UBC This Week 15-May-2014

 

Recent UBC Media Releases

May 15 Howard Martin bequest leaves $27 million to Vancouver organizations
May 15 Most NHL players peak by age 29: study
May 14 UBC Chung Collection celebrated in new documentary
May 14 Waterless car wash: new UBC Parking partnership benefits youth, environment
May 14 A new path through ancient forests
May 12 Ukraine – slow slide to war?
May 12 UBC scientists find new way to mobilize immune system against viruses
May 12 Shelter from the storm
May 9 UBC student creates self-folding paper
May 9 Welding sparks interest of UBC engineer

Upcoming Event Highlights

May 16-28 Queering Citizenship
May 16 Pollay Prize Lecture: For better or for worse – Marketing’s contributions to society
May 17 Royal Opera House Live Cinema at UBC – Verdi: Les Vepres Siciliennes
May 20 Indian Elections 2014: Challenges for the New Government
May 20 Invitation to Participate – Aboriginal (Un)History Month June 2014
May 20 Climate change visualisation exhibition
May 21-23 Graduation
May 21 Baccalaureate Concert
May 22 2014 Medical Education Day for Health Professionals & William Webber Memorial Lecture in Medical Education
May 24 Alumni Weekend
May 26-28 Graduation
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

2014 Winners of the President’s Service Awards for Excellence

In recognition of their outstanding contributions to the UBC community and their personal achievements, five staff members have been awarded the 2014 President’s Service Award for Excellence (PSAE).

This year’s winners are:

• Paola Baca, Associate Director, Undergraduate Admissions, in Enrolment Services (Vancouver campus)
• Penelope (Lebby) Balakshin, Biodiversity Research Centre Administrator at the Biodiversity Research Centre (Vancouver campus)
• Ken Day, Manager, Alex Fraser Research Forest, Faculty of Forestry (Alex Fraser Research Forest site)
• Erin Shannon, Manager, Academic Support, in Enrolment Services (Okanagan campus)
• Leah Walker, Associate Director, Education, at the Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health (School of Population and Public Health) (St. Paul’s Hospital site)

Full citations for the PSAE recipients will be available this fall. For more on previous PSAE winners, visit the PSAE recipients page.

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Psychology prof elected Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Janet Werker, a professor in the Department of Psychology, has been elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which recognizes leaders in science, social science, humanities, arts, business and public affairs. Werker’s research focuses on understanding the roots of language acquisition by studying speech perception in infancy.

The new inductees will be welcomed on October 11, 2014 at the Academy in Cambridge, MA. Click here for more info.

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Chemical and Biological Engineering professor invested as Officer of the Order of Canada

Chemical and Biological Engineering professor John Grace was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada in a ceremony at Rideau Hall on May 7, 2014. He was among 45 new recipients of the Order of Canada, 35 Members and 10 Officers. The honour was bestowed by the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada.

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UBC researchers receive funding from PICS

The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) has funded three new UBC research projects that aim to address climate change and create societal change. UBC’s projects are part of a $474,000 investment for 11 projects that will take place at UBC, the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, and the University of Northern British Columbia.

Stephanie Chang in the School of Community and Regional Planning aims to reduce the recurrence of floods by supporting post-disaster land use changes. Xiaotao Tony Bi of the Clean Energy Research Centre and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering will study the potential to convert manure to renewable biogas on livestock farms. Michael Brauer of the School for Population and Public Health will create a heat map of the Lower Mainland to help minimize the health effects of extreme hot weather events in the future.

Click here for more information.

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J-School student and alumna receive Canadian Association of Journalism awards

UBC School of Journalism student Lisa Hale and alumna Krystle Alarcon were finalists at the Canadian Association of Journalism (CAJ) annual awards for outstanding investigative journalism in Canada for 2013.

Alarcon received a CWA/CAJ Award for Labour Reporting for her four-part series Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers Controversy: Years in the Making which was published by The Tyee.  Hale was awarded in the Open Broadcast Feature category for The Imaginary Albino, a radio documentary she co-wrote and co-produced which was broadcast on CBC Radio One – Ideas.

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Open Scholar winners announced

Congratulations to the latest winners of the GSS cIRcle Open Scholar AwardHelen Halbert and Polly Ng. Halbert was part of a trio that produced the paper Toward a Model of Mobile User Engagement. Ng was recognized for her entry Making the case for using development cost charges for climate change mitigation. The award highlights UBC as a leader in the open dissemination of graduate student work, and creates an incentive for grad students to populate cIRcle with material beyond theses and dissertations. For more info, visit the Library’s site.

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Dining elegance on display at UBC Library

The Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections teamed up with local historian Larry Wong to create an exhibit called “Bon Voyage / Bon Appétit: Menus from the Canadian Pacific Railway Company’s Ships, Trains, Planes, and Hotels.”

The exhibition features historical food menus from the Canadian Pacific Railway as well as a few digitized menus from Vancouver’s Chinatown. The show is on display in the Chung Collection exhibition room until the end of 2014. For more, visit the Library site.

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Chung Collection doc premieres on Knowledge Network

A documentary film produced by UBC Library premieres on the Knowledge Network on May 16. The film Passage of Dreams: The Chung Collection looks at the stories behind one of the Library’s rare and special collections, the Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection. Produced by Gemini Award winner and UBC alumna Karin Lee from Vancouver-based Top Dollar Sisters Productions, Passage of Dreams focuses on UBC alumnus Dr. Wallace B. Chung and his love of collecting Canadian Pacific items – a passion that began in childhood and grew to encompass more than 25,000 items. For more on the documentary, see the UBC media advisory.

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Lecture: The Search of Peking Man

In celebration of explorASIAN 2014, the Asian Library is partnering with the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society to host a lecture titled “The Search of Peking Man.”

Presented by Harry Lam, Ernest Rutherford Emeritus Professor of Physics at McGill University and Honourary Professor of UBC Physics and Astronomy, the lecture will tell the dramatic and mysterious story of the loss and search of ‘Peking Man’ fossils.

Date:  May 22, 2014
Time:  2 – 3:30 p.m.
Place:  Asian Centre Auditorium, 1871 West Mall

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Canada’s Writing Conference at UBC May 15-18

Canada’s Writing Conference will be held at UBC campus May 15-18 for a weekend of readings, panels and seminars about the art and craft of literature. Keynote readings will be given by Joseph Boyden, Lisa Moore and Amy Bloom. For a full schedule and further information, click here.

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