UBC This Week 10-Oct-2013

One in seven B.C. children lives in poverty. More than one third of children in Grades 4-7 are bullied or bully others. About one in four seniors live alone. United Way knows how to prevent poverty, bullying and social isolation, and United Way and UBC have worked together for many years examining social issues and identifying prevention-based solution.

The annual UBC Community United Way kicked off October 7. This year, UBC aims to raise $590,000 and increase the number of donors contributing through monthly payroll donations. Please join us in supporting the UBC Community United Way Campaign.  For more information, visit http://www.unitedway.ubc.ca/.

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Three professors in the Arts faculty have been inducted into the Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) – the highest honour a scholar can achieve in the arts, humanities and sciences in Canada. They are Tim Brook, history; Evan Thompson, philosophy; and Jamie Peck, geography. For more information, visit http://news.ubc.ca/2013/10/02/ubc-faculty-named-fellows-of-royal-society-of-canada-chemistry-prof-awarded-medal/.

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Prof. Tim Salcudean was elected as a Fellow of The Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention Society (MICCAI Society) for his outstanding contributions in biomedical engineering, particularly in optimization-based computer-aided design of control systems and robots, teleoperation, haptic interfaces and virtual environments, medical robotics, devices and imaging, and vibration isolation with Lorentz magnetic levitation.

Salcudean’s work has facilitated technology transfer in a number of areas through patents and licensing agreements. Click here for more information.

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Congratulations go to Prof. James Feng who was recently elected Fellow of the American Physical Society. This Fellowship is a recognition by his peers for his “pioneering studies of solid-liquid two-phase flows, interfacial dynamics of complex fluids, and phase-field modelling of the moving contact line.” Visit http://ow.ly/pEHF8 for details.

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Graduates of Theatre and Film at UBC shone at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).

“The Dick Knost Show,” directed by alum Bruce Sweeney, won the debut award for Best B.C. Film. The film, about an abrasive talk show host who thinks concussions are comedy fodder until he sustains one himself, stars UBC professor and alum Tom Scholte.

Alum Matthew Kowalchuk won VIFF’s B.C. Emerging Filmmaker Award for his comedy “Lawrence and Holloman.” The first-time director offered a special thanks to playwright and UBC Creative Writing alumnus Morris Panych, who wrote the script the film was adapted from.

More press about the movie from Globe & Mail, Vancouver Sun, and The Province.

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Prof. Vikram Krishnamurthy received an honorary doctorate at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.

Krishnamurthy, the Senior Canada Research Chair in Signal Processing and world-leading researcher in the area of signal processing, is a frequent guest researcher at KTH. He has given courses and supervised doctoral students from several of KTH’s schools and contributes strongly to the research exchange between KTH and UBC. For more information, visit http://www.ece.ubc.ca/news/201310/vikram-krishnamurthy-receives-honorary-doctorate-kth.

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The Faculty of Arts’ UBC Philosophy site recently won silver at the W3 Awards sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts. Last month, the site also received a Standard of Excellence award, University category, at the 2013 New Media Awards handed out by the New Media Institute of New York.

The core web design team consists of Lenkyn Ostapovich, Senior Graphic Designer; Nick Lewis, Manager, Digital Communications; April van Ert, Content Editor; Shaffiq Rahemtulla, Web Development Manager; Amir Entezaralmahdi, Web Application Developer; and Sherman Hui, Communications Assistant.

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UBC’s iGEM team received gold medal status and an award for the best mathematical model at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) North America regional championships in Toronto.

More than 250 teams of undergraduate students participate in the annual synthetic biology competition. Each team builds a biological system inside a living cell using a kit of DNA and RNA sequences engineered for specific purposes. The UBC team comprises Applied Science and Science undergrads who carry out a student-driven research project from May to November under the mentorship of faculty members Dr. Steven Hallam and Dr. Joanne Fox and led by Mike VanInsberghe and graduate student advisors James Round and Ray Socha.

This year’s team includes Fisal Elstone, Joe Ho, Dan Korvin, Anna Muller, Grace Yi, Michael Peters, Frances Russell, Cameron Strachan, Negin Tousi, Liz Geum, Joel Kumlin, Dave VanInsberghe, and Tony Zhao. The team will take part in the World Championships at MIT in Boston in November.

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The Chemical & Biological Engineering (CHBE) Graduate Student Club held its first professional development seminar on September 20 featuring Prof. Xiaotao (Tony) Bi as the speaker. After completing his PhD from this department, Bi worked at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal as a postdoctoral follow and at the Natural Gas Technologies Centre as a research scientist prior to joining UBC as a faculty member in 1997. Read more about the seminar at http://ow.ly/pEHod

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UBC alum Séamus Kealy bested more than 50 other candidates to become director of the Salzburger Kunstverein, a centre for contemporary art in Salzburg, Austria.

Kealy completed his Fine Arts studies under artists Jeff Wall, Mark Lewis and Ken Lum at UBC. His work has often combined art and politics.

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Two free events on October 23 will showcase the wonders of the universe.

From 1:15 – 2:45 p.m., a public observation of the sun with a solar telescope will offer opportunities to see solar prominences, solar flares and related events. Come to the north side of the Hennings building and cross your fingers for a sunny day.

Later, experts will talk about “The Universe: Its Structure and Its Support of Life,” 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. in the Earth Sciences building. Join Dr. Graca Rocha of California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Dr. Pascal Lee of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in exploring such questions as: Why is the universe the way it is? Are we alone in our galaxy? And can we ever achieve interstellar travel?

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UBC students and faculty are invited to next week’s second annual coaching and tutoring open house, presented by the Chapman Learning Commons (CLC). Drop by for a slice of cake and find out about the CLC’s learning support services including Coaches’ Corner, AMS Tutoring and the Writing Centre. Come celebrate learning with the CLC!

Date: Wednesday, October 16
Time: 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Qualicum Room, Level 3 at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre

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Vancouver Coastal Health is offering meningococcal (bacterial) meningitis vaccines at a reduced price ($90) for the month of October. The vaccine is highly recommended for youths aged 12-24, especially students in college/university.

Bacterial meningitis is rare but one in five who get it die from it, and young people are particularly at risk. Call 604 736-9244 to make an appointment or visit https://www.facebook.com/VCHTravelClinic.

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To help you get prepared to ride in Bike to Work Week, UBC is offering a free cycling training course – an intermediate-level workshop for those who ride to work in the summer and are thinking of trying it in the fall or winter. Learn advanced tips and tricks about biking to work in Metro Vancouver’s winter riding conditions, including dressing for the weather, advanced cycling safety, cold-weather care for your bike, lights and visibility, and UBC-specific bike parking and resources.

Date: Wednesday, October 23, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Location: Henry Angus building (map) Room 254
Info: Email Neal.Wells@ubc.ca to register with full name, email address, and association to UBC (student, faculty, staff)

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