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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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Three UBC professors honoured with CUFA BC’s Distinguished Academics Awards

Three UBC professors have received this year’s Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFA BC)’s Distinguished Academics Awards.  These awards are presented annually by CUFA BC to recognize faculty members at B.C.’s public universities who use their research and scholarly work to make contributions to the wider community.

UBC’s Prof. Benjamin Perrin will receive the 2011 Early in Career Award Sponsored by Scotiabank for his work in documenting the prevalence and severity of human trafficking in Canada, and using that work to raise awareness and change laws.

UBC’s Prof. Jim Anderson will receive the 2011 Academic of the Year Award for his work in creating the Parents as Literacy Supporters (PALS) and Literacy for Life programs to help immigrant, Aboriginal and low-income parents to better support their children in improving their literacy.

UBC’s Prof. Rabab Ward will receive the 2011 Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award for her pioneering research in signal processing, which has resulted in improved picture quality for cable television, a sophisticated brain computer interface to allow people with mobility impairments to control various devices, and an improved method of processing mammograms that results in 70 per cent of cancers being identified a year earlier than was previously possible.

“Professor Perrin, Dr. Anderson and Dr. Ward are outstanding examples of faculty members at BC universities who use their research to benefit the wider community,” said David Mirhady, President of CUFA BC.

“Professor Perrin’s success in translating his research into tangible public policy is inspiring,” Mirhady continued. “Dr. Anderson’s effort to tailor literacy programs to meet the needs of specific communities is an example that should be taken up in other fields. Dr. Ward’s research proves that theoretical work and practical applications are two sides of the same coin.”

CUFA BC represents 4,600 university professors, instructors, academic librarians and other academic staff at the province’s five doctoral universities ­ SFU (Burnaby, Vancouver and Surrey campuses), UBC (Vancouver and Kelowna campuses), UNBC (Prince George, Terrace, Fort St. John and Quesnel campuses), UVic and Royal Roads University.

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One professor and four alumni named in Top 40 Under 40 Awards

Karen Bakker, an associate professor of geography and director of the Program on Water Governance at UBC, was today named a winner of the 2010 Top 40 Under 40 Awards.  The Top 40 Under 40 Awards recognize the achievements and leadership of young Canadians. Bakker, an expert on water governance, first came to UBC in 1999.  In 2002, she founded UBC’s Program on Water Governance, an interdisciplinary research centre that conducts research on water sustainability, security and management. She is also the Canada Research Chair in political ecology.

Four UBC alumni are also winners of this award:

  • Brian Coombes, associate chair in biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster University, completed his postdoctoral work at UBC in 2006.
  • Sean O’Reilly, CEO and founder of Arcana Studio Inc., Canada’s largest comic book company, graduated from UBC’s Bachelor of Education Program in 1999. 
  • David Vocadlo received two degrees from UBC, a Bachelor of Science in 1994 and a PhD in 2002, and is now an associate professor at Simon Fraser University.
  • Nolan Watson is the President and CEO of Sandstorm Resources Ltd., a mining company. He graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2001 and in 2004 he founded an international organization that builds schools in Sierra Leon.

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Print Modernities – interdisciplinary graduate conference

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Print Modernities is an interdisciplinary graduate conference co-organized by the UBC departments of English, History, and Art History and Visual Art at UBC.

It seeks to bring together scholars from a wide range of fields to explore the role of print production and publishing in the experience of modernity (ca. 1845 to 1945). During this period, dramatic changes in the technologies, products and uses of print and printmaking were linked to major transformations, including revolutions in the nature of authorship and audiences, the development of a transnational print market and the visualization of modernity through mass-produced imagery. As literary modernism moved from small presses and little magazines to more commercial outlets, new literary styles and narrative techniques touched a larger audience.

Prof. Mark Morrisson from Penn State University will give his keynote address on May 2 at 4p.m. at the Green College Coach House.

Date: May 2, 3
Place: Green College
Info: Free and open to the public http://www.printmodernities.arts.ubc.ca/

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GEERing Up! UBC Engineering and Science for Kids this summer

GEERing Up! UBC Engineering and Science for Kids is running weeklong engineering, science and technology summer camps this year from July 4 to Aug. 26.

These camps are for children and youth entering grades two to 10 in September 2011, with a special girls only week from July 25-29. Camps run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with optional before care starting at 8:15 a.m., and after care ending at 4 p.m. for an additional cost.

UBC alumni receive a 10 per cent discount on all camp registrations.  For more information about programs or to register for a camp, visit http://www.geeringup.ca/.

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UBC Faculty of Medicine eHealth summer camp

At the eHealth summer camp, high school students entering years 10-12 in September 2011 will experience eHealth technologies, mHealth (mobile health) devices, virtual patient simulations, and create their own eHealth application. 

They will explore health and health informatics careers and visit behind-the-scenes of a hospital and the TELUS® Innovation Centre. Camps are designed and run by UBC faculty, staff and health informatics students and are supported by TELUS Health Solutions. 

Visit http://www.ehealthinnovators.ca/ for more information.

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