Daily Bulletin, Thursday, March 4
Chris Redmond
[1][University of Waterloo]
DAILY BULLETIN
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Thursday, March 4, 2004
* _Students showcase engineering this week_
* _Virus carries fake UW address_
* _Nine profs win research excellence awards_
* _Lectures explore Mennonite community_
Editor: Chris Redmond cred...@uwaterloo.ca
_[6]Just before Purim, the Fast of Esther _
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Students showcase engineering this week
Engineering students will be at [7]Conestoga Mall in north Waterloo
today to raise awareness about the importance of engineering and
technology and to encourage young people to consider careers in
engineering and technology.
Engineering student projects, including [8]Formula SAE, [9]Mini-Baja,
[10]WARG, and [11]Midnight Sun, will be on display at the mall from
9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. as part of Waterloo's contribution to [12]National
Engineering Week.
[Black truck] This Silverado is one of the vehicles converted to
a contest-winner by the UW Alternative Fuels Team
"We want people to come out and take a look at our displays and see
what kind of things engineering students do. We will have plenty of
people on hand to answer questions about the projects or engineering
in general, says Marc Joyce, co-director of National Engineering Week
for the Engineering Society. The Tool, the Ridgid 60-inch straight
pipe wrench that is the engineering mascot, will also be on display.
This weekend, students will be on hand at the [13]Waterloo Regional
Children's Museum helping to run [14]K'nex construction workshops for
local children. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 12 p.m. to 4
p.m. on Sunday, volunteers will work with children on the popular
building materials to help light the spark of imagination.
Another feature of Engineering Week will be the 28th annual Bus Push,
to be held Saturday starting at 10 a.m. As in the past, engineers will
push a disabled Grand River Transit bus from campus into downtown
Kitchener along University Avenue and King Street. This year's charity
fund-raiser will support the MS Society of Canada through a pledge to
the UW Engineering Team at the spring [15]Super Cities Walk for MS.
Virus carries fake UW address
Mydoom, Bagle, Netsky -- [16]the computer viruses keep coming, and
yesterday they were arriving with return addresses that hit close to
home.
_[17]PC World _
[18]Globe and Mail
[19]Michigan State U
Many examples of the Bagle (or Beagle) virus arrived with such return
addresses as "adminis...@uwaterloo.ca" and content telling users
to take immediate action to protect their e-mail accounts. They're
fakes, designed to get people to open attachments that carry the
virus.
"We have been fielding calls in the IST helpdesk about this virus
throughout the day," says Jason Greatrex of information systems and
technology. "These official looking messages have a malicious .zip or
.pif file attached to them. Please use extreme caution."
Users with questions can reach the help desk at ext. 4357, or find out
more about the virus from [20]Symantec.
It's not just Waterloo, as the same problem is happening at other
institutions -- the University of Delaware, for example, [21]put out a
similar warning yesterday.
Nine profs win research excellence awards
_-- from the UW media relations office_
Nine faculty members are recipients of the Premier's Research
Excellence Awards, which aim to encourage innovation among Ontario's
best and brightest young researchers within 10 years of receiving
their PhDs.
The researchers will each get $150,000 over the next five years, with
$100,000 in provincial money and $50,000 from university or corporate
co-sponsors. The funding supports graduate students, post-doctoral
fellows and other young researchers working with the PREA recipients.
The latest UW PREA recipients come from across the campus:
[22]Mark Aagaard, electrical and computer engineering, "Verified
Design Patterns for Pipelined Circuits." He explains: "In the design
of digital hardware systems, such as microprocessors, design engineers
usually choose evolutionary solutions over radical innovations. Even
if the radical innovations would provide significant benefits in
performance, area or power, engineers are hesitant to explore new
regions of the design space for fear of introducing bugs into their
hardware." The PREA funding will enable Aagaard to recruit a
post-doctoral fellow to develop verified design patterns for
pipe-lined circuits, used in digital-hardware systems ranging from
simple signal-processing filters to high-performance microprocessors.
[23]Otman Basir, systems design, "Biologically Inspired Sensory
Modules for Intelligent Vehicles." The award will enable Basir to
investigate and develop innovative biologically inspired sensors and
sensing techniques with emphasis on intelligent transportation systems
in the car industry. The research should result in significant
publication activity in the field of intelligent transportation
systems design technologies that can be commercialized.
