UBC This Week | Jan. 25, 2007

Jan 25, 2007

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Office of the Vice President Research:

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UBC This Week is a weekly summary of UBC people in the news, recent media releases and upcoming event highlights. UBC This Week past issues are also available on-line.

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this week. For sports events, visit the UBC Athletics site
at www.gothunderbirds.ca/schedule.asp.

UBC People

UBC People

Biely, McDowell, Black, Somerset and Killam
Awards Announced

The recipients of the University’s most prestigious research
awards were recently announced and select honourees will also
be profiled at the Celebrate Research gala in March.

UBC’s Library, Archival and Information Studies Prof.
Luciana Duranti has been awarded the Jacob Biely Faculty
Research Prize, and Prof. Jörg Bohlmann of Michael Smith Laboratories and Departments of Forest Science
and Botany has received the Charles A. McDowell Award for Excellence
in Research. The Dorothy Somerset Award goes to Prof. Keith Maillard from the Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing, and Prof. Michael Tenzer of the School of Music is
the recipient of this year’s Sam Black Award.

Killam Research Prizes – Junior Arts Category:

  • Siwan Anderson, Economics
  • Fei Xu, Psychology

Killam Research Prizes – Senior Arts Category:

  • Mark Schaller, Psychology
  • Michael Peters, Economics
  • Joshua Mostow, Asian Studies

Killam Research Prizes – Junior Science Category:

  • Liisa Galea, Psychology
  • Robert Schober, Electrical and Computer
    Engineering

Killam Research Prizes – Senior Science Category:

  • Brian MacVicar, Psychiatry
  • Dave McClung, Geography
  • Julio Montaner, Medicine

Killam Faculty Research Junior Fellows:

  • Jinhua Chen, Asian Studies
  • Jo-Anne Dillabough, Educational Studies
  • Rachel Fernandez, Microbiology and Immunology
  • Marcel Franz, Physics and Astronomy
  • Steven Heine, Psychology
  • Karon Maclean, Computer Science
  • Cynthia Nicol, Curriculum Studies
  • Diane Srivastava, Zoology

Killam Faculty Research Senior Fellows:

  • Lawrence McIntosh, Biochemistry and Molecular
    Biology and Chemistry
  • Leonie Sandercock, Community and Regional
    Planning

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UBC Director named Assistant Deputy Minister
of Research, Technology and Innovation

Brent Sauder, Director of the UBC Office of
Research Services, has been seconded to the position of Assistant
Deputy Minister, Research, Technology and Innovation with the
Government of British Columbia. His last day with UBC will be
Jan. 26, 2007.

For the past five years, Sauder has headed up the Office of Research
Services at UBC where he was responsible for overseeing grants
and various ethics groups. He was instrumental in initiating the my.CV program and the Researcher Information Services.

With more than 20 years in the research sector, Sauder’s
new role will help enhance BC’s reputation as a world-class
centre for research and innovation in a diverse range of fields
and disciplines. His principal role will be to foster and promote
research and innovation initiatives supporting economic and social
development.

During his absence, Research Awards Manager Dean Kuusela has accepted the duties of Acting Director, Research Services.

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President’s Service Award For Excellence
nominations

The 2007 President’s Service Award For Excellence committee
is seeking nominations until Feb.28, 2007 for outstanding staff
and faculty who have made distinguished service to the university.

Up to five awards may be presented to individuals who do not
retire during the year of consideration. A nomination should include
letters of support and a short résumé, and will
be carried forward automatically for one year beyond the year
of initial nomination. The Awards will be presented at the Spring
and Fall convocations.

For information and nomination forms, visit: www.ceremonies.ubc.ca.

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North American students gather for Western
Canada’s largest Model UN conference

More than 350 student delegates from Canada and the US gathered
in Vancouver this January for the 14th annual UBC Model United
Nations Conference (UBCMUN).

An annual project of the International Relations Students Association
(IRSA), UBCMUN is a forum for students from numerous universities
and varied academic fields develop a greater understanding of
global affairs and the inner workings of international diplomacy
by participating in simulated committees.

To ensure that participants were engaged in the highest level
of debate, the Secretary General, Jennifer Brooke, established
a Student Directed Seminar for all Committee Directors to cover
in-depth facilitation training and intense analysis of the UN,
run with oversight by UBC’s Department of Political Science.

For more information, visit: www.ubcmun.com.

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Film alumna’s Canadian broadcast
premiere on Bravo

Film graduate Katherine Pettit’s feature-length
documentary, Sand for Now, will premiere on Bravo! on
Jan. 28 at 7:30 EST.

Sand for Now criss-crosses the globe documenting a group
of nomadic artists whose passion for sand carving propels them
through long hours battling with the elements. As the film unfolds,
it depicts the struggles and rewards of creating monumental, yet
transitory works of art. The saying that life often imitates art
holds true: once the sands have shifted and the art is gone, the
artists are onto their next challenge.

Katherine holds a Diploma in Film Production, an MA in Film Studies
and an MFA in Film Production from UBC. For more information,
visit: sandfornow.com.

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Director named for School of Audiology
and Speech Sciences

Valter Ciocca has been appointed as the new
Director of the School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, effective
Jan. 22, 2007. As both a hearing and speech scientist, he brings
years of experience from the University of Hong Kong in the Division
of Speech and Hearing Sciences. His research interests include
the investigation of auditory processing abilities by children
with specific language impairment by cochlear implant users and
by savant autistic populations.

While in Hong Kong, his research focused on the development and
perception of Cantonese lexical tones and the perceptual and acoustic
features of speech by Cantonese dysarthric and hearing-impaired
speakers.

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UBC faculty member appointed Charles
A. Laszlo Professor in Biomedical Engineering

Announced at the Biomedical Engineering Industry Advisory Council,
UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof. Tim Salcudean was named the Charles A. Laszlo Professor in Biomedical Engineering.

The professorship is associated with UBC’s Biomedical Engineering
initiative, a program that emphasizes undergraduate and graduate
student training and research & development relating to medical
equipment, treatment devices, diagnostic tools, as well as injury
prevention and rehabilitation equipment.

A long-time faculty member of Applied Science, Electrical and
Computer Engineering Prof. Emeritus Charles Laszlo,
along with his wife Doreen, made the $1 million professorship
possible through a gift of $500,000, in recognition of the importance
of the ever-expanding overlap of medicine and engineering.