UBC This Week | Apr. 10, 2008

Apr 10, 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

UBC undergrads take three of top four prizes at national physics competition

Three Department of Physics and Astronomy undergraduate students – Cedric Lin, Alan Robinson and Michael Jansz – took second, third and fourth places respectively at this year’s Canadian Association of Physicists University Prize Examination. The nation-wide competition among physics students awards small cash prizes. Seventy-nine students from 27 universities competed this year.

For more information, visit www.cap.ca/edu/uniprzex.html.

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UBC students place in top 25 at ‘Cyber Super Bowl’ in Banff

UBC computer science student team Henry Wong, Patrick Nguyen and Anton Likhtarov ranked among the world’s best at this year’s Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest, placing 23rd in a competitive field of 100 teams. Recent years have seen the UBC team travel to Tokyo, Texas, Shanghai and Prague to compete and place as high as 13th. Students from St. Petersburg University of IT, Mechanics and Optics in Russia took this year’s title.

For more information, visit http://icpc.baylor.edu/icpc/Finals.

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Brockhouse medal goes to UBC professor

Prof. Jess Brewer, Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been awarded the 2008 Brockhouse Medal for outstanding experimental or theoretical contributions to condensed matter and materials physics. The award is in recognition of Brewer’s "pioneering work to develop muon spin relaxation and related techniques, leading to the creation of an important new field in materials physics."

For more information, visit www.cap.ca/awards/brockhouse.html.

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UBC history professor selected for training session with Al Gore

Prof. Tina Loo, Department of History, was one of the 220 people selected to attend the Canadian version of the “Al Gore Bootcamp” in Montreal earlier this month, where volunteers learned to present Gore’s Inconvenient Truth slideshow.

The Gore session in Montreal was arranged by The Climate Project-Canada (TCPCanada), an offshoot of the Nashville organization that started the Gore Bootcamps more than a year ago. Free training has now been offered to more than 2,200 people in the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and, most recently, India. The Montreal bilingual session was the first time the training was done in a second language.

Long interested in climate change, Loo teaches a new first-year course at UBC with her colleague, Assoc. Prof. Eagle Glassheim, entitled The Global Environment, designed to introduce students to contemporary environmental issues in an historical perspective.

For more information or to request a presentation, visit www.climateprojectcanada.org  or e-mail tina.loo@ubc.ca

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Liu Institute to hold forum on proposed sale of MacDonald Dettwiler’s space division

UBC’s Liu Institute for Global Issues and the Rideau Institute on International Affairs will sponsor a public forum on the proposed sale of the MacDonald Dettwiler’s space division, entitled Radarsat-2: Are We Selling Our Eyes?

Speakers will include Prof. Michael Byers, Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law; Paul Cottle, former employee of MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates; Wade Huntley, Director, UBC’s Simons Centre for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Research; and Steve Staples, President, Rideau Institute on International Affairs.

Date: April 16
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, Vanier Park, 1100 Chestnut St.
Info: contact Michael Byers at michael.byers@ubc.ca

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Robson Reading Series continues with Ryan Arnold and Jordan Scott

The Robson Reading Series will present readings from Ryan Arnold and Jordan Scott, two Canadian authors.

Ryan Arnold is the author of The Coward Files (Conundrum Press, 2006), a book of humorous prose that earned him the reputation as one of Canada’s best emerging comedic voices. He lives in Vancouver where he writes for Matrix Magazine and The Globe & Mail, and works in the entertainment industry as an employee of Nettwerk Music Group. He is working on a second collection of stories and a novel.

Originally from Coquitlam, B.C., Jordan Scott completed his MA in Creative Writing at the University of Calgary and now lives and works in Toronto. Jordan’s first book of poetry, Silt (New Star Books, 2005), was nominated for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Sections of his forthcoming collection blert (Coach House Books, 2008) have appeared in Filling Station, drunken boat and nypoesii.

