UBC This Week

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Find out what else is happening at UBC this week. For sports events, visit the UBC Athletics site at http://www.gothunderbirds.ca/calendar.aspx.

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UBC People

UBC's top research prize given to marine metabolite hunter

A UBC organic chemist and oceanographer who studies the metabolites produced by marine organisms—often to help evaluate their potential as drug candidates—has been awarded UBC’s premier prize for research. Raymond Andersen, with the departments of Chemistry and Earth and Ocean Sciences, has been awarded the 2010 Jacob Biely Faculty Research Prize. 

For more information, visit www.science.ubc.ca/news/508

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Dr. David Patrick appointed to Director of the UBC School of Population and Public Health

UBC Faculty of Medicine Dean Gavin Stuart announced this week the appointment of Dr. David Patrick to the position of director of the UBC School of Population and Public Health (SPPH), effective April 4, 2011. Patrick comes to this position as a professor in SPPH and director of Epidemiology Services at the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).  Former director Dr. Martin Schechter stepped down in December 2010 after completion of his 10-year term as founding director of SPPH.  Dr. Carolyn Gotay provided interim leadership.
 
Patrick is an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist. His interest is in fostering interdisciplinary approaches to the control of infectious diseases in populations. Current expressions of this are found in efforts to track and control antimicrobial resistance and the establishment of efforts to understand the emergence of new infectious diseases.  
 
Patrick will provide leadership in promoting interdisciplinary and interprofessional education and research to enhance the continued growth and development of the School. His term will run until 2016.

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UBC prof recognized for quality of life research

UBC education professor Bruno Zumbo, who works in the Measurement, Evaluation, and Research Methodology Program, was named 2010 Research Fellow of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies.  Zumbo is one of three scholars in the world who was named a Research Fellow in 2010.
 
Zumbo’s research focuses on developing and improving methodological approaches to studying quality of life. He develops quality of life, well-being and happiness scales and looks at how these measures could be adapted to other cultures. He also studies the social issues that affect quality of life. 

For more information about Zumbo’s work, visit http://ecps.educ.ubc.ca/faculty/b_zumbo.htm .

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UBC librarians selected for leadership program

Two UBC librarians – Aleteia Greenwood and Joy Kirchner – are among the 25 fellows selected to participate in the 2011-12 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Research Library Leadership Fellows (RLLF) Program. Greenwood is Head Librarian of UBC Library’s Science and Engineering division, and Kirchner is the Librarian for Collections, Licenses and Digital Scholarship.  For more information, visit http://www.arl.org/leadership/rllf/.

 

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UBC researchers produce first global map of surface permeability

UBC researchers have produced the first map of the world outlining the ease of fluid flow through the planet’s porous surface rocks and sediments. The maps and data, published in Geophysical Research Letters, could help improve water resource management and climate modeling, and eventually lead to new insights into a range of geological processes.

For more information, visit www.science.ubc.ca/news/506

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Wave-generated ‘White Hole’ boosts hawking radiation theory

A team of UBC physicists and engineers have designed an experiment featuring a trough of flowing water to help bolster a 35-year-old theory proposed by eminent physicist Stephen Hawking.

For more information, visit www.science.ubc.ca/news/505

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UBC students compete in Western Engineering Competition

Thirty-seven UBC engineering students, including 17 from UBC’s Okanagan campus, are heading to Saskatoon to match their skills against engineering students from across western Canada. Students will compete in communications engineering, consulting engineering, impromptu debate, innovative design, junior team design and senior team design.

At the Western Engineering Competition (WEC) students have the opportunity to develop and showcase their problem solving, teamwork, and communication skills through competition and to network with students and industry.

Visit http://blogs.apsc.ubc.ca/engineeringnews/2011/01/25/ubc-students-heading-to-western-engineering-competition/

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Engineering Week 2011

With more than 25 events planned for next week, the UBC Engineering Undergraduate Society will be hosting a range of events for Engineering Week 2011— from Old Red New Red to dodgeball and a career fair. Visit: www.ubcengineers.ca/eweek/

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Dementia 2011 forum

The Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Clinic for Alzheimer’s disease and Related Disorders at UBC Hospital invites patients, staff, and the public to participate in Dementia 2011. The forum this year features 12 VCH researchers and clinicians covering leading-edge aspects of Alzheimer’s disease and related conditions. Topics inlcude advances in early diagnosis and treatment options, meaningful activities for people living with dementia and the latest research, such as Assoc. Prof. Cheryl Wellington’s work examining the link between Alzheimer’s disease and cholesterol.

Date : Jan. 29
Time: 8:50 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Place: Life Sciences Center, Rooms LSC 1 and 2, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
Info: Free admission. Refreshments provided.
Registration deadline Jan. 28, 8 p.m: adubc@interchange.ubc.ca or
604-822-7851
http://www.ubcneurology.com/Dementia_2011.pdf

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Buchanan Tower bike storage facility officially open

A new, secure, 96-bike storage facility in Buchanan Tower was officially opened on Jan. 26.  The facility is located in two matching open-air areas of Buchanan Tower, part of the Faculty of Arts complex. This facility provides safe and secure storage in a unique, custom designed structure with an innovative two-tier racking system designed to slip a bike into a slot on the top level with minimal effort.

In the spring, 52 day-use lockers made from 100-percent post-consumer recycled plastic will be added to the facility, giving cyclists a place to dry their apparel.

The Buchanan Tower secure bike storage facility is Transportation Planning’s latest infrastructure addition, and further demonstrates UBC’s commitment to embracing cycling as an essential, sustainable mode of transportation to, from and on campus.

For more information, visit http://www.transportation.ubc.ca/

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CiTR Radio Prof Talk interviews Dean of Arts

On UBC CiTR Radio’s Prof Talk, with host Farha Khan, Dean of Arts and Haitian scholar Gage Averill will discuss his new role at UBC as well as his recent Grammy nomination for his project, Alan Lomax in Haiti: Recordings for the Library of Congress, 1936-1937. 

Every second Tuesday, Prof Talk on 101.9FM features interviews with professors from a variety of disciplines.

Date:  Feb. 1
Time:  3 p.m.
Info:  Live programming: http://citr.ca
Podcasts: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Citr–ProfTalk
Show schedule: http://ubcproftalk.blogspot.com

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