UBC This Week 22-Aug-2013

UBC has released its undergraduate 2014 viewbook for prospective students, You Are UBC. The book offers future students a look into life at both the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses through videos, infographics, photos, and more.

For the second year, the viewbook includes an augmented reality function. Readers can download the prospective student app and as they read the viewbook, they simply hold their mobile device over key pages and a video will begin to play on their smartphone or tablet. The 15 videos bring the viewbook and UBC’s campuses to life.

The UBC prospective student app also encourages future students to engage with one another and the University. Users can create photo messages to share with friends, view a curated gallery of the latest Instagram images hashtagged #UBC, and learn about the application process. To see what the app and viewbook can do, click here.

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Five faculty members from UBC have been awarded grants by the Arthritis Society, B.C. and Yukon Division. Totaling over one million dollars over the next four years, the funding will help them move forward with research projects that will directly affect those in B.C. and the Yukon living with arthritis. For more information, click here.

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Co-edited by Civil Engineering professor Don Mavinic, the Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science (JEES) will be re-launched this year by The Institution of Civil Engineers. Former director of the UBC Geological Engineering Program and current professor of Earth and Ocean Sciences Roger Beckie and Civil Engineering adjunct professor Ken Ashley will sit on the journal’s editorial board.

JEES welcomes full research papers, short communications and comprehensive review articles. To submit an abstract or to request further details and full journal guidelines, contact Rebecca Ratty at rebecca.ratty@icepublishing.com or visit www.icevirtuallibrary.com.

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Nicolas Dragojlovic, a science communication and policy researcher, has joined the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences as a postdoctoral student to study the impact of moral arguments on societal values for orphan drug coverage under the supervision of Associate Professor Larry Lynd. Dragojlovic is the recipient of the 2013 Canadian Institutes of Health Research Orphan Drug Policy Fellowship and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Post-Doctoral Fellow Trainee Award. To read more, click here.

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Mechanical Engineering doctoral student Matthew Pan is the 2013 recipient of the Motion Metrics/ Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (ICICS) Graduate Scholarship. The $5,000 annual award is granted to a second-year Masters or PhD student who is supervised by an ICICS member and who demonstrates excellence in multidisciplinary, application-oriented research. Pan is currently investigating novel methods of performing human-robot co-operative manipulation of objects, supervised by Prof. Elizabeth Croft. For more information, click here.

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The theme of this year’s Electrical and Computer Engineering 375/474, a computer-based instrumental design laboratory, is robotic search and rescue. Instructed by Prof. Paul Lusina, students had to build an autonomous vehicle that can carry out a simulated search and rescue operation. To view photos of their project, click here.

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UBC and the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility (CHHM) will host Dr. Steven Blair, an international physical activity expert and scholar, during the week of August 27. Blair will attend strategic planning sessions at CHHM regarding its Exercise is Medicine initiatives. He will also be the key focus of an all-day event in Abbotsford August 28, in which he will be speaking to UBC preceptors, residents, key community leaders, and the public on the impact that physical activity can have on individuals, communities, and the healthcare system.

For more information, contact David Adams, Associate Director, MobilityBC – UBC Centre for Hip Health and Mobility at 604.875.4111 (ext. 21784) or 604.376.1474.

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Faculty members and support staff are invited to come to the Connect All-Day Drop-in and talk to specialists from UBC Library and the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology. Participants can receive one-on-one assistance with the Connect course, the learning management system at UBC, course reserves and copyright issues.

Date:  August 29
Time:  10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Place:  Seminar Room 2.22A, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall

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