UBC This Week 15-March-2012

 

Recent UBC Media Releases

Mar 15 UBC engineering students test 200-lb, 214-mpg car before international Shell competition
Mar 14 UBC’s Vancouver senate vote paves way for early admissions offers
Mar 14 UBC’s reputation moves up six spots to 25th in global ranking 
Mar 14 Let your iPhone do the singing: ChoirMob sneak peek at UBC
Mar 14 Affordable housing elusive for new Canadians in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal
Mar 13 UBC gains nine more Canada Research Chairs valued at $10 million
Mar 12 Medically prescribed heroin more effective, less costly than current methadone treatment: UBC research
   
   
 

Upcoming Event Highlights

Mar 15 “What I Learned at Straight Camp” with Ted Cox
Mar 16 LFS Orchard Garden St. Patrick’s Celebration
Mar 16-17 40th Annual UBC Medieval Workshop
Mar 16-17 North American Futures
Mar 17 Hoopfest 2012
Mar 17 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Mar 18 18th Annual UBC Medical and Dental Spring Gala
Mar 18 UBC Horn Club – Concert
Mar 19 Teaching and Learning for the Heart and Mind CoP Meeting
Mar 19 UBC Reads Sustainability – Morris Berman
Mar 20 National Co-op Week
Mar 20 Finding Medicine in Nature
Mar 21 Forest One by Annie Ross
Mar 22 Macbeth
Mar 22 UBC Robson Square Reading Series
Mar 29 A Moving – Performance at the Belkin
   
  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

2011/12 Student Development Award winners announced

The winners of the 2011/12 UBC Student Development Awards have been announced. The Office of the Vice-President, Students presents these awards to recognize exceptional contributions or improvements to the student experience and learning environment at UBC.

Margaret Fulton Award (for an individual)
• Paul Harrison, Associate Dean, Faculty of Science
• Alyssa Koehn, Year 4 – Faculty of Arts (Political Science and Geography)

Helen McCrae Award (for an Alma Mater Society/Graduate Student Services/UBC Student Services program)
• Arts Academic Advising Services
• The Ubyssey

Alfred Scow Award (for an undergraduate program/department)
• Physics and Astronomy Department
• UBC Opera Program

Peter Larkin Award (for a graduate/post-baccalaureate program)
• Master of Arts Asia Pacific Policy Studies Program
• Institute of Applied Mathematics

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UBC professor is 2011 recipient of SSHRC Aurora Prize

UBC law professor James Stewart is the recipient of the 2011 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Aurora Prize award. This $25,000 prize recognizes an outstanding new researcher who is building a reputation for exciting and original research in the social sciences or humanities.

In 2006, Stewart was awarded the La Pira Prize for his article on unlawful confinement at Guantanamo. More recently, he received the Antonio Cassese Prize for International Criminal Law Studies for his current work on the liability of corporations for international crimes. In October 2010, Stewart published new legal guidelines for prosecuting corporations for the illegal exploitation of natural resources.

SSHRC is the federal agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and training in the humanities and social sciences.

For more information, visit http://www.law.ubc.ca/news/2011/nov/11_03_11_stewart.html

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Physiologist named Researcher of the Year at UBC’s Okanagan campus

Philip Ainslie, Canada Research Chair in Cerebrovascular Function in Health and Disease and associate professor in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, has been named Researcher of the Year at UBC’s Okanagan campus.

Ainslie is principal investigator of a research expedition that will see 25 scientists from around the globe, along with UBC students, travel to Mount Everest next month. The six-week research foray to the Pyramid Laboratory near Everest Base camp will conduct a series of experiments to measure oxygen deprivation and blood flow through the heart, lungs and brain at high altitudes.

“Philip Ainslie is a dedicated researcher,” says Miriam Grant, dean of research and vice provost for UBC’s Okanagan campus. “He is an acknowledged leader in cerebral vascular physiology whose research is answering fundamental questions about human physiology, and advancing our knowledge about an array of chronic health conditions.”

Ainslie was presented with the $5,000 award at a campus gala and reception.

For more information, visit https://news.ok.ubc.ca/2012/03/09/philip-ainslie-named-ubcs-okanagan-campus-researcher-of-the-year/

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UBC School of Music student selected for international piano quarterfinal

UBC Doctor of Musical Arts student Bogdan Dulu is one of fifty concert pianists from six continents chosen to perform in the quarterfinal of the international audition round of the Seventh Honens International Piano Competition.

The quarterfinalists will perform their solo recitals in Berlin, London, Los Angeles and New York in hopes of advancing to the semifinal round and a chance of winning the competition prize of $100,000 CAD and a career development program valued at a half a million dollars.

The 10 pianists advancing to the semi-finals will be announced on July 17, 2012.

