UBC This Week | Mar. 13, 2008

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Beaty Biodiversity Museum:

www.beatymuseum.ubc.ca

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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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

Prof. Daniel PaulyPauly Receives Honorary Doctorate

Prof. Daniel Pauly, Director of the Fisheries Centre, received an honorary doctorate from Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands, earlier this month. The presentation was made during the University’s 90th anniversary as part of a symposium on Food or Fuel: Governing for Sustainability.

For more information, visit www.dies.wur.nl/UK.

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Celebrate Research Gala Honours UBC’s Best

UBC has awarded the following 2007 awards, several of which will be honoured at the UBC Celebrate Research Gala, March 13.

  • Prof. Nancy Hermiston, School of Music, received the Dorothy Somerset Award for Performance and Development in the Visual and Performing Arts.
  • Prof. Janet Werker, Department of Psychology, received the Jacob Biely Faculty Research Award.
  • Assoc. Prof. Karon MacLean, Department of Computer Science received the Charles A. McDowell Award for Excellence in Research.
  • Clin. Assoc. Prof. Danuta Skowronski, Health Care and Epidemiology, received the President’s Award for Public Education Through Media.

The Biely and McDowell awards are named for former UBC researchers. Prof. emeritus Charles McDowell headed UBC’s Chemistry department for 26 years and was named Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993. Jacob Biely, an international poultry scientist, was a UBC faculty member from 1935-68.

The Somerset award pays tribute to Dorothy Somerset, who became director of the UBC Players’ Club in 1934. She served as first artistic administrative head of the Fredric Wood Theatre until her retirement in 1965.

The President’s Award for Public Education Through Media is given to a faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding service to the University and the community by sharing research expertise via the news media.

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UBC’s Support for International Students Recognized

The American National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) has recognized the UBC ASSIST program with Honorable Mention for International Programming in its International Best Practices Award Program. 

Launched in August 2004, ASSIST (Academic Success: Supporting International Student Transitions) provides new international students with an intensive two-week orientation into university life by offering a mix of classes, residence living and social and cultural activities.

Now renamed UBC Jump Start, the program has just been awarded Teaching and Learning Enhancement funding for 2008.

Assoc. Director Michelle Suderman, International Student Development, represented the program at the Celebration Luncheon held in Boston earlier this month during NASPA’s 13th Annual International Symposium.

For more information, visit www.students.ubc.ca/newtoubc/orientations.cfm?page=jumpstart.

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Prof. Sally OttoUBC Zoology Researcher Donates Prize Money to New Biodiversity Museum

Prof. Sally Otto, Zoology and Director of the Biodiversity Research Centre, will donate her 2007 Steacie Prize award ($15,000) to support the new Beaty Biodiversity Museum.  

The Museum, set to open in Fall 2009 on the Point Grey Campus, will be the first of its kind in Canada – a public education centre that focuses entirely on biodiversity.  It will showcase UBC’s collection of more than two million natural history specimens including shells, fossils, birds, mammals, fish, insects, and plants. The premier exhibit will be an 85-foot blue whale skeleton.  Otto’s gift will be earmarked to support educational programming and public outreach efforts of the Museum. 

Otto, known for her work in applying mathematical models to understanding how species evolve, will be receiving her Prize tonight at the Celebrate Research Gala. The Steacie Prize recognizes exceptional contributions from young scientists and engineers in Canada. 

For more information, visit www.beatymuseum.ubc.ca.

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Prof. Carl WiemanCarl Wieman Addresses Instructors About Learning

Prof. Carl Wieman, Director of the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative, will give a talk entitled What every instructor should know about learning, an overview of research on learning from cognitive psychology, brain research and education.

Date: March 19
Time: Noon – 1 p.m.
Place: Room 182, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, address
Info: www.liveat.ubc.ca/liveatubc/events/eventDetails.eventos?eventId=24896.

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Nominations Closing for the 2008 UBC Alumni Achievement Awards

Every year the UBC Alumni Association singles out outstanding UBC alumni with awards presented at the annual Alumni Achievement Awards Evening. The association asks for nominations in several award categories by March 15.

For more information, including award categories and criteria, visit www.alumni.ubc.ca/events/awards For additional details or a copy of the printed nomination brochure, contact Marisa Iuvancigh at marisa.iuvancigh@ubc.ca or 604-822-8917.

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Event Ideas Invited for Celebrate Learning

Celebrate Learning is a new, week-long initiative, held Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, to celebrate teaching and learning experiences across campus and to highlight and promote student learning and development opportunities. 

All UBC units are invited to take part in Celebrate Learning as participants and sponsors of events highlighting teaching and learning opportunities and unit accomplishments. 

Examples of faculty and department-based initiatives range from on-campus events and community activities to podcasts and other technology-facilitated communication. 

The Office of the Vice President Academic will serve as promoter and central point of information for the week’s events. For more information, contact Nancy Wiggs, Special Projects Manager, at nancy.wiggs@ubc.ca.

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UBC Signs a Memo of Understanding in Research Partnership

The UBC Faculties of Applied Science and Forestry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with FPInnovations, an amalgamation of Paprican (the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada), Forintek (Forestry Industry and Technology), FERIC (The Forest Research Engineering Institute of Canada) and the Fibre Centre of the Canadian Forest Service.

FP Innovations performs research and technical services relating to silviculture, wood harvesting, wood products, and pulp and paper manufacturing – the full range of technologies of the forest-products industry.

The MOU will assist the government and forest sector in realizing the shared vision of an internationally competitive industry, sustainable forests and stable communities.

For more information, visit www.apsc.ubc.ca/news-events/article.php?page=/2008/03/mou-signing-celebrates-ubc.html.

