UBC This Week 27-Sep-2012


 

Recent UBC Media Releases

Sep 27 New UBC-Langara program to help more Aboriginal students get university degrees
Sep 26 UBC receives $1M from Coast Capital Savings to propel social ventures
Sep 26 UBC housing plan to increase affordability and choice for faculty, staff and students
Sep 25 Backpack-toting birds help UBC researchers reveal migratory divide, conservation hotspots
Sep 25 UBC hosts world’s experts on safeguarding digital assets
Sep 24 UBC announces gift to propel B.C. social ventures
   
 

Upcoming Event Highlights

Sep 27 Trauma and Diaspora
Sep 28 Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy
Sep 28 Three Lectures on Korean Buddhism–Surpassing Gender: Korean Buddhist Nuns and Lay Women
Sep 29 Free Culture Days Event at UBC Robson Square
Sep 29 The Duchess: a.k.a. Wallis Simpson
Sep 30-Oct 2 Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – 32nd Annual Meeting
Oct 1 The Evolution of Prosocial Religions
Oct 1 The Vancouver Institute for Visual Analytics Open Doors
Oct 2 Seed Saving 101 at UBC Farm
Oct 2 Robotic Exploration of Aquatic Environments
Oct 2 Out of This World: Space Launch Canada Unveils a New Satellite Concept
Oct 3 Wednesday Noon Hours – Mark Anderson: piano
Oct 3 Digging into Digital Collections at UBC Library
Oct 4 UBC Symphony Orchestra – Jonathan Girard: conductor
Oct 4 Hawthorn Lecture in Anthropology
Oct 5-Dec 16 Luminescence: The Silver of Peru
   
  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

A responsive design for ubc.ca

In 2009, half of a billion people accessed the internet through their mobile devices (phones, tablets etc.) worldwide and this number is expected to triple by 2013. The main UBC website has seen a significant increase in mobile traffic over the past two years.

To respond to this increase – and to improve speed and reduce bandwidth – ubc.ca has been rebuilt using responsive design techniques, taking advantage of new technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3. Responsive design meets the growing trend of mobile use and UBC is one of the first universities in Canada to utilize this technology.
 
The new ubc.ca adapts to the user’s viewport and its features include an integrated campus identification system, simplified design and navigation, and improved typography. The website is accessible and meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, an internationally recognized standard.
 
Visit ubc.ca on your desktop or any of your mobile devices to see it in action.

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UBC adjunct professor, alumnus invested into the Order of Canada

UBC adjunct professor Jim McEwen, the inventor of a surgical technology that is used around the world, will be among 44 recipients invested into the Order of Canada on Sept. 28. McEwen, an adjunct professor in the Faculties of Medicine and of Applied Science, will be appointed to the Order of Canada for his contributions to biomedical engineering, notably as an inventor and entrepreneur.

Also invested into the Order of Canada will be art photographer and UBC alumnus Jeff Wall. Wall has greatly influenced contemporary international art and visual culture with his photography. He was also a member of UBC’s Dept. of Fine Arts where he helped develop the Master of Fine Arts program.

For more information, visit http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=14736

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Faculty members elected to Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

Six members of the Faculty of Medicine have been elected Fellows by the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
• Jan Friedman, professor in the Dept. of Medical Genetics and acting associate dean, Research, Children and Family Research Institute
• William Honer, professor and head of the Dept. of Psychiatry and Director of the Institute of Mental Health
• Andrei Krassioukov, professor in the Division of Rehabilitation Medicine
• Christian Naus, professor in the Dept. of Cellular and Physiological Sciences and Director of the Life Sciences Institute
• Weihong Song, professor in the Dept. of Psychiatry
• Eric Yoshida, professor and head of the Division of Gastroenterology

For more information, visit http://med.ubc.ca/faculty-members-elected-to-canadian-academy-of-health-sciences/.

