The UBC News Digest is a weekly summary of news stories about UBC
people, research, learning, community, and internationalization
initiatives. News Digest past
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Jan. 16, 2004
- UBC Board adds Finning CEO, pathologist and retired
businessman - Planet discovery among Scientific American’s top
stories of the year - American Meteorological Society honours UBC prof
- Electric and Computer Engineering honours
- U21 fellowship program opens doors for staff
- Throat singers to perform at Chan February 7
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UBC Board adds Finning CEO, pathologist and retired
businessman
University of British Columbia Board of Governors chair John Reid
welcomes three new appointees to the university board.
Doug Whitehead, the president and CEO of Finning International
Inc.; Dr. Arun K. Garg, a clinical professor of pathology in the
Faculty of Medicine at UBC; and James Eccott, a retired businessman
formerly with Kelowna-based Dia Met Minerals Ltd. have all been
appointed by the provincial government for a three-year term.
"Our board looks forward to working with our new appointees
during such a dynamic period in the life of UBC," said Reid.
"We welcome their commitment to helping us further the Trek
2000 goal to make UBC the leading university in Canada."
Planet discovery among Scientific American’s top
stories of the year
Last July a team of researchers, co-led by UBC astronomy professor
Harvey Richer, discovered the oldest planet ever sighted. The find
has been included on several lists of top science stories for 2003.
Discover magazine named it the 11th biggest story of last year,
while Scientific American included the discovery in its annual "top
25" list of science news stories. The story was also included
in the Oregonian newspaper’s round up of significant science advances
in the last 12 months.
The team estimated that the gaseous planet, dubbed Methuselah,
is about 2.5 times the size of Jupiter and formed 12.7 billion years
ago. Its location at the center of the globular cluster M4 indicates
that planets might be more abundant than thought. The research team,
which used the Hubble Space Telescope and a radio telescope to discover
the planet, also included UBC assistant professor Ingrid Stairs.
American Meteorological Society honours
UBC prof
Andrew Black, UBC professor of agricultural sciences, has won the
2004 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Biometeorology from the
American Meteorological Society (AMS), the nation’s leading professional
society for scientists in the atmospheric and related sciences.
Black is being honored for his exceptional contributions to teaching
and research in the area of forest biometeorology. He has been actively
involved in research into the energy, water and carbon balances
of forest and agricultural crops for nearly 30 years. He first joined
the University of British Columbia in 1974, where his group was
among the first to use new balance techniques to measure heat fluxes
above forests.
AMS has a membership of more than 11,000 professionals, professors,
students, and weather enthusiasts. The Society (www.ametsoc.org)
publishes nine atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic journals
— in print and on-line — sponsors multiple conferences annually,
and offers numerous programs and services
Electric and Computer Engineering honours
Robert Donaldson, professor emeritus, has been elected a fellow
of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), a distinction granted
to a very small proportion of its members. Professor Donaldson will
receive the Fellowship at the EIC Annual Awards Banquet to be held
on Saturday, 6 March 2004 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
Founded in 1887, EIC is a federation of societies; members of IEEE
Canada are also members of EIC.
Graduate student Christopher Snow has been awarded a Canadian Wireless
Communications Association (CWTA) graduate scholarship for 2003.
Mr. Snow is doing his research under the supervision of professors
Lutz Lampe and Robert Schober, and is investigating ultra wideband
radio. The scholarship is administered by the Association of Universities
and Colleges of Canada and is valued at $10,000.
U21 fellowship program opens doors for
staff
UBC has established a new fellowship program to provide financial
support to faculty and staff for travel to universities that are
part of Universitas 21, a network of international research-intensive
institutions. Through the fellowship, staff will be able to study
administrative practices including policy, systems and procedures
in a comparable university.
The goals of the fellowship are to provide high-quality development
opportunities for UBC staff members, and strengthen links between
UBC and the other Universitas 21 members. Applications are due by
Friday, February 6. To learn more, contact Bill French at 604.822.5706
or wfrench@interchange.ubc.ca,
or Patricia Stevens at 604.827.5358 or patricia.stevens@ubc.ca.
