UBC This Week 07-Feb-2013

 

Recent UBC Media Releases

Feb. 6 New tool helps towns assess resources needed for bioenergy plant
Feb. 5 Blowing hot and cold: U.S. belief in climate change shifts with weather
Feb. 4 Body language can predict outcomes for recovering alcoholics
Feb. 1 Social Media and Health: The Good, the Bad and the Possible

Upcoming Event Highlights

Feb.7-May 5 Invoking Venus: Feathers and Fashion
Feb. 8-17 FestEvolve 2013: Celebrating Charles Darwin and the Evolution of Life
Feb. 8 UBC Engineering Undergraduate Society Career Fair 2013
Feb. 9 International Humanitarian Law Day
Feb. 9 Rhinoceros
Feb. 10 Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc
Feb. 10 BC CSSA X 2013 Spring Festival Gala
Feb. 11 Tennis – Forehand Tennis Workshop
Feb. 12 Jazz Ensemble I
Feb. 12 Drug Resistance In HIV: What Can We Do About It?
Feb. 13 Putting Whiteness in Crisis: White Gazes, Black Bodies
Feb. 13 Rexercise- Street Soccer
Feb. 14 Partnership in Research Seminar: Got health?
Feb. 14 University Singers and UBC Choral Union: Singet dem Herrn
Feb. 14 ISGP & IS Lecture Series: Dr. David Farrar: Why do universities love disciplinary studies more than they love interdisciplinary studies?
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.

 

UBC People


UBC People

Two professors named 3M National Teaching Fellows

Simon Ellis and Darren Dahl have been named 2013 3M National Teaching Fellows. The award is presented annually to 10 university teachers to recognize exceptional achievements in teaching and educational leadership. Ellis and Dahl join 12 other UBC professors who have previously been awarded the UBC 3M National Teaching Fellowship.

Eills is an associate professor of Wood Science in the Faculty of Forestry and has successfully led the Wood Products Processing Program as director for the past 15 years. Ellis also served as the Faculty of Forestry’s Director of Recruitment and Co-operative Education and chairs the Faculty’s Teaching and Learning Committee. Read more about Ellis here.

Dahl is a professor of marketing at the Sauder School of Business and Senior Associate Dean of Faculty and Research. Dahl also co-created the New Venture Design course that brings together students in business and engineering. He was recently named one of only four professors globally to make the short list for the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Business Professor of the Year Award. Read more about Dahl here.

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UBC Faculty Research Awards

The Office of the Vice President Research and International has announced the 2012 UBCs Faculty Research Awards. Researchers were nominated by their peers and adjudicated by the Faculty Awards Committee, which consists of representatives from arts and humanities, education, forestry, business, science and applied science disciplines. An award reception will be held on March 25, 2013 at the Chan Centre. To read winner profiles, click here.

UBC Killam Faculty Research Fellowships
Junior Category:
• Cristina Conati, Computer Science
• Stan Floresco, Psychology
• Cristie Ford, Law
• Joseph Henrich, Psychology and Economics
• Merje Kuus, Geography
• Kirk Madison, Physics and Astronomy
• Joerg Rottler, Physics and Astronomy
• Gerry Veenstra, Sociology

Senior Category:
• Jiahua Chen, Statistics
• Roger Francois, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences

UBC Killam Faculty Research Prizes

Business, Education, Arts and Humanities Subcommittee, Senior Category:
• Lynn Alden, Psychology
• John Roeder, Music
• Toni Schmader, Psychology
• Roger Wilson, Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies

Science, Applied Science, Forestry Subcommittee
Junior Category:
• Kiran Soma, Psychology

Senior Category:
• Samuel Aparicio, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
• Torsten Nielsen, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
• Dinesh Pai, Computer Science
• Curtis Suttle, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences

Jacob Biely Research Prize
• Gordon Semenoff, Physics and Astronomy

Charles A. McDowell Award for Excellence in Research
• Nando de Freitas, Computer Science

Dorothy Somerset Award for Performance Develoment in Visual and Performing Arts
• Stephen Heatley, Theatre and Film

President’s Award for Public Education Through Media
• Simon Donner, Geography

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Academic Director of UBC Learning Exchange

Angela Towle has been appointed academic director for the UBC Learning Exchange effective February 1, 2013. Towle will build upon and add to current Learning Exchange community-university engagement activities in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) and support the University’s effort to achieve and strengthen its Place and Promise commitments.

Towle is an associate professor in UBC Department of Medicine and senior scholar in the Centre for Health Education Scholarship, Faculty of Medicine. She is also co-director of the Division of Health Care Communication, College of Health Disciplines. Between 2002 and 2010 she was associate dean Undergraduate Education, Curriculum and Vancouver Fraser Medical Program in the Faculty of Medicine and part of the leadership team that implemented the expansion and distribution of the medical school.

Margo Fryer, founding director of the Learning Exchange and the UBC-Community Learning Initiative for 11 years, is now senior advisor, Student Learning Initiatives, in the office of the Vice-President, Students.

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UBC prof receives Humboldt Research Award

UBC Prof. Dr. Thomas R. Oxland, Dept. of Orthopaedics, has been elected the recipient of a Humboldt Research Award after being nominated by Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Wilke, Universitaet Ulm, Germany. This award is conferred in recognition of lifetime achievements in research. Oxland will be invited to carry out research projects of his choice in cooperation with specialist colleagues in Germany. For more information, click here.

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Sociology prof awarded Distinguished Visiting Professor Fellowship

Prof. Becki Ross, Department of Sociology and Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, and a Killam Teaching Award winner, has been awarded the Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor Fellowship at McMaster University to be served during the fall of 2013. During her fellowship, Ross will give public lectures and meet with graduate students and members of community groups. For more information, click here.