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Green Builders to Host First Guest Speaker

The newly formed UBC Emerging Green Builders (EGB) will host its first guest speaker, Prof. Raymond Cole, Head of UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Cole will speak on emergent green design and the challenges faced by future generations.

The UBC EGB engages an interdisciplinary network of students, scholars, practitioners and administrators, intending to provide affordable resources for integrating green design in studies and practice.

Date: March 13
Time: 6 p.m.
Place: C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall
Info: www.emerginggreenubc.ca/

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UBC Hosts Sustainability Mini-symposium

UBC’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CHBE) Sustainability Club, the UBC Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group, and the CHBE Fluidization Research Group will jointly host a mini-symposium as part of its Sustainability Series.

Guest speakers will be Said Elnashaie, CHBE Adjunct Professor and Professor of Sustainable Development at Pennsylvania State University, and James Dooley, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Forest Concepts LLC.

Date: March 13
Time: 12:30 – 2 p.m.
Place: CHBE 202, 2360 East Mall
Info: www.chml.ubc.ca/events/20080313_poster.pdf

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Engineering to Host Open Houses

UBC’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will host an open house entitled Ideas 2008.
Activities include analyzing your heartbeat on an EKG machine, experiencing a virtual reality simulation and creating computer viruses.

Date: March 14
Time: Noon – 5 p.m.
Place: Fred Kaiser Building Atrium, 2332 Main Mall
Info: www.ece.ubc.ca/~leos/openhouse

The Department of Mechanical Engineering will also host an open house, Celebrate Mech. Activities include talks on topics such as clean energy research, technology in racing cars, wind tunnel testing, human injury biomechanics and robotics, plus tours of the research labs, a research poster competition and student team exhibitions.

Date: March 14
Time: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Place: Civil and Mechanical Engineering Building, 6250 Applied Science Lane
Info: www.mech.ubc.ca/openhouse/index.shtml for more details.

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Lecture to Discuss Tibeto-Mongol Treaty

UBC’s Institute of Asian Research will host a lecture by Prof. Elliot Sperling, Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University, entitled The Tibeto-Mongol Treaty of 1913 and its Significance.

Date: March 14
Time: 5 – 6 p.m.
Place: Room 120, C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall
Info: www.iar.ubc.ca/programs/InnerAsia/tibet_mongolia.html

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Day Symposium on Bipolar Disorder Treatments

UBC’s Department of Psychiatry, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments will host a day of lectures and workshops on psychosocial treatments for bipolar disorder.

Date: March 15
Time: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Location: UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson St.
Cost: $175 on-site registration
Info: www.med.ubc.ca/news/Calendar_of_Events.htm#Psychosocial%20treatments

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Professors Explore Relationship Between the Body and Technology 

Two performances at the upcoming three-day workshop, Body Spaces: Corporeal Topographies in Literature, Theatre, Dance and the Visual Arts, are the creation of UBC and SFU professors.

UBC senior instructor Bob Pritchard, School of Music, composed Strength, a multi-media performance piece for alto saxophone (Julia Nolan), sound files and interactive video/audio processing.

SFU Computing Science professors Henry Daniel (choreographer/dancer), Ted Kirkpatrick and Richard Vaughan present Touched, a work about encounters between people, places and things, and the need to understand their effects. The dance features semiautonomous robotic systems as performers.

The workshop is put on by Assist. Prof. Markus Hallenleben, Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies; Assoc. Prof. Sharalyn Orbaugh, Asian Studies; Prof. Patricia Vertinsky, Human Kinetics; and Theatre Studies.

Date: March 14-16; shows start March 15
Place: Liu Institute for Global Issues, 6476 NW Marine Drive, and the Dorothy Somerset Studio Theatre, 6361 University Boulevard
Tickets: free of charge with mandatory registration
Info: http://project.arts.ubc.ca/bodyspaces

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Diary of a Madman to Appear in Vancouver

Diary of a Madman, as adapted and directed by MFA Directing Candidate David Savoy from the story by Nikolai Gogol, will participate in Setkání /Encounter, the 18th international festival of theatre schools held in Brno, Czech Republic.

As a fund-raiser for the company’s travel expenses, the play – the story of a lunatic civil servant who yearns to be noticed by the beautiful woman he loves – will perform once in Vancouver.

The theatre company includes BFA Acting alumnus Ira Cooper and BFA Acting candidates Aslam Husain, Maura Halloran, Kate Hilderman and Ryan Warden. The creative team includes BFA Design alumni Ian Giles (Lighting) and Marijka Brusse (Production SM), BFA Design candidates Gloria Shum (Costumes), Nykiya Graham (Set) and Daniel Jang (Sound Design) with BFA Production candidates Julian Darius (Stage Manager), Ashley Serl (ASM) and Dan Emde (Technical Director).

Date: March 15
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: Frederic Wood Theatre, 6354 Crescent Road
Tickets: by donation
Info: www.theatre.ubc.ca/events.shtml#madman

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Engineers Without Borders Look for Solutions to Global Poverty

The UBC Engineers Without Borders Chapter will present 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 Senator 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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Pressed Flowers at the Botanical Garden

UBC’s Botanical Garden will offer a course on pressing flowers and foliage. Participants will learn the history and purpose of botanical collections, observe the tools and techniques for successfully preserving plant specimens, participate in collecting outdoors and create unique botanical art.

Date: March 15
Time: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Instructor: Linda Jennings, UBC Herbarium collections manager
Location; UBC Botanical Garden Reception Centre, 6804 South West Marine Dr.
Cost: (General) $40.00 or (Garden Members) $33.00
Info: www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org
Registration: call 604-822-3928 or e-mail botg@interchange.ubc.ca