is being put into action as the theme leaders and members of the theme working groups present their progress and also answer questions.

 

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Come on in, the Doors Open

This is the latest in a series of #UWCommunity weekly features that highlight Waterloo in the community.

Each year as part of Doors Open Waterloo Region we invite our community to join us for a special look inside our buildings and to learn more about what goes on at the University of Waterloo. At our locations this year Waterloo offers the public the opportunity to step inside our doors and learn about the human eye, see medicinal plants, and explore the last industrial plant built on the Grand River. 

Be sure to visit Waterloo’s School of Architecture, School of Optometry, and School of Pharmacy as we open our doors to the public on Saturday September 20, 2014.

Waterloo’s School of Architecture is celebrating its tenth year housed in the former Riverside Silk Mill. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the industrial atmosphere and spectacular views that were preserved and enhanced during our school’s transformation.  Tours will be ongoing throughout the day and our community will get a chance to see our laser cutters during a demonstration.

At our School of Optometry guests can gaze upwards to view the new oculus, which is a roof opening connecting the new building with the original facility.  Our community is invited to wander thorough our Museum of Visual Arts, take a tour of the school, and learn more about current research at our Centre for Contact Lens Research and our Low Vision Clinic.   

One of the more recent additions to the University of Waterloo, the School of Pharmacy welcomes visitors to its award-winning building. Visitors will be taken on a guided tour of the school and are sure to notice the distinctive colourful curtain wall and numerous other architectural features. 

The University of Waterloo offers our community additional opportunities to visit our campus and buildings throughout the year.  One such occasion is during Reunion weekend on September 27, 2014.  Beginning at 11 a.m. both guided and self-guided tours are available.

Doors Open Waterloo Region is part of Doors Open Ontario, a province wide initiative created to celebrate community heritage and architecture. This year the Region of Waterloo has over 40 participating locations. 

 

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