Date: April 17
Time: Noon and 7 p.m.
Place: Noon event – Rm 155, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall Evening event – UBC Bookstore Robson Square, 800 Robson St., Plaza Level
Info: www.robsonreadingseries.ubc.ca

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Pursuing happiness: the science of well-being

UBC Okanagan Assoc. Prof. Mark Holder, Department of Psychology, will speak at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre about the science of well-being, including happiness and life satisfaction, and his research on this topic. 

Date: April 17
Time: 7 – 8:30 p.m.
Place: Lillooet Room, Level Three, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall
Info: http://toby.library.ubc.ca/news/librarydetail.cfm?id=358

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Cherry blossom viewing at Nitobe

The Vancouver Mokuyokai Society will host ohanimi (cherry blossom viewing) at UBC’s Nitobe Memorial Garden, complete with traditional koto (harp) and shakuhachi (flute) music, garden tours, tea ceremony and bento boxes (reservations required).

The Vancouver Mokuyokai Society was established in 1982 for people of all nationalities with a strong professional or personal interest in Japan.

Date: April 12
Time: 3 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Admission: By Donation
Place: Nitobe Memorial Garden, 1895 Lower Mall
Info: www.mokuyokai.bc.ca
Reservations: rsvp@mokuyokai.bc.ca

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Natural pest control at the Botanical Garden

UBC’s Botanical Garden will offer a course on natural insect, weed and disease control, with emphasis on prevention. The course will cover pest resistant vegetables, fruits, roses and other plants, keeping weeding to minimum, plantings that attract beneficial insects and growing a low maintenance, weed-free lawn. Participants will also learn how to identify common pests, diagnose plant diseases and manage them using non-toxic, organic methods.

Instructor Linda Gilkeson earned a PhD in entomology from McGill University and has wide, applicable experience: five years as the research director of a company rearing beneficial insects and a decade working on pesticide reduction programs for the provincial government. She has served as President of the Entomological Society of Canada, the Professional Pest Management Association of BC and the Entomological Society of BC.

A copy of her book West Coast Gardening: Natural Insect, Weed and Disease Control will be given to each course participant.

Date: April 12
Time: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Place: UBC Botanical Garden Reception Centre, 6804 SW Marine Drive
Cost: (General) $55 or (Garden Members) $50
Info and registration (required): botg@interchange.ubc.ca or 604-822-3928

Natural pest control continues at the Botanical Garden with a lecture by a representative from The Bug Factory on using biologicals to protect gardens from pests. Participants will be introduced to the topic of beneficial insects and how they are used, with emphasis on Bug Factory products.

The Bug Factory is a B.C. commercial insectary providing beneficial insects for pest management since 1989.

Date: April 14
Time: Noon – 1 p.m.
Place: UBC Botanical Garden Reception Centre, 6804 SW Marine Drive
Cost: $5 (includes coffee – bring a bag lunch)
Info: botg@interchange.ubc.ca or 604-822-3928

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Research centres take on ethics

UBC’s Centre for Korean Research will host a lecture by Assist. Prof. Jesook Song, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto, on Enjoyment as Ethics of Cultivating Self and Care for the Self: Family-Independent Women in the Post-Asian Debt Crisis in South Korea.

Date: April 10
Time: 4 – 5:30 p.m.
Place: Room 120, C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall
Info: www.iar.ubc.ca/bulletin/seminarsAPRIL2008.htm

UBC’s Centre for Chinese Research will host a lecture by Assist. Prof. Christopher Lee, Department of English, entitled Reading Eileen Chang as an (Asian) Americanist.

Date: April 11
Time: 12:30 – 2 p.m.
Place: Room 120, C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall
Info: www.iar.ubc.ca/bulletin/seminarsAPRIL2008.htm

UBC’s Centre for Japanese Research will host a lecture by Prof. Erin Chung, Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University, on Japan’s Immigrant Incorporation Regime.

Date: April 11
Time: 5 – 6:30 p.m.
Place: Room 120, C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall
Info: www.iar.ubc.ca/bulletin/seminarsAPRIL2008.htm