UBC This Week 16-Feb-2012


 

Recent UBC Media Releases

Feb. 16 Energy poverty creating a respiratory disease ‘epidemic’ for almost half the world’s population
Feb. 15 UBC-AAAS news briefing schedule
Feb. 15 New drugs show promise for preventing “absence seizures” in children: UBC research
Feb. 14 UBC announces 2012 individual honorary degrees: Two former PMs, singer-songwriter among Vancouver campus recipients
Feb. 14 UBC and four other Canadian universities chosen by U.S. to lead health education reform
Feb. 13 More than 40 UBC researchers present leading Canadian research at global science conference
   
 

Upcoming Event Highlights

Feb. 16 Islam Awareness Week
Feb. 16 Anthropology Colloquia: Prof Christine White
Feb. 17 Water Security in Canada
Feb. 17 What’s the Ukrainian Word for Sex?
Feb. 18 UBC IR Photo Exhibit – Call for Submissions
Feb. 18 TRIUMF/SFU/UBC Saturday Morning Lectures
Feb. 19 PSA Movie Festival
Feb. 19 UBC Singles League
Feb. 20 Narrative in the Classroom
Feb. 20 Career Opportunities at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Feb. 20 Retell | Rethink | Recover: An Exhibit on Japan’s Triple Disaster
Feb. 21 A Conversation on Leadership & Creating a Sustainable Future-Perspectives from Sweden and Canada
Feb. 22 UBC Learning Circle – SIDS and Safe Sleep through an Aboriginal Lens
Feb. 22 UBC Swing Kids Lindy Hop Lessons
Feb. 23 UBC Poetry Slam
   
  Find out what else is happening at UBC this week. For sports events, visit the UBC Athletics site at http://www.gothunderbirds.ca/calendar.aspx.

 

UBC People


UBC People

UBC IT security expert, mathematician awarded Sloan Research Fellowships

UBC mathematician Young-Heon Kim and computer scientist Andrew Warfield have received 2012 Sloan Research Fellowships. Given out annually since 1955, the prestigious fellowships recognize North American early-career scientists whose achievements and potential identify them as the next generation of scientific leaders.

Computer Science Asst. Prof. Warfield holds the Canada Research Chair in Computer Systems and Security. He is an expert in virtualization, device driver stability, distributed storage, security (specifically DDoS prevention and intrusion prevention) and high-availability.

Kim’s research is focused on partial differential equations and geometric analysis, including analysis and geometry of optimal transportation and monge-ampere equations and evolution equations and applications. He is an assistant professor in the department of Mathematics.

More than 15 UBC Science researchers have been awarded Sloan Research Fellowships over the past decade. Administered and funded by the Sloan Foundation, 126 fellowships were awarded in 2012. To qualify, candidates must first be nominated by their peers and are subsequently selected by an independent panel of senior scholars. Fellows receive $50,000 to be used to further their research.

To view a list of recent UBC Science Sloan Fellows, visit: http://science.ubc.ca/research/awards

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UBC Creative Writing instructor and alumna wins B.C.'s national non-fiction book award

UBC Creative Writing instructor and alumna Charlotte Gill has won British Columbia’s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for her tree-planting memoir Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe. The $40,000 prize was awarded at a ceremony in Vancouver on Feb. 13.

Eating Dirt is also shortlisted for the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, to be presented on March 5. Gill’s first book, the short-story collection Ladykiller, won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, the B.C. Book Prize for fiction, and was short-listed for the Governor-General’s Literary Award for fiction.

For more information, visit: http://wire.arts.ubc.ca/arts-in-the-news/charlotte-gills-eating-dirt-wins-b-c-book-award-for-non-fiction/

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UBC professor receives inaugural research award from Ovarian Cancer Canada

Dr. David Huntsman, professor in the Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, received the first-ever Karen Campbell National Award for Research Excellence for his groundbreaking work in the field of ovarian cancer. His work has provided a road map for clinicians and researchers studying ovarian cancer, Canada’s most fatal gynecologic cancer, and has shed light on practices that could help prevent the disease and change the way in which it is diagnosed and treated.

For more information, visit http://www.med.ubc.ca/about_us/Awards_and_Honours.htm#David%20Huntsman%20receives%20inaugural%20research%20award%20from%20Ovarian%20Cancer%20Canada

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Orthopaedics professor receives Humanitarian award

Dr. Shafique Pirani, clinical professor in the Dept. of Orthopaedics, was recognized by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons for his commitment to improving the function and quality of life of Ugandan children afflicted with clubfoot.

For more information, visit: http://www.med.ubc.ca/about_us/Awards_and_Honours.htm#Shafique%20Pirani%20receives%20Hum.anitarian%20Award.

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Applied Science professors receive UBC’s annual research awards

Three professors from the Faculty of Applied Science are among the winners of UBC’s annual research awards.

Civil Engineering Prof. Nemkumar Banthia studies construction materials, focusing on advanced, strategically reinforced materials resistant to earthquakes and carbon neutral applications.

Electrical and computer engineering professor Victor Leung is an expert in the area of wireless communications and mobile networks.

Nursing professor Sabrina Wong was awarded a Killam Faculty Research Fellowship. Wong plans to devote the study leave to advance the knowledge of delivery and organization of primary health care – an understudied area of health care in Canada.