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UBC researcher receives HHMI International Biomedical award

Prof. Natalie Strynadka from the Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UBC Faculty of Medicine is one of 13 researchers announced by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to receive a Senior International Research Scholar (SIRS) award. The awards support outstanding biomedical scientists working outside the United States who have made significant contributions to fundamental research in the biological sciences. Each HHMI senior international research scholar will receive a grant of $100,000 per year over five years, and will present their research at scientific meetings held at HHMI.

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UBC j-school receives five COPA nominations

UBC’s Graduate School of Journalism is among the finalists for the fourth annual 2012 Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPA). The School is nominated in the Green division of COPA, which honours excellence in digital journalism and design from magazines, newspapers, broadcasters and online-only publishers.

Winners will be announced Oct. 22 at The Hoxton in Toronto. For more information, visit http://www.mastheadonline.com/news/2012/20120920650.shtml.

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Civil engineering alumni receive architectural award

UBC alumni Paul Fast (BASc Civil, ‘81) and Gerald Epp (BASc Civil, ‘81, MEng Civil, ‘83), partners of Fast + Epp, were recently recognized with the World Architecture News Engineering Award for 2012 for their project, the Visitor Centre for the VanDusen Botanical Gardens.

For more information, visit http://www.civil.ubc.ca/index.php.

Fast will be speaking as part of the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) Public Lecture Series on Oct. 15, 2012 on timber engineering and structures. The SALA fall lecture series includes:

Kim Nielsen and Kasper Guldager Jørgensen; Material Innovation in Architecture
Date: Sept. 27
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: Frederick Wood Theatre, 6354 Crescent Road

Blair Satterfield and Marc Swackhamer; HouMinn Practice
Date: Sept. 28
Time: 3 p.m.
Place: Vancouver Convention Centre West, Para Design Stage

Sean Lally; The Air on Other Planets
Date: Oct. 4
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: HR MacMillan Space Centre auditorium, 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver

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TerreWEB students featured in the New York Times for film work

UBC science graduate students were featured in a New York Times blogpost for their video, created in a film bootcamp organized by TerreWEB at UBC. With no experience in filmmaking, the students had three days to debunk a science myth using film as a medium.

The workshop was given by scientist turned Los Angeles filmmaker Randy Olson and co-hosted by Collaborative Research and Training Experience programs BRITE, WOW, and UBC Mix. All student films can be seen on the TerreWEB website.

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Sea Around Us Project launches fishing down website

Sea Around Us Project has launched http://www.fishingdown.org/, a website about the concept of “fishing down” in marine ecosystems, whereby fisheries have a tendency to deplete longer lived, high-trophic level species first, causing a decline in the mean trophic level of catches from an ecosystem.

The site provides scientific references and aggregates case studies illustrating the fishing down phenomenon, including a link to the original article led by UBC biologist Daniel Pauly, published in the journal Science titled “Fishing down marine food webs” (1998).

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Volunteers needed for fourth annual Allies in Health Fair, Oct. 31

The Division of Health Care Communication is seeking volunteers (one or more hours) on Oct. 31 for their Allies in Health community and patient fair held at UBC.

Volunteers will have the opportunity to converse with community members, health advocates, patients, family members, and care providers, network with students from various health disciplines and contribute to patient-centred care education for fellow students.

Date: Oct. 31
Time: 10:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
Place: Life Sciences Centre West Atrium, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
Info: http://www.meetingofexperts.org/. Contact Denise Kwan at 604-822-8002
or alliesinhealth@gmail.com with your availability

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Asia Pacific Memo: Tourism businesses in Asia must be socially responsible

Short text memos or video interviews on current issues in Asia and across the Pacific are published twice-weekly on the Asia Pacific Memo series.

• Tourism Businesses in Asia Must Be Socially Responsible, by UBC visiting associate professor Azilah Kasim
• The Indonesian Education Dilemma: High Test Scores or Genuine Learning? By University of the Sunshine Coast’s Anna Dall

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