UBC This Week 17-July-2014

 

Recent UBC Media Releases

Jul 17 Atlantic salmon also show capacity to adapt to warmer waters
Jul 16 New technology protects elephants from poachers
Jul 16 Budding industry: How legal marijuana trade affects Canada
Jul 15 Physicians struggle to clinically diagnose early HIV infection
Jul 15 Brazil’s political football
Jul 15 Experts for comment on forest fires
Jul 14 Hitting the road, safely
Jul 10 A rare fossil clue to pre-historic Canada
Jul 8 Power drills go from the toolbox to the operating room

Upcoming Event Highlights

Jul 18 What’s the Matter with Antimatter?
Jul 19 Three Sisters in the Kitchen – Traditional Maya cooking workshop
Jul 20 Where shrews walk on water and other endangered species tales
Jul 21 Ask our Recruiter In Residence
Jul 22 Faculty of Education: Connect drop-in clinic
Jul 23-25 Blueberry Fest
Jul 23 International Conference on Improving University Teaching
Jul 23 Why God loves ancient Chinese pottery
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

UBC launches annual report: “Connected by Commitment”

Through storytelling and metrics, UBC’s Connected by Commitment 2013-2014 Annual Report brings to life the many ways in which the UBC community is working together to achieve the nine commitments outlined in the UBC Strategic Plan, Place and Promise. The report, launched July 14, features over 70 stories through text and multimedia, an interactive timeline of major milestones, a financial summary infographic, an indicators and metrics scorecard comparing progress, unit-level annual reports, and a customizable option to create and share the report.

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“Fish notebooks” go global

Thousands of “fish notebooks” containing valuable research data are now available for online viewing around the world, thanks to a successful project between UBC Library’s Digitization Centre and the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. The effort involved the transcription of more than 11,200 records containing a raft of key data on the UBC Fish Collection. This collection, the third-largest of its kind in Canada, features more than 850,000 specimens and more than 50,000 DNA and tissue samples; some of the resulting records are more than a century old.

“This digitization project means that people can now look for factors in the environment that may drive the existence and co-existence of species,” says Eric Taylor, Zoology professor and director/curator at Beaty. For more information, visit the Library site.

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Computer Science members win best paper award

Computer Science professors Giuseppe Carenini and Cristina Conati, post-doctoral fellow Ben Steichen, and graduate students Dereck Toker and Michael Wu won the Springer Best Paper Award at the 2014 International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (UMAP). Their paper was titled “Te, Te, Hi, Hi: Eye Gaze Sequence Analysis for Informing User-Adaptive Information Visualizations.” Conati won the same award at last year’s UMAP, together with PhD student Samad Kardan.

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SALA faculty member receives Core77 Design Award

Blair Satterfield, assistant professor of architecture at UBC, and Marc Swackhamer won a Professional Runner-Up Award in the interiors and exhibitions category of this year’s Core77 Design Awards. Satterfield and Swackhamer co-founded HouMinn Practice. Their winning project, VarVac Wall, is part of a remodel of the front office of a school of architecture. Click here for the complete list of winners.

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Nursing alum wins Michael Smith Foundation award

The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research has announced that Martha Mackay, clinical assistant professor with the UBC School of Nursing, is a recipient of a 2014 Scholar Award. Mackay is a clinical nurse specialist in cardiology at St. Paul’s Hospital’s Heart Centre in Vancouver and an alumna of UBC, having completed her BSN, MSN, and PhD with UBC Nursing.

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Engineers print 3D item from recycled ocean plastic

Mechanical engineering students recently teamed with The Plastic Bank to develop an extruder that reduces plastic waste to a long plastic filament that can then be used to make 3D printed items. The Plastic Bank, a Vancouver-based social enterprise, will utilize the device to reduce waste by transforming discarded plastics into new items using 3D printing. Read more here.

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Award-winning device removes surgical smoke

Biomedical engineering students won the 2014 Joel Bert award for their design of an ergonomic electrosurgery smoke evacuator that clears 95 per cent of surgical smoke in operating rooms. The device was designed by Navid Shirza, Jacqueline Soicher, Quan Guo and Chao Jin, members of the Engineers in Scrubs biomedical engineering graduate program at UBC. For more, click here.

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Statistical models improve ultrasound-guided spinal injections

A recent paper from Electrical & Computer Engineering’s Robotics and Control Lab won this year’s Philips/IPCAI Audience Best Presentation Award. The paper describes the methods behind a multi-centre study on how 3D ultrasound, when linked to a statistical model of the vertebrae, can help a radiologist guide a needle into the spine for pain relief. This research is the result of collaboration between many engineers, clinicians and students as well as the patients who volunteered for the study. Read more here.

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MOA unveils cultural journeys

The Museum of Anthropology invites art lovers to join MOA Journeys, a travel program that offers new insights and fresh perspectives on art and culture around the globe. The first trip is to Cuba in November, with an experienced local guide unveiling Havana and regions beyond. Orlando Hernández, host and guest-curator of MOA’s current exhibit “Without Masks: Contemporary Afro-Cuban Art” will also grant exclusive access to galleries, artists’ studios, marketplaces and other cultural experiences. Visit www.moa.ubc.ca/journeys for more information.

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