UBC This Week | Jan. 22, 2009

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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

Visit UBCevents, UBC’s new campus-wide calendar: www.events.ubc.ca

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

McDowell, President’s and Killam Awards announced

The recipients of the Killam research awards were recently announced and select honourees will be profiled at the Celebrate Research Gala on March 12. This award is given annually from the Killam Endowment Fund to faculty nominated by students, colleagues and alumni in recognition of excellence in research.

In addition, Prof. Robert Schober, Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the Charles A. McDowell Award for Excellence in Research and the President’s Award for Public Education Through Media was given to Prof. Lee Gunderson, Language and Literacy Education.

Killam Faculty Research Junior Fellows:

Colin Brauner, Zoology
Peter Cripton, Mechanical Engineering
Andrea Damascelli, Physics and Astronomy
Loretta Li, Civil Engineering
Christina Jane Lupton, English
Gregory Miller, Psychology
Steven Plotkin, Physics and Astronomy
Alla Sheffer, Computer Science

Killam Faculty Research Senior Fellows:

Eva-Marie Kroller, English
Dominique Weis, Earth & Ocean Sciences

Killam Research Prize – Junior Science Category:

Ruth Signorell, Chemistry

Killam Research Prizes – Senior Science Category:

Ann Marie Craig, Psychiatry
John Esdaile, Rheumatology
Peter Leung, Obstetrics and Gynaecology
David Lowe, Computer Science

Killam Research Prize – Junior Arts Category:

Ara Norenzayan, Psychology

Killam Research Prize – Senior Arts Category:

Yair Wand, Management Information Systems Division
Sandra Robinson, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Division
Ron Rensink, Psychology
Wolfgang Linden, Psychology

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New ICORD professor to pioneer research in non-operative spine care

Dr. Paul Bishop of Vancouver has been appointed the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries’ (ICORD) new Research Professor in Non-Operative Spine Care at Vancouver General Hospital and UBC. The five-year appointment was made possible by a $600,000 research award from the Ontario Chiropractic Association (OCA).

Bishop serves as the Head of Non-operative Care in the Division of Spine, Dept. of Orthopaedics at VGH. He is also a Clinical Associate Professor of Orthopaedics in the Combined Neurosurgical and Orthopaedic Spine Program (CNOSP), Faculty of Medicine at UBC.

In 2007, Bishop published the findings of his groundbreaking C.H.I.R.O. (Chiropractic Hospital-Based Interventions Research Outcomes) study, the first published trial demonstrating the favourable effect on spine patient outcomes of evidence-based non-operative treatments, including chiropractic therapy, when administered in a hospital setting. His research at ICORD will further this work and will advance the use of evidence-based non-operative treatments in centres in BC and across Canada.

For more information, visit http://www.icord.org/icordocs/bishopprof.pdf.

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Join the dialogue: experts to discuss 2010 Olympics at UBC student conference

The UBC community is invited to join Olympic leaders, anti-poverty advocates, politicians, academics and athletes at the UBC Student Olympic Conference (SOC 2010) on Jan. 31, 2009 at UBC Vancouver.

The student-led conference, organized in partnership with UBC’s 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games Secretariat, will encourage respectful dialogue around 2010-related issues, including: economic impacts, media and branding, security and civil liberties, sustainability, sports science and anti-doping, transportation and infrastructure, Paralympics and inner-city communities impacts.

Register at www.soc2010.ca/registration to join such speakers as UBC Vice-President Stephen Owen, Vancouver City Councillor Suzanne Anton, PIVOT Legal lawyer David Eby, Paralympian Andrea Holmes and UBC professors including Dr. Michael Byers. Registration includes lunch provided by UBC Wescadia Catering.

The motto of the conference is “Think, Discuss and Act”: “Think,” to raise awareness of the 2010 Games and their impacts, “discuss,” to create new perspectives and solutions to communal challenges and finally, “act,” whereby delegates will be encouraged to go out and act on the topics that have been discussed in a positive manner that will benefit the Games, as well as the city of Vancouver.

SOC 2010 is one of many upcoming UBC 2010 learning opportunities, including a public symposia series, course curricula, volunteer and co-op placement opportunities and cultural events. For more information on UBC and the 2010 Winter Games, visit: www.ubc.ca/2010/index.html.

To volunteer or for more information about SOC 2010, visit www.soc2010.ca or contact Connor McGauley at info@soc2010.ca or 604-329-0887.

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UBC Library conducts service assessment survey

UBC Library will conduct a second installment of LibQual, a web-based survey developed by the Association of Research Libraries to assess service satisfaction at academic libraries throughout the world.

After participating in this survey for the first time in 2007, UBC Library took steps to respond to service gaps. The second installment will measure its success and identify new areas for improvement.

From Jan. 26- Feb. 13, UBC Library will survey a random sample of students and faculty at UBC.
Participants may enter a draw for two prizes: a UBC Bookstore gift certificate ($200) and an Apple iPod Touch.

For more information, visit http://www.library.ubc.ca/libqual.

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UBC’s Engineers Without Borders holds Hungry for Change

Fundraising has begun for UBC Engineers Without Borders’ Hungry for Change, an event supporting their work in Africa. Participants will collect pledges with the promise to fast for 24 hours to gain an appreciation for hunger experienced by people around the world.

Date: Jan. 30, 9 a.m. – Jan. 31, 9 a.m.
Info: http://ubc.ewb.ca/2009/01/30/ or contact: troy.barrie@gmail.com

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Clean Energy Research Centre hosts seminar

The Clean Energy Research Centre and Chemical and Biological Engineering Sustainability Club will host Capturing Co2 From Thin Air at Industrial Scale. Presented by Dr. David Keith, the seminar will be a discussion on how air capture could play an important enabling role in solving the climate problem.

Keith is a Director of Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy (ISEEE), a Canada Research Chair in Energy and the Environment, a professor in the Dept. of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and the Dept. of Economics at the University of Calgary, and an adjunct professor in the Dept. of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon.

Date: Jan. 28
Time: 1 p.m.
Place: 102 – 2360 East Mall
Info: Contact Sarah Chen at sarah@cerc.ubc.ca or 604-827-4342