UBC This Week | Mar. 6, 2008

Mar 6, 2008

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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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Recent UBC Media Releases

Upcoming Event Highlights

Find out what else is happening at UBC this week. For sports events, visit the UBC Athletics site at www.gothunderbirds.ca/schedule.asp.

UBC People

UBC People

Tech Transfer Kudos for UILO’s Angus Livingstone

Angus Livingstone, Managing Director of UBC’s University-Industry Liaison Office (UILO), has received a special award recognizing 25 years of Outstanding Service to the Technology Transfer Profession in Canada. He was presented with the award in San Diego on February 29 at the Annual Meeting of the Association of University Technology Managers.

The award recognizes Livinstone’s role in developing the profession of Technology Transfer in Canada and the international reputation of the UBC in the field.

Livingstone joined UBC’s Office of Research Services in 1986 and the UILO in 1988, becoming Managing Director in 1999. He is co-founder and Chair of the Alliance for the Commercialization of Canadian Technology, and has played critical roles in the creation of many successful technology transfer and commercialization initiatives including: the Westlink Technology Commercialization Internship Program; B.C. Advantage Funds (VCC) Ltd.; Flintbox™; Aggregate Therapeutics and the IP Toolkit; the Canada California Strategic Innovation Partnership – IP Protocol; and the Centre for Drug Research and Development.

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UBC Professor Awarded CIHR Chair

Assoc. Prof. Elizabeth Saewyc, School of Nursing, has been awarded a five-year Canadian Institutes of Health Research Chair in Applied Public Health Research. Saewyc will focus on population-level monitoring and interventions for healthy youth.

Using population-level data from youth themselves, the Chair’s program will address three broad questions:

  • How do broad social determinants of health influence health issues for specific populations of youth? What risk exposures and protective factors have critical influence on youth development?
  • How do we effectively test whether changes in policies or population-focused programs have had an impact on youth health and risks?
  • How can collaborating with other sectors promote healthy youth at the local community level, the provincial level, and even at the national and international level?

For more information, visit www.nursing.ubc.ca/SON_News/News_Item.aspx?id=44.

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Development Team Nominated for Microsoft Award

UBC School of Nursing’s systems development team has been selected as a top-five finalist for the Microsoft Canada MSDN Code Awards. The team – made up of UBC alumni and Nursing staff Alex Etesami, IT Manager; Fahim Kanji, database programmer; and Dan Helmer, web-developer/programmer – submitted a project to develop a tool to help Nursing students complete and log their clinical activities remotely and keep their clinical experience in one electronic portfolio. 

Winners are chosen by a combination of the number of votes received from the public and the quality of their submitted project.

For more information, visit http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-ca/codeawards/default.aspx.

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Dean Isaacson to Step Down this Summer

Dean Michael Isaacson, Faculty of Applied Science, will step down this summer after 11 years of service. Isaacson has helped turn the university’s Vancouver and Okanagan campuses into hotbeds for cultivating engineering talent in B.C. and across Canada.

During his tenure:

  • 20 per cent of all Professional Engineer certifications in B.C. have been UBC grads.
  • Updates to engineering curricula at UBC now holistically prepare students for their careers as engineers
  • UBC has constructed five new buildings facilitating leading-edge engineering research and education.
  • Industry has demonstrated substantial support for UBC Engineering; Applied Science fundraising efforts have increased annually from $1m to $12m.
  • He was instrumental in the founding of UBC’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna and its School of Engineering

For more information, visit www.apsc.ubc.ca/news/2008/mar03.html.

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Science Students Hold Forum on Insite

UBC’s Integrated Sciences Student Association (ISSA) will host a public dialogue to discuss the politics and science behind Insite, the supervised injection site located in the Downtown Eastside. 

Insite: Insights into the Politicization of Science speakers include Stephen Owen, Vice-President External, Legal & Community Relations, Vancouver-Mount Pleasant MLA Jenny Kwan and Insite user Dean Wilson

Date: March 6
Time: 4-6:30 p.m.
Place: Lecture Hall 2, UBC Life Sciences Centre, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
Info: www.ubcissa.com

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Seminar Looks at Criminal Process in Korea

UBC’s Centre for Korean Research will offer a seminar by entitled Criminal Process in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Assist. Prof. Tae-Ung Baik, Faculty of Law and Director of Korean Legal Studies Program, will outline the details of North Korean criminal procedure and analyze the legal process in light of the testimonies obtained from North Korean refugees.

