UBC This Week 26-Apr-2012

 

Recent UBC Media Releases

Apr 26 Analytic thinking can decrease religious belief: UBC study
Apr 26 UBC Dentistry gains $1M to enhance patient-based research and knowledge transfer
Apr 23 Preventing dementia: new research by VCH and UBC shows the trajectory of cognitive decline can be altered in seniors at risk for dementia
Apr 23 UBC revamps MBA for increasingly complex, global marketplace
Apr 23 UBC journalism partners with First Nations to report on major health issues 
   
 

Upcoming Event Highlights

Apr 27 Lecture: Robert Thurman
Apr 27 Zhuojun Bian, Cello (DMA Solo Recital)
Apr 28 F-Word Conference
Apr 28 POV: UBC Persistance of Vision Film Festival
Apr 29 Molly Mackinnon, Violin (4th Year Solo Recital)
Apr 30 Dr. Robert Alter – G. Peter Kaye Lecturer
Apr 30 Global China: Changing Identities, Changing Policy
May 1 New Non-Euclidean Statistical Methods and Modern Life-Sciences
May 1-Jun 30 Artist in Residence: Meghann O’Brien
May 2 Faculty/Student Drills
May 3 Robson Reading Series: Stephanie Bolster (A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth); Theresa Kishkan (Mnemonic: A Book of Trees)
May 3 Children’s Right for a Fair Assessment
   
  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 chemistry professor appointed Royal Society Fellow

Stephen Withers, Director of UBC’s Centre for High-Throughput Biology, was elected to United Kingdom’s Royal Society on April 20. Withers is a professor of chemistry who studies how enzymes function, engineers them for use in industrial applications, and develops inhibitors as potential therapeutics. Eleven UBC Science researchers have been elected to the Society to date.

For more information, visit http://science.ubc.ca/news/616.

to top

UBC engineer recognized for research excellence

UBC Okanagan Engineering Asst. Prof. Cigdem Eskicioglu has received the 2012 Early in Career Award from Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFA BC) for her work on processing organic waste into renewable energy and organic fertilizer. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/I7o4uf.

to top

Materials Engineering professor to become CIM Fellow

Akram Alfantazi, professor in the Dept. of Materials Engineering and associate dean, Research and Graduate Studies of the Faculty of Applied Science, has been selected to be a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) in recognition of his contribution to the metallurgical industry, through his work on corrosion and electrometallurgy. He joins previous CIM Fellows from the department: Keith Brimacombe (1988), Indira Samarasekera (1999) and David Dreisinger (2009).

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

to top

UBC landscape architect lauded for professional service

UBC Landscape Architecture Assoc. Prof. Patrick Mooney has received the Exceptional Contribution Award from the B.C. Society of Landscape Architects (BCSLA) for his service contribution to the BCSLA and for enhancing the relationship between UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and the profession. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/ITs63A.

to top

UBC engineer honoured for excellence in water research

UBC Chemical and Biological Engineering Prof. Madjid Mohseni is this year’s recipient of Excellence in the Water and Waste Community – Individual Award from the B.C. Water and Waste Association (BCWWA) for his contributions in safeguarding public health and the environment by advancing excellence in the water and waste community. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/K6Y25F

to top

UBC Killam Teaching Prize awarded to engineering prof

Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof. Leo Stocko has been recognized for outstanding achievement in teaching with the UBC Killam Teaching Prize. Faculty members are nominated by students, colleagues, and alumni for this award. For more information,visit http://www.ece.ubc.ca/news/201204/dr-stocco-wins-ubc-killam-teaching-prize.

to top

UBC nursing faculty receive provincial awards of excellence

UBC School of Nursing faculty members Lynda Balneaves, Alison Phinney and Elsie Tan were recognized by the College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (CRNBC) for their contributions to the profession and for demonstrating excellence in relation to the CRNBC Professional Standards for Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/IwnUv5.

to top

UBC grad students receive 2012 Africa Initiative Graduate Research Grant

UBC graduate students are recipients of the Africa Initiative Graduate Research Grant (AIGRG) which supports Africa-and Canada-based graduate students undertaking policy-related research on Africa. The 2012 round of grants include 10 based at African universities and 10 based at Canadian institutions.

