Graduate hooked on reel life

Bruce Sweeney likes mustard on meat sandwiches. So does Trevor, the
overeducated, underemployed lead character in Sweeney’s film, Live Bait.
The similarities end there.

“I’m often asked if the film is autobiographical; it’s not,” is his unequivocal
answer.

Unlike his main character (played by Tom Scholte) who doesn’t quite know what
he wants to do, Sweeney, who graduates on Nov. 28 with a Master of Fine Arts
degree, has been focused on a film-making career since switching six years ago
from art courses at SFU to film studies at UBC.
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Math/chemistry grad not big on numbers

Vera Hoffman has an unusual accent–Canadianized Zimbabwean with a hint of
Irish.

Even more unusual than Hoffman’s accent was her choice of degree programs: a
combined honours in math and chemistry.
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Film thesis breaks new ground for department

Ask Paul Lawrence for a copy of his thesis and he’ll hand you a CD-ROM.

Lawrence, who graduates Nov. 28 with a Master of Fine Arts degree, is the first
UBC student to use the pillar of modern information technology to present his
thesis in its entirety.
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Author, biologist honoured

One of Canada’s finest authors and a scientist who has expanded the search for
microbial life on earth and beyond will receive honorary degrees from the
university at Fall Congregation.
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Fighting school racism scholar’s timely topic

Are teachers succeeding in the struggle against racial intolerance in Canadian
classrooms?

“Racism is not always visible to educators, except in cases of overt
hostilities between individuals at which time it’s simply the tip of the
iceberg,” says Kogila Adam-Moodley, holder of UBC’s David Lam Chair of
Multicultural Education.
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Salcudean, de Silva honoured by peers

Engineering professors Martha Salcudean and Clarence de Silva have won
Meritorious Achievement Awards from the Association of Professional Engineers
and Geoscientists of B.C. (APEGBC).
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Computer game links planning conundrums

QUEST is the acronym for a computer game aimed at making complex urban planning
issues accessible to the average citizen. It stands for Quasi-Understandable
Ecosystem Scenario Tool. Huh?

“The name is meant to be somewhat self-deprecating,” says master’s student
David Biggs. “We’re hoping to change it to `Quite Useful.'”
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Chaos could hold key to BC weather forecast

Of all the obstacles facing B.C.’s weather forecasters, none is as formidable
as the Pacific Data Void.

Our weather blows in from the vast North Pacific where there is little
information available about day-to-day atmospheric conditions. Even satellite
images can’t completely bridge the gulf.

Add to the equation B.C.’s towering mountain peaks and convoluted coastline,
and it is not surprising that weather forecasting here is more difficult than
most other places in North America.

But now campus researchers led by Roland Stull, head of the Atmospheric
Sciences Programme in the Dept. of Geography, are applying a new method of
weather forecasting that could overcome these hurdles. Known as the UBC
Ensemble Forecast System, it is showing promising results.
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Study to investigate denture comfort, cost

Anyone who has suffered the loss of their teeth will tell you that few things
in life are as inconvenient, embarrassing — and costly.

The advent in recent years of titanium implant technology has greatly improved
the lives of those who wear dentures, but its high price puts it beyond the
reach of many who need it most.

Now a $400,000, four-year Faculty of Dentistry study is looking at the cost and
design of dental prostheses used with implants, to see if they can be better
made, and at a lower cost.
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Global warming heats up Canada’s North

Projected global warming in Canada’s northwest over the next 50 years would
result in more forest fires, landslides and significantly reduced water levels
in lakes according to a study commissioned by the federal government.

A six-year regional study of the effect of climate change in the Mackenzie
Basin was recently completed and results of “what-if” scenarios presented to
stakeholders in the area.
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Caring profession draws more men

A record number of men have enrolled in the first year of the UBC School of
Nursing’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program.

The enrolment of 14 men in first year brings the total number of undergraduate
males in the BSN program to 36 out of 532 students. Four of the 132 students
in the master’s program are male.
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Teams hit ball field

The UBC Thunderbirds football team’s season came to an end with a loss to
Saskatchewan Nov. 9 in the Western conference final. Saskatchewan, winner of
the Hardy Cup, advances to the Churchill Bowl Nov. 16 in Kitchener, Ont.
against the Ontario champion. The T-Birds end the season 5-3 in Canada West
play and 5-5 overall.
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