Date: March 13
Time: 4-5:30 p.m.
Place: Room #120, C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall.
Info: www.iar.ubc.ca/bulletin/seminarsMAR2008.htm

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Unruly Salon Series Celebrates International Women’s Day

UBC’s Faculty of Education offers the fifth in its Unruly Salon speaker series with a celebration of International Women’s Day: Mothering Work and the Performance of Daily Life Care-giving through lectures, mime and song, followed by a discussion and reception.

The series, made up of seven performances by scholars and/or artists with disabilities from the visual, performing and musical art sectors, aims to increase awareness about disability arts and the significant cultural contribution of disabled Canadians.

Date: March 8
Time: 1-5 p.m.
Place: Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Info: www.unrulysalon.com

Pre-registration is required.

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Engineer Without Borders Active at UBC

Coffee to End Poverty 2008 is an initiative throughout the Lower Mainland to promote local coffee vendors and highlight the positive global impact that consumers can have in their coffee habits. Part of the proceeds from fair trade coffee during this week will be used to support EWB’s overseas work.

UBC campus participants:
Blue Chip Cookies – Student Union Building
The Boulevard Coffee Roasting Co. – 5970 University Blvd. (across from the trolley bus loop
Salt Spring Island Coffee Co. – 6308 Thunderbird Blvd. (south of the Forestry Sciences Centre)

Date: March 3-9
Info: www.ewbmonth.ca

The UBC EWB Chapter will also present the Bridging the Gap Conference 2008, a conference on solutions to global poverty: the role of society, technology and the individual.

Speakers include community leaders and individuals with experience with human development projects in Canada and overseas. The keynote address is by the Honourable Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire. Panel discussions and workshops will address topics such as the root causes of poverty, corporate social responsibility and fair trade.  

Date: March 15
Time: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Place: Empire Landmark Hotel, 1400 Robson St.
Tickets: $60/$25 through Ticketmaster
Info: www.ewbmonth.ca or e-mail conference@ewb.ubc.ca

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UBC Centenary Screening Series Continues with Double Happiness

The UBC Film Production Alumni Association will present a screening of Double Happiness, directed by UBC Film alumna Mina Shum, preceded by the short film, Scattering Eden, directed by fellow alumna Nimisha Mukerji. Shum will participate in a Q&A session after the screening.

The evening is the second of a four-part 2008 UBC Centenary Screening Series.

Date: March 11
Time: 6 p.m.
Place: Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour St., Vancouver and at UBC Okanagan (SSC 026 Student Services Centre, 3333 University Way, Kelowna)
Tickets: $10/$8 and free for members
Info: www.100.ubc.ca/events/more-info/15 

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Feeling a Bit Burned Out, Stressed Out, Freaked Out and Fried? Help Is on The Way

Dynamic world-class speaker Christine Awram’s talk on managing stress and boosting energy promises to be a “dynamic power-hour of edutainment, outrageousness and inspiration that will also leave you with a simple action plan for extraordinary results.”  Attendees will come out of Christine’s session with tips for balancing work and personal life demands, creative visualization techniques and an individual action plan for improving their health. To register for this free seminar, please contact HSE Coordinator (Health Promotion Programs), Suhail Marino at marino@hse.ubc.ca or 604.822.8762.

Date: March 12

Time: 12 – 1:30 pm

Place: Room #100, Neville Scarfe building, 2125 Main Mall

Info: www.hse.ubc.ca/health_promotion/wellness_initiatives/initiatives_index.htm

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Call For Nominations for Alumni Awards

The deadline for nominations for the 2008 UBC Alumni Achievement Awards is March 15.

For further information, award categories and criteria, visit www.alumni.ubc.ca/events/awards/index.php.

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Society for Neuroscience to Meet Next Month

Registration is now open for the Pacific Northwest Chapters Meeting of the Society for Neursocience (SFN), including the Canadian B.C. and U.S. Pacific Cascades Chapters. Students and postdoctoral fellows are encouraged to apply to present posters or talks. 

Date: April 19
Time: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Place: Lecture Theatre 1, Life Sciences Centre, 2350 Health Sciences Mall Info: www.brain.ubc.ca/SFN_Chapter_Meeting.php