UBC This Week 27-March-2014

The new, non–profit Global Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (GIEES) has been incorporated in the U.S. and will be based out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. UBC Civil Engineering Professor Don Mavinic is one of two Canadians to be invited to serve on their international board. The 15 member board will have a mandate to provide technical and research services/advice on global energy, environment and sustainability with initial focus to the UN, World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank. For more information, click here.

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Four researchers from the Vancouver Prostate Centre are recipients of Prostate Cancer Research Awards from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. The awards total more than US$2.8 million. The Vancouver Prostate Centre is hosted by the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and UBC and receives substantial financial support from Vancouver General Hospital and UBC Hospital Foundation. For more information, click here.

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Computer Science Associate Professor Kevin Leyton-Brown is the recipient of a 2013 Canadian Association of Computer Science Outstanding Young Computer Science Researcher Prize. The award recognizes young computer science faculty members at Canadian universities within 10 years of their PhD who have made significant contributions in their research. Leyton-Brown was one of three eligible Canadian computer scientists who were selected for the prize. Click here for more info.

Susannah Kirby, a student in the Bachelor of Computer Science program, has been selected as a recipient of the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship for 2014. Kirby is one of five Canadian recipients who will receive the scholarship of $5,000 and is invited to attend the scholars retreat at the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA. For more information, click here.

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Larry Leung and Jason Min, professors in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, have won a 2014 B.C. Community Achievement Award in recognition of their work with First Nations communities in the province. For more information, click here.

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The Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education has honoured UBC medical student David Kim with a 3M National Student Fellowship. The awards recognize undergraduate students in Canada who have demonstrated outstanding leadership. Kim founded UBC Students Offering Support with fellow students, raising more than $50,000 and helped build an elementary school in Nicaragua. Kim was also chief operating officer of the World Model United Nations Conference in 2012 in Vancouver where he and his team inspired world leaders to implement positive changes through discourse and calls to action. For more information, click here.

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Angelica Ruszkowski, a Master of Science student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) working with professor Tim Salcudean, received the Microsoft Graduate Women’s Scholarship to support her research in ECE’s Robotics and Control lab. For more information, click here.

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Electrical and computer engineering students Khalid Karim of UBC and Jacob Andreou of Queen’s University have designed an app called ThinkAkili and won Facebook’s Global Hackathon competition. ThinkAkili is an online retail analytic platform that preselects items based on a user’s online history, past purchases and social media profiles, then links to in-store monitors to displays the user’s choices. The app uses Bluetooth Low Energy and remains unopened on a smart phone while it communicates with the store. For more info, click here.

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The UBC Phenomenal Physics Summer Camps (grade two to 10) offers four different week-long camps to a range of ages and interests for young people who enjoy learning science through activities and demonstrations. For camp description and registration, visit http://bit.ly/phascamps or email camps@phas.ubc.ca. The camps run from July 7 to August 1, 2014.

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Make a donation to UBC during the 2014 UBC start an evolution Faculty and Staff Appeal (February 18 to March 31) and be entered to win a $150 UBC Bookstore gift certificate or a UBC ticket pack that includes a season pass to 2014-15 Athletics and Theatre at UBC. Visit startanevolution.ca/facultystaff to learn more, or to enter the contest without making a donation.

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