• Charles Roger from UBC will be researching with Addis Ababa University.
• Kieran Findlater from UBC will be researching with Stellenbosch University.
• Chris Tenove from UBC will be researching with the International Criminal Court and Makerere University.
• Claude-Michel Nzotungicimpaye from the University of Cape Town will be coming to UBC to work with a professor in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences.

For more information, visit http://www.africaportal.org/exchange/students-profile.

to top

Pharmacy student wins first place in video competition

First year student Zeeshan Dhanan from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC is the first-place winner of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists video competition. To read more and see the video, visit http://www.pharmacy.ubc.ca/aboutus/faculty-news/2012-04-24.

to top

Computer science members awarded

Computer science undergraduate program assistant Chelsey Maher, PhD student Sarah Rastkar and lecturer Kimberly Voll have all received the Faculty of Science Achievement Award. The award recognizes staff, students and faculty whose contributions in service, administration, leadership and outreach have had a positive impact in achieving the goals of the Faculty of Science. For more on the award, visit http://science.ubc.ca/faculty/awards/achievement.

PhD student Bruno da Silva has won the Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award. The certificate, with a $1,000 prize, is awarded annually to 17 UBC teaching assistants in recognition of the valuable role they play in undergraduate programs. For more information, visit http://vpacademic.ubc.ca/killam-graduate-teaching-assistant-awards/

to top

UBC engineering students recognized

Harshul Srivastava has received the Larry K. Wilson Regional Student Activities Award in recognition of his exemplary service to the UBC IEEE Student Branch. For more information, visit http://www.ece.ubc.ca/

Chemical and Biological Engineering student James Butler has received the 2011/12 UBC Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award which recognizes UBC graduate students for their outstanding contribution to teaching and learning.

Chemical and Biological Engineering graduate students James Butler and Nagu Daraboina were awarded the John R. Grace Graduate Scholarships for demonstrating academic excellence and performing research on energy, the environment, and/or multi-phase systems.

UBC Mining Engineering students were awarded Canadian Mineral Industry Education Fund (CMIEF) Scholarships. Kyle Buckoll, Brad St. Pierre and Mike Myers received the Futter award traditionally given to one student with the most potential from across Canada. UBC Mining received 21 CMIEF scholarships, the highest number of scholarships awarded across Canada.

to top

Crane Library holds first narrate-a-thon

 As part of National Volunteer Week, UBC Access and Diversity’s Crane Library hosted its first ever narrate-a-thon. For 24 hours on April 20, volunteers took turns narrating books for K-12 students in the Bella Coola School District.
 
Crane Library creates audio-recorded materials for persons with print disabilities and is one of the largest producers of human voice audio in Canada.

Successes from the narrate-a-thon include:
• 74 volunteers participated
• 3,376 pages read
• 11 books completed and several more started
• One volunteer narrated for 10 hours straight
• One volunteer narrated for 7.5 hours straight, from 1 a.m. until 8:30 a.m.

to top

Asia Pacific Memo update – International Student Mobility / Protests in China

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

The two most recent Memos:

Apr. 24 – Regulating International Student Mobility
Apr. 19 – Protests in China: Oppositional, or a Reflection of Faith in the System?

to top

Green College and Global Civic Policy Society event

Former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan will host another season of salons featuring Vancouver’s leaders and thinkers. Speakers for the May 16 Public Salon: Ideas That Move the City will include Charles Barber of City Opera, Jim Bolger, environmental ocean researcher, Carolyn Chan and Clancy Dennehy of Metal Dog, Hal Gunn of Inspire Health, Jas Johal, Global TV journalist, Unjali Malhotra, women’s health expert, and Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon.

Date: May 16
Time: 7:30 – 9 p.m.
Place: Vancouver Playhouse Theatre (southeast corner of Hamilton and Dunsmuir Streets)
Info: http://www.greencollege.ubc.ca/whats_on/index/main3/events/category65.php

to top