For more information, visit: http://blogs.apsc.ubc.ca/apscnews/2012/02/14/ubc-applied-science-profs-among-ubc%e2%80%99s-research-stars/.

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Family practice professor receives national resident well-being award

Dr. Steve Beerman, clinical associate professor in the Dept. of Family Practice, received the 2011 Dr. Derek Puddester Resident Well-Being Award from the Canadian Association of Internes and Residents.

His initiatives within the Nanaimo Family Medicine Residency Program include the implementation of academic weeks in place of academic half-days and the promotion of a culture of wellness by ensuring residents look after themselves.

For more information, visit: http://www.med.ubc.ca/about_us/Awards_and_Honours.htm#Steve%20Beerman%20receives%20national%20resident%20well-being%20award

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UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences members receive four TLEF grants

Faculty members from UBC’s Pharmaceutical Sciences have received four UBC Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) grants. The TLEF is a university-wide fund to support projects that explore ground-breaking approaches to learning and education.

• Developing a patient-centred Pharmacists Clinic to provide an enriched experiential learning program for pharmacy students: Tessa Nicholl, Ingrid Price, Alan Low, James McCormack, and Robson Liu ($119,200)

• The Development and Implementation of the UBC Pharmaceutical Sciences Journal – a student-led initiative to promote learning around research and publishing among pharmacy students: Tessa Nicholl, Sandy Mok, Kelvin Lou and Ingrid Price ($8,095)

• VIP-CARES: Virtual Interprofessional Patients as Contraception & Abortion Resources for Education of Students: Wendy V. Norman, Judith Soon, Lauren Bissonnette, Christopher Ng, Evelyn Kwok, Unjali Malhotra, Leanne Currie, Saraswathi Vedam, Kellogg Booth, Juliette Link, and Charlotte Tang ($86,031)

• Preparing students for patient-centred practice in a Type II Diabetes Clinic: Lynda Eccott ($15,650)

For more information on the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund, visit: http://www.tlef.ubc.ca

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UBC zoology professors edit prizewinning publication

 The Encyclopedia of Fish Physiology, edited by UBC zoology professors Anthony Farrell and Jeff Richards was honoured at the 2011 American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (the PROSE Awards). The publication won in the category of Multivolume Reference/Science.

The PROSE Awards are given out annually by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) to recognise excellence in professional and scholarly publishing. A full list of the winners can be found on http://www.proseawards.com/current-winners.html.

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3M National Teaching Fellows pay it forward with Thank Your Teacher project

In November of 2011, UBC professor Carol Ann Courneya co-facilitated the 3M National Teaching Fellows retreat in celebration of the 10 newly minted 3M National Teaching Fellows from across the country. The cohort was offered the opportunity to devise a legacy project through which the Fellows could pay forward the outstanding teaching they have received.

The Thank Your Teacher legacy project, which was advertised in the Globe and Mail on Feb. 4, invited professors to write letters to teachers who have changed their lives.

There is also a website by which any professor can thank the teachers that paved the way for them to become outstanding Canadian educators: http://www.thankyourteacher.ca/.

UBC has nearly a dozen professors who have been 3M Teaching Fellows. They have formed a UBC 3M Teaching Fellow Council.

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New UBC business venture takes first in Enterprize 2012

Kaizen Biomedical, founded by UBC engineering students Annelies Tjebbes (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Neal O’Grady (Mechanical Engineering) and Mayank Kalra (Mechanical Engineering), and Sauder School of Business students Derek Li, Jennifer Vlasiu and Stephanie Wilson, placed first at the Enterprize Canada National Business Plan Competition with their product MobiChill. The team received a $6,000 prize and was also honoured with the People’s Choice Award.

MobiChill was developed through a partnership formed in Applied Science 486/New Venture Design, a course that connects senior engineering and business students. It is a medical device used to induce therapeutic hypothermia in cardiac arrest patients—a medical treatment that reduces the risk of devastating side effects.

For more information, visit: http://blogs.apsc.ubc.ca/apscnews/2012/02/13/cool-ubc-new-business-venture-takes-first-in-enterprize-2012-mobichill-wins-6000-prize/

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Two medical students receive UBC Wesbrook Scholarships

UBC medical students Lawrence Haiducu and Shazeen Suleman have been named Wesbrook Scholars. The scholarships are awarded to senior students with outstanding academics, leadership, and involvement in student and community activities.

Haiducu has led education and community engagement projects for socio-economically disadvantaged areas in Romania and Latin America, including the development of teaching resources, novel teaching approaches, and entrepreneurship opportunities.

Suleman was the VP Outreach for the UBC Arts in Medicine Society and co-chair of Medicina, the first student-run conference on the integration of the arts in medicine.

For more information, visit: http://www.med.ubc.ca/about_us/Awards_and_Honours.htm#Wesbrook%20Scholars

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The Nature of Things: UBC and CIRS in Future City episode tonight

UBC, the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) and the visualization activities in the CIRS B.C. Hydro Theatre are part of tonight’s The Nature of Things episode entitled “The Suzuki Diaries: Future City” on CBC.

The episode airs at 8 p.m. tonight and several times in the coming week. For more information, visit the CBC website: http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/

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