For more information, visit http://honens.com/

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UBC engineers place first in debate, second in design at 2012 Canadian Engineering Competition

UBC engineers placed first in the Impromptu Debate and second in the Innovative Design categories at the 27th annual Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC), From Sea to Sky, held March 8-11 at UBC Robson Square.

The debate team included undergraduate students Hans Seidemann (Integrated Engineering) and Dan Came (Engineering Physics). The design team from the Integrated Engineering program included James Haryett, Samim Safaei, Chandan Deol and Patrick Tsai.

The UBC CEC 2012 organizing committee led by fourth-year student Sean Heisler hosted the competition in Vancouver.

For more information, visit http://bit.ly/wDnVIu.

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Computer science team wins best paper award

Computer science professor Karon MacLean‘s team (post-doc Vincent Levesque, now at Immersion Corp. and master’s student Louise Oram) won best paper award at the 2012 IEEE Haptics Symposium, held in Vancouver, March 4-7.

Their paper, “Exploring the Design Space of Programmable Friction for Scrolling Interactions,” shows how novel interaction design methods can leverage new touch screen technologies to make them more useful and informative.

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UBC Engineering awards 2012 McEwen Award

UBC Engineering has presented the 2012 McEwen Family Teacher Recognition Award to South Delta Secondary School mathematics teacher Brian Outerbridge.

“Mr. Outerbridge transformed the mundane and average classroom into a collaborative and caring environment for his students. His aim was for us to become contributing citizens to society, and we have,” says Rohit Singla (second-year, Electrical and Computer Engineering).

Students currently enrolled in the UBC Faculty of Applied Science who attended a secondary school in B.C. nominated these influential teachers.

For more information, visit http://bit.ly/yPtIs8.

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World Model United Nations closing ceremonies

The World Model United Nations will be hosting its closing ceremonies tonight at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Throughout the past week, around 2,000 international delegates have been collaborating with other delegates within the various Model UN simulations to learn the working functions of the United Nations. This experience also presents delegates the opportunity to hone public speaking skills and build capacity for debate.

Highlights within the conference include the Resolution Project, a competition for delegates to present business venture ideas for the chance to win a $3,000 in seed funding for their project. Projects include IT ventures, green garbage, and irrigation. The panel of judges include Harvard alumni and experts on social ventures. The winner will be announced at the closing ceremonies.

UBC President Stephen Toope will a give a keynote address at the closing ceremonies, which will conclude with the Olympic Cauldron being lit and fireworks.

Date:  March 15
Time:  5 – 8:30 p.m. (Please arrive at 4.30)
Place: West Ballroom, Vancouver Convention Centre, 1055 Canada Place
Info: To RSVP, contact Terrie Chan at 604-505-0098

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Addressing injustice: UBC’s response to the internment of Japanese Canadian students

UBC is holding a symposium to examine UBC’s role and response to the internment of 76 Japanese Canadian students during the Second World War, and how those issues resonate today.

The symposium, “Addressing injustice: UBC’s response to the internment of Japanese Canadian students”, seeks to answer questions about what happened 70 years ago and raise questions about UBC’s responsibility.

Speakers include Mary Kitagawa, an active member of the Japanese Canadian community who led the campaign for UBC honorary degrees, Stan Fukawa, a community historian who will speak about what life was like at UBC for Japanese Canadian students before the war, University of Victoria history professor John Price, and UBC history professor Henry Yu.
 
A 15-20 minute video featuring the stories of six Japanese Canadians who were UBC students in 1942 will also be shown.

Date: March 21
Time: 5 – 8 p.m.
Place: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Lillooet Room, 3rd floor, 1961 East Mall
Info: http://calendar.events.ubc.ca:80/s/3Dr
Contact: equity@equity.ubc.ca

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UBC's Got Talent: March 29

Tickets for UBC’s Got Talent are now available at the UBC Bookstore’s main, Sauder and downtown branches for only $5 a ticket. The event highlights the best of singing, dancing, instrumental, theatre, spoken word and other performing talents from the UBC community.

The UBC Bookstore is producing this year’s event. Funds raised will go towards the United Way Campaign. 
 
Date: March 29
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: Old Auditorium, 6361 Memorial Road

Info: http://gottalent.ubc.ca/

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Smarty Pants: The Nature of Things features UBC forestry professor

UBC’s Suzanne Simard, a professor in the Faculty of Forestry, will be featured in an upcoming episode of The Nature of Things: Smarty Plants: Uncovering the Secret World of Plant Behaviour.

The episode uncovers the real “secret world” of plants, revealing a landscape pulsing with sex, movement, communication, and social interaction, where plants talk, forage, wage war and protect their kin.

For more information and to watch a trailer, visit http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episode/smarty-plants-uncovering-the-secret-world-of-plant-behaviour.html.

Date:   March 22
Time:  8 p.m.

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