UBC This Week 13-March-2014

The Board of Governors has accepted the President’s recommendation to appoint Professor Rickey Yada as the new dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems for a five-year term commencing October 1, 2014. Yada is currently professor of Food Science, Canada Research Chair in Food Protein Structure, and scientific director of the Food Institute at the University of Guelph. He is also scientific director of Advanced Foods and Materials Canada Inc. and the president-elect of the International Union of Food Science and Technology.

Yada will replace Murray Isman, who has served as dean of the faculty for eight years.

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The UBC Faculty of Applied Science will boost the number of women recruited to its engineering program thanks to a gift from Goldcorp. The $500,000 gift will establish a new Goldcorp Professorship in Women in Engineering at UBC. The professorship will help nationwide efforts to address the skills shortage of approximately 100,000 engineers by 2020 as predicted by Engineers Canada. For more information, click here.

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On the eve of International Women’s Day, UBC Public Affairs conducted a Q&A with civil engineering associate professor and Westcoast Women in Engineering, Science & Technology faculty associate Sheryl Staub-French on her work to boost female enrolment. Read the interview here.

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Creative Writing lecturer Joseph Boyden has been crowned winner of CBC’s Canada Reads 2014, an annual competition to find the book that all Canadians should read. Boyden’s book The Orenda explores the tumultuous relationship between indigenous groups and European settlers in the days before the formation of Canada. The novels shortlisted for the contest were chosen based on the theme “What is the one novel that could change Canada?”

Boyden’s book was also a contender for the Governor General’s Award and long-listed for the Giller Prize. For more information, click here.

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Two UBC professors have received the 2014 LifeSciences British Columbia Awards. These awards are presented annually to recognize individuals and companies that have made significant contributions to the development of B.C.’s life sciences industry.

• Genome British Columbia Award for Scientific Excellence: Prof. Elizabeth M. Simpson, Department of Medical Genetics and senior scientist of Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, Child and Family Research Institute.
• Dr. Don Rix Award for Lifetime Achievement: Prof. Robert C. Brunham, Department of Medicine and head of Vaccine Research Laboratory.

For more information, click here.

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The Phone Oximeter, developed by UBC professors Mark Ansermino, Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and Guy Dumont, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, measures blood oxygen levels through a light sensor attached to a person’s fingertip.

Grand Challenges Canada, a federal funding program seeking new ideas for improving health in the developing world, is providing $1 million to LionsGate Technologies for the roll-out of the Phone Oximeter, matched by $1 million from a group of investors led by Vancouver-based Coleco Investments. LionsGate is a spin-off out of UBC, the Child and Family Research Institute and B.C. Children’s Hospital.

The funding will enable LionsGate to provide Phone Oximeters for a trial involving 80,000 women in India, Pakistan, Mozambique and Nigeria to assess its usefulness in diagnosing high blood pressure during pregnancy or pre-eclampsia, the second-leading cause of maternal death worldwide, killing 76,000 women a year. For more information, click here.

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The Wesbrook Scholarships (valued at $1,000) are given annually to 20 senior students with outstanding academic performance, leadership and involvement in student and community activities. In addition, 14 students who receive a Wesbrook scholarship will also receive Premier Undergraduate Scholarships ranging in value from $675 to $10,000.

2013/14 recipients of a Premier Undergraduate Scholarship and a Wesbrook Scholarship:

Sarah Ens (Arts)
Sayed Abulnaga (Applied Science)
Thomas Roston (Medicine)
Michael Peters (Applied Science)
Kelsey Allen (Science)
Ryley Humphry (Arts)
Kate Beck (Arts)
Jeremy Witmer (Applied Science)
Curtis May (Kinesiology)
Kelly Gerlings (Arts)
Adam Pankalla (Medicine)
Denis Ferguson (Applied Science)
David Wu (Law)
Yuqing Ding (Science)

2013/14 recipients of a Wesbrook Scholarship:

Alice Liang (Science)
Behrooz Ghorbani (Arts)
Kristofer Rhude (Arts)
Hoang Nguyen (Commerce)
Robyn Buna (Medicine)
Steven Chase (Law)

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This February, the UBC Concrete Toboggan Team competed in London, ON at the 40th annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race against 24 North American Universities and Technical Institutions. The team raced with a new, component-based design and after some last minute adjustments, made multiple successful runs down the race hill. The concrete in the UBC toboggan this year was made with entirely recycled aggregate and other alterations to make it sustainable. The team was awarded the third Safest Overall Toboggan Design. For more information, click here.

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Leonie Sandercock, a professor at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), will present a talk called “The Impossible Contradictions: Urban Indigenous Planning in Canada. How does the increasing presence of urban indigenous people impact community and regional planning?”

Sandercock’s research includes working with First Nations, immigration, cultural diversity and integration, participatory planning, democracy, and information and communications technologies. The talk will be moderated by SCARP director Penny Gurstein.

Date: March 18, 2014
Time: 7 – 9:30 p.m. (doors at 6:30 p.m.)
Place: University Women’s Club of Vancouver at Hycroft, 1489 McRae Ave.
Info: click here.

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Members of the UBC community and the public are invited to attend “An Elegant Gathering of Confucianists,” a demonstration of the traditional Chinese arts of qin zither and calligraphy, music and art forms denoting two important accomplishments of the Confucian scholar.

Date:  March 20, 2014
Time: noon – 2 p.m.
Place:  Asian Centre Auditorium, 1871 West Mall

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Make a donation to UBC during the 2014 UBC start an evolution Faculty and Staff Appeal (February 18 to March 31) and be entered to win a $150 UBC Bookstore gift certificate or a UBC ticket pack that includes a season pass to 2014-15 Athletics and Theatre at UBC. Visit startanevolution.ca/facultystaff to learn more, or to enter the contest without making a donation.

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