UBC This Week 22-March-2012

This morning, an official ceremony honoured the new 41-foot Musqueum house post installed outside UBC’s Allard Hall Law Building.

Carved by Musqueam artist Brent Sparrow, the post is a replica of a post depicting the Musqueam warrior Capilano (qíy?plèn?x?), which was first installed in the late 1800s at the Musqueam village located on present-day Point Grey.

Inspired by his mother, Coast Salish artist Susan Point, Sparrow has been creating aboriginal art for five and a half years. His work includes a stainless steel and glass piece titled “Bright Futures”, commissioned by the Vancouver 2010 Venues Aboriginal Art Program and permanently installed in front of the Killarney Community Centre. He also designed the Musqueam post for the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

Pieces by Sparrow and Point on campus include the Coast Salish house posts for the Museum of Anthropology and a carving of three eagles for the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

To view photos of the new house post, visit http://gallery.me.com/martindee#101522/

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The Vancouver Prostate Centre, a UBC and Vancouver General Hospital Centre of Excellence, and a leader in research and treatment of prostate cancer, has received a $5-million grant from the B.C. government.

“This grant will be used to further prostate cancer research towards new treatments that control progression of the disease,” said Dr. Martin Gleave, Director of the Vancouver Prostate Centre at VGH, Distinguished Professor, Dept. of Urologic Sciences at UBC, and Liber Ero BC Leadership Chair in Prostate Cancer Research. “These funds will allow us to recruit and retain world leading scientists who will discover how cancer cells develop resistance and evade current treatments, and pave the way to new treatments in the future.”

For more information, visit http://med.ubc.ca/province-invests-5-million-in-prostate-centre/

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Genome B.C., Genome Canada and other partners are providing funding for a new research project titled “Applied Metagenomics of the Watershed Microbiome,” which aims to develop a better way to identify the presence of the fecal pollution in watersheds (indicated by the presence of E. coli bacteria), and provide new tools to track sources of water contamination.

“This funding will allow us to develop methods for more effective source water testing,” says Dr. Patrick Tang, project co-leader, and clinical assistant professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UBC Faculty of Medicine. “The next step will be implementation, and we are confident that the prototype we are developing will ensure that safe, rapid water supply testing becomes a reality.”

“The tools we currently have at our disposal are simply inadequate. Through the work of the multidisciplinary team, substantial improvements to current water protection approaches will be realized. These new tools will go a long way towards water quality improvements,” says Dr. Judith Isaac-Renton, project co-leader and professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UBC Faculty of Medicine.

For more information, visit http://www.genomebc.ca/media/news-releases/2012/better-water-for-better-health

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Computer science professor Gregor Kiczales has been awarded the 2012 Dahl-Nygaard Senior Prize, awarded annually to a senior researcher who has made significant long-term contribution in object-oriented technology.

Associate professor Joanna McGrenere has received the Canadian Association of Computer Science Outstanding Young Computer Science Researcher Prize. The prize recognizes young computer science faculty members at Canadian universities within 10 years of receiving their PhD who have made significant contributions in their research careers. McGrenere was one of three to receive the prize.

For more information, visit https://www.cs.ubc.ca/news-events/news.

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UBC Faculty of Arts Co-op student Sophia Kim has been recognized by the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education for her work with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC). The honour is being presented to Kim as part of National Co-op Week (March 19-23, 2012).
 
During her co-op work term with AANDC last summer, Kim conducted interviews with First Nations groups, the private sector, and government. She presented a report to the Treaties and Aboriginal Government – Negotiations West office, where her findings sparked debate about the treaty system as it relates to economic development.

Kim also received an honourable mention for provincial co-op student of the year by the Association for Co-operative Education in B.C. and Yukon, and top undergraduate co-op student of the year by the UBC Arts Co-op Program.

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

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The UBC Supermileage Team will be testing its ultra-light and super-fuel-efficient vehicle, the “Argo,” prior to an international competition in Houston.

On March 29, the team of UBC engineering students will be up against 130 other teams from North and South America in the urban concept category of the annual Shell Eco-Marathon Americas.

“While we achieved 214 miles per gallon last year, we hope to break 500 miles per gallon this year,” says UBC Supermileage team captain Connor Schellenberg-Beaver, a fourth-year engineering student.

Resembling a Smartcar, UBC’s Argo is a single passenger, four-wheel vehicle with tail lights, brakes and steering wheel. While the UBC vehicle is fueled by gasoline, the competition will see many different energy types including hydrogen fuel cell, solar, electric and diesel.

For more information, visit http://www.supermileage.ca/

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This inaugural global health festival will begin at the Liu Institute with an Aboriginal Blessing given by Elder Mary Williams of the Lil’wat Nation, followed by Songs of Sustenance by Vanessa Richards as well as Dialogue Circles led by Farah Shroff, Jerry Spiegel, Azar Mehrabadi, Jannie Wing-Sea Leung and Shafik Dharamsi.

After creating banners on-site at the Liu Institute, participants are invited to join a parade along the path behind the Museum of Anthropology to Green College where they will be treated to a musical performance (3 p.m.) by Bob Bossin and Danny Bakan.

All are welcome to attend any portion of the festival or the entire day’s activities. Please RSVP to the Liu Institute or on the Facebook event page. A light lunch will be served.

Date: March 27
Time: 10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Place: First Floor, Liu Institute for Global Issues, 6476 NW Marine Drive
and Graham House, Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Info: Full event program

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UBC graduate students Alexandra Kenyon and Alec Buss, UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, have asked designers, writers and architects to give their fresh take on urban development in the “world’s most liveable city.”

The exhibit runs until April 29.

Date:  March 24
Time: 2– 4 p.m.
Place: 221a Artist Run Centre, 221 Georgia St. East
Info: http://bit.ly/z0qmbL

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Is it easier to rally support for an international cause than for a local issue? Is the phrase ‘slacktivism’ a fair and accurate assessment of students on our campus? What role does social media play? How should non-profits create meaningful opportunities for young people to engage with the community?

The panelists who will tackle these questions include Prof. Chris Erickson, Dept. of Political Science, Victoria Capron, 5 Days for the Homeless, and AJ Koehn, Student Engagement and Social Media.

Date: March 28
Time: 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Place: Henry Angus Building, Room 098, 2053 Main Mall

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Short text memos or video interviews on current issues in Asia and across the Pacific are published twice-weekly in the Asia Pacific Memo Series: http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/

• Mar. 20 – Indonesia’s Draft Law Exacerbates Religious and Ethnic Tensions. By Melissa Crouch
• Mar. 15 – China: Energy, Environment, and Growth – Options for Canada (Video interview with Wenran Jiang)
• Mar. 13 – Will “Nepal Investment Year” Solve its Hydropower Puzzle? By UBC MA student Broghen Aitkin
• Mar. 8 – Japan’s Soma City One Year after the disaster (Video interview with David W. Edgington)

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Assoc. Prof. Terje Haukaas, UBC Dept. of Civil Engineering, will give a presentation titled The Art and Science of Engineering Modeling, providing a provocative exposure of existing models and how they are employed, drawing examples from structural engineering.

Date: March 27
Time: 1:00 – 3 p.m.
Place: KAISER 2020/2030

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