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Centres win additional “Centres of Excellence” funding

Two research units with UBC ties – the Vancouver Prostate Centre’s Translational Research Initiative for Accelerated Discovery and Development program and the Centre for Drug Research and Development –have been awarded additional funding from the Centres for Commercialization and Research program. For more information, click here.

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B.C. Proteomics Network receives renewed funding

The B.C. Proteomics Network has received renewed funding from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) totaling $1.6 million over a five-year term.

Asst. Prof. Gregg Morin, Dept. of Medical Genetics and Prof. Chris Overall, Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, are the two co-leaders of the network, which is based at the Biomedical Research Centre on UBC’s Vancouver campus. For more information, click here.

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UBC researchers assess lingering damage of concussions

Faculty of Medicine researchers have shown that concussion-related processes and changes in brain microstructure persist well beyond the initial trauma – leaving open the possibility that adolescent athletes could be returning to sports before their brain injury has fully healed. For more information, click here.

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UBC student and alumnus launch iPad game

Computer Science student Michael Silverwood and alumnus Chris Clogg have just launched Stratosphere: Multiplayer Defense, an iPad game featured as one of Apple’s games of the week. Silverwood is in his final year at UBC’s Business and Computer Science combined major program and Clogg graduated from UBC Computer Science in 2011. For more information, click here.

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Music Library update

During the fall of 2012, UBC Library and the School of Music explored the prospects of moving the Music Library collection and staff to the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. As a result of various discussions and meetings with Library and Music senior administrators and the Office of the Provost and Vice President Academic, it was mutually agreed that Music students and faculty would be best served by having the Music Library relocated to the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.  A statement issued by the School of Music is available here. Students and faculty will be able to access the Music Library collection at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre by late June. More details about the move will be posted on the Library’s About Us page, here.

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Celebrate the Lunar New Year with UBC Library

In celebration of the Year of the Snake, UBC Library has compiled a list of Lunar New Year-themed Library resources, featuring digital collections, books, historical newspapers and Year of the Snake desktop wallpapers available for download. For more information, click here.

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UBC’s Vancouver campus Student Development Awards

The Office of the Vice President Students is inviting nominations from UBC students, faculty, staff and alumni for the 2012/13 UBC Vancouver Student Development Awards. These awards recognize exceptional contributions or significant improvements to the student experience and learning environment at UBC. Please submit nominations to Linda Yuen by March 5, 2013. Award winners will be announced on March 28, 2013 and will be honored at a special ceremony. For information on criteria, nomination process, award categories and winners for the last two years, visit the VP Students website here.

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Third Annual UBC Fair Trade Week February 12-15

UBC invites the community to support next week’s Fair Trade events including:

Trade Fair hosted by the UBC Wellness Fair and Fair Trade Vancouver. Vendors will display their products and offer free food and drink samples.
Date: Feb. 13, 2013
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
12:15 – Zhena Muzyka, founder of Zhena’s Gypsy Tea
1:00 – Sasha Caldera, co-founder of Fair Trade Vancouver
Place: Birmingham Lounge, Henry Angus, 2053 Main Mall

Engineers Without Borders Fair Trade Pancake Breakfast
Date: Feb. 15, 2013
Time: 9 – 11 a.m.
Place: Kaiser Atrium, 2332 Main Mall
Info: click here

To view a complete schedule, click here.

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The Top 7 Reasons Why Smart Women Should Speak Up: Shari Graydon

Shari Graydon, founder of Informed Opinions, will give a public lecture at UBC titled “The Top 7 Reasons Why Smart Women Should Speak Up”. Prof. Stephen Toope, UBC president and vice-chancellor, will give an introduction.

Date:  Feb. 25, 2013
Time: 5 – 6:30 p.m.
Place:  Auditorium, Centre for Interactive Research in Sustainability, 2260 West Mall
Info: Click here. Limited seating. To register, contact Winnie Kam

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Peter Wall Institute holds student competition: arts-based conceptions of water

In September 2013, the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies will host a public panel discussion on the need for cross-disciplinary strategies to deal with the global, financial, ecological and societal issues relating to water. The panel will take place during a University-Based Institutes for Advanced Study conference which will bring together more than 90 international scholars from around the world.

To help showcase these issues, the Institute is awarding up to four student prizes for an arts-based piece on the topic of water. Presentations can be still images/words or performance/video pieces of four to 10 minutes long.

An information meeting on the competition will be held with Prof. Rena Sharon, Prof. Karen Bakker, and Prof. Alfredo Santa Ana.

Date: Feb. 4, 2013
Time: 11 – 1:30 p.m.
Place: AERL 107-108
Info: Click here.

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Three Minute Thesis 2013

This spring, Vancouver campus graduate students will compete in the third annual UBC Three Minute Thesis (3MT), a competition that challenges graduate students to explain within three minutes, the significance of their research to a broad audience.

Participants in the semi-final round are determined by results of faculty and department sponsored heats across campus throughout February and early March.
Semi-finals: March 12, 2013
Finals: March 14, 2013
Place: Graduate Student Centre Ballroom, 6371 Crescent Road
Info: click here

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UBC students compete in 2013 Enterprize Canada Entrepreneurship Conference

Five UBC student teams from Applied Science’s New Venture and Design course (which pairs senior engineering students with business) will present their business plans to judges in the semi-final round of the Enterprize Canada Entrepreneurship Conference in a competition that connects young Canadian entrepreneurs with industry professionals. Teams will advance to the final round on February 9.

Date: Feb. 8, 2013
Place: Sheraton Hotel, Vancouver
Info: Click here.

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