UBC News Digest

The UBC News Digest is a weekly summary of news stories about UBC
people, research, learning, community, and internationalization
initiatives. News Digest past
issues
are also available on-line.

Nov. 25, 2005

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UBC Profs Awarded Collaborative Research Grant for Wireless Systems

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada and Bell Canada have awarded UBC electrical and computer engineering Assistant Profs. Lutz Lampe and Robert Schober a $249,000 Collaborative Research and Development (CRD) Grant for research on wireless systems.

Over the course of the three-year grant, Lampe, Schober and colleagues will explore radio frequency spectral sharing, with the intention of developing best practice technologies in mobile wireless systems.

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UBC Prof Receives NSERC Grant for Plastic Transistor Research

NSERC has awarded UBC electrical and computer engineering Assistant Prof. John Madden a $125,000 Idea to Innovation (I2I) Grant to help develop low voltage plastic transistors.

With the funding, Madden aims to build and determine the characteristics of low voltage plastic transistors with the hope these can be used to develop printable electronic circuits. Graduate student Arash Takshi will lead the project.

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Online Masters of Education Program Lauded for Innovation

The American Association for Adult and Continuing Education presented UBC’s first online master’s program with its Curriculum Innovation Award earlier this month.

Developed collaboratively by four international universities, the Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Adult Learning and Global Change (ALGC) is a two-year online program designed to encourage a critical and international perspective on the relationship between adult learning and global change.

The four partner institutions are: the University of British Columbia, the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia; the University of the Western Cape, South Africa; and Linköping University, Sweden.

Visit http://www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/programs/mea/ALGC_Program.pdf for more information.

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Pacific Baroque Orchestra Gives Free Concerts in Downtown Eastside

The Pacific Baroque Orchestra, UBC School of Music’s ensemble-in-residence, has announced four free concerts in the downtown eastside beginning in November.

The concerts will occur prior to the Pacific Baroque Orchestra’s regular concert series at St. James’ Anglican Church, in partnership with the UBC Learning Exchange and St. James’ Church, and with the support of Spirit of BC Arts Fund and 2010 Legacies Now.

“Our desire,” says violinist Paul Luchkow, “is to make our music available as a kind of public art, to a community where people may not have the financial resources to afford concert tickets, but where they could, nonetheless, enjoy the many recognized benefits of exposure to live music.”

For more information, contact Paul Luchkow by e-mail at Paul_Luchkow@shaw.ca or by phone at 604.731.2708.

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UBC Alumna Appears on Cover of Elle Magazine

UBC Alumna Yolanda Butt has been chosen by readers of ELLE Canada as winner of its Smart Girl contest and will be featured in December issues of the magazine’s U.S. and Canadian editions.

Butt, who completed Doctor of Medicine, Master of Family Studies, and Bachelor of Science degrees at UBC, also received $10,000 for the promotion of women’s health.

“I am honoured to be the first physician and Chinese-Canadian woman to be featured on Elle Canada’s cover,” said Butt. “I think that far more can be done to empower women to participate in preventative health and treatment. By choosing me as the winner of this contest, I feel that Canadian women have said that they agree with me.”

For more information, visit www.lovewhatyousee.ca.

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Internet Habitat Jam Promises Global Discussion on Urban Sustainability

As part of the preparations for the third session of the World Urban Forum, a five-day conference bringing together academics, NGO’s, community organizations, politicians, artists and journalists in Vancouver in June to discuss urban sustainability, UBC students, staff and faculty can register to participate in global 72-hour Internet event being held from Dec 1-3 called Habitat Jam.

Sponsored by the Government of Canada, in partnership with IBM and UN-HABITAT, individuals can join more than 100,000 people from all parts of the world to discuss, debate and collaborate with governments, on issues that affect their daily lives, according to event organizers.

Participation in the Habitat JAM is open to everyone involved in, or concerned with, sustainable urban development — government leaders, urban planners and architects, grassroots organizations, global NGOs, ordinary citizens, private industry, experts, academics, financiers, builders and development specialists.

Register before November 30 at: www.habitatjam.com.

To see how UBC is participating in events leading up to and including the World Urban Forum, visit: www.wuf3.ubc.ca.

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Film Prof. John Zaritsky Wins Gemini for UBC Documentary

UBC Film program Adjunct Prof. John Zaritsky has picked up a Gemini for Best Direction in a Documentary Television Series for College Days, College Nights.

The six-hour series follows sixteen university students from UBC through one school year, providing a look at the transition from teenager to adult.

In addition to the professional crews, the project involved a team of UBC film students who shot throughout the 2003-04 school year to capture events and behavior that the professional crew could not have witnessed.

The students from UBC Film Documentary Production class who participated as crew in the production are: Michael Rae, Melody Chan, Greg Ng, Mark McGuckin, Alana Perri, Lauren Grant, Alexei Rakhmetouline and Patrick Farley.

College Days, College Nights is a Documentary Channel Original Production in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and was produced for the channel by Point Grey Pictures in collaboration with UBC Film Production students.