UBC This Week

Prof. Roger Wilson, department head of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, has uncovered yet more important clues to a significant UBC archaeological find located in an ancient Roman and Byzantine village called Kaukana on the south coast of Sicily.

In 2008, Wilson and his team excavated a tomb dating from the fifth and sixth centuries that contained the skeletons of a woman and a young child. Recent DNA tests reveal they are clearly a mother and a four-year-old daughter. Tests in the new facilities of UBC’s Laboratory of Archaeology at the Museum of Anthropology will continue to unravel more mysteries about the woman who had an unusual brain condition known as meningocoele.

For more information, visit http://www.arts.ubc.ca/research/single-page-news/article/613/2536.html.

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Who Owns the Arctic?: Understanding Sovereignty Disputes in the North written by UBC Prof. Michael Byers and The Politics of Linkage: Power, Interdependence and Ideas in Canada-US Relations written by Brian Bow and published by UBC Press are among the finalists of this year’s Donner Prize – an award that recognizes excellence in writing about Canadian public policy.

The winner will be announced April 28 in Toronto and will receive $35,000.

For more details, visit http://www.donnerbookprize.com/mdgassociates/en/press2010.htm.

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UBC postdoctoral geography graduate student Andre Zimmerman will receive the Innovative Electronic Theses and Dissertation (ETD) Award from the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in recognition of his use of innovative software for his dissertation.

In his dissertation entitled Experimental investigations of step-pool channel formation and stability, Zimmerman embedded video sequences directly into the PDF providing viewers with access to the results of the experiments quickly and effectively.

The award will be presented this June at the ETD 2010 Symposium in Texas.

For more information, visit http://www.ndltd.org/events_and_awards/awards/ndltd-etd-awards-2010-winners.

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UBC, the Office of the Vice‐President Research and  International, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) invite students, staff and faculty members to a free symposium on the biology, epidemiology and human/animal interface of the influenza A virus, and the development of preventative and therapeutic strategies in light of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

Date:  April 16
Time:  9 a.m. – noon
Place:  Life Sciences Centre, Theater LSC2, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
Info: Register at mkrakow@interchange.ubc.ca

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The Vancouver Student Entrepreneurship Association will hold the final round of the 3rd Annual Bright Ideas Competition at UBC where the top five teams of undergraduate students will pitch their entrepreneurial ideas.

Kenshi Arasaki and Eric Diep, co-founders of A Thinking Ape from the Silicon Valley, will give a keynote speech on their journey from students to entrepreneurs.

The event will also provide networking opportunities with entrepreneurs from the biomedical, software gaming and finance industries.

Date: April 8
Time:  5:30 –  7:30 p.m.
Place:  Room 98, 2053 Main Mall, Henry Angus Building

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