[24]Duane Cronin, mechanical engineering, "Advanced Numerical
Modeling of Trauma to the Human Body." Says Cronin:
[Layers: ceramic, composite, anti-trauma]
"Typical hybrid armour" that might be used by peacekeepers -- a
diagram on Duane Cronin's Impact Biomechanics web site
"The Premier's Research Excellence Award will allow me to expand vital
areas of my current research program in Impact Biomechanics and
significantly advance an emerging area of research in numerical
modelling of trauma to the human body. The techniques and knowledge
developed in this area will lead towards the development of a 'virtual
human' for use in assessing and improving automotive vehicle
crashworthiness."
[25]Krzysztof Czarnecki, E&CE, "Generative Domain Modelling for
Rapid Software Application Development." The award will help will help
launch a research program aimed at improving productivity and quality
in software development through generative technologies. The project
will lead to tool prototypes and case studies.
[26]Derek Koehler, psychology, "Individual Retirement Savings and
Credit Card Debt: Good Intentions, Optimistic Predictions and Costly
Decisions." "Much of my research concerns how people make predictions
and plans," Koehler says, adding that the award will allow him to
extend his research to the topic of financial planning and
decision-making. He will probe the role of overly optimistic
predictions regarding future financial expenditures in the tendency of
many individuals to accumulate credit card debt and save
insufficiently for retirement. By investigating how people predict
their future spending and saving, the research will help to provide a
foundation for development of tools that Canadians can use to more
realistically evaluate their financial future and take the steps
necessary to make it brighter.
[27]Robert Linsley, fine arts, "Painting as a Paradigm for
Conceptual, Sculptural and Installation Practices Since the Late
1960s." Linsley will supervise research on abstract painting and
sculpture of the period from 1967 to 1972 and original creative work
by young artists. The aim is to explore why abstract painting became
the source for new directions in sculpture and installation, and how
an understanding of that history can enable new departures in
contemporary art.
[28]Zoran Miskovic, applied math, "Interactions of Nano-Particles
with Matter." Besides forming a research group in the area of
interactions of nano-particles, the award will help Miskovic's group
establish contacts and initiate collaborations with a broad range of
nano-researchers through the relevant national and international
networks. "Since nano-science is an extremely rapidly developing area,
it is imperative to stay alert of the ongoing research activity," he
says.
[29]Mahesh Pandey, civil engineering, "Risk Assessment and Cost
Effective Management of Energy Systems and Infrastructure."
Improvement in power generation and transmission capacity is
considered key to economic success and an enhanced quality of life in
Ontario and Canada. The award will enable work to develop scientific
protocols for inspection, assessment and refurbishment of power
transmission systems. "The research results of the program are
expected to reduce the operating costs, improve the efficiency and
prolong the service life of critical engineering systems in power
generation and transmission facilities," Pandey says.
[30]Edlyn Teske, combinatorics and optimization, "Number-Theoretic
Security of Public-Key Cryptosystems." "I anticipate exciting joint
work on current and new public-key cryptographic schemes, both in
terms of theoretical investigations and practical implementations,"
Teske says. "Disseminating our results in print and presentations will
result in increased confidence in currently deployed cryptographic
tools and will provide guidance for future applications in sectors
such as electronic commerce or homeland security."
_WHEN AND WHERE_
_'Learning Design:_ Developing New Standards", LT3 workshop, 10:30,
Flex lab, Dana Porter Library.
_Funeral service_ for Gerard Campbell, St. Jerome's University
philosophy professor, 11:00, St. John's Roman Catholic Church, Strange
Street, Kitchener.
_'Hydraulic Habitats_ in Streams and Rivers", Robert Newbury,
[31]Newbury Hydraulics, 1:30, Davis Centre room 1302.
_Career workshops:_ "Interview Skills", 2:30, "Preparing for
Questions", 3:30, Tatham Centre room 1208.
_New York alumni reception_, 6 to 8 p.m., Canadian Club, West 44
Street.
_Arriscraft architecture lecture_, Barry Sampson, "Inflection and
Innuendo: Building and Just After", 7 p.m., Environmental Studies II
room 286.
_'Spiritual Fitness for Life'_, Mohamed Elmasry, presented by
[32]Spiritual Heritage Education Network, 7 p.m., Math and Computer
room 4021.
_'The Reception of Islamic Science_ in Western Europe", George Saliba,
Columbia University, 7 p.m., Rod Coutts Hall room 101.
_'After the Double Cohort:_ Student-Community Relations", symposium
[33]sponsored by City of Waterloo, opening panel tonight 8 p.m.,
Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex.
_Bomber beach party_ with music and raffles, proceeds to increasing
accessibility at Renison College, starts 9 p.m., Bombshelter Pub.
_Warrior Weekend_ events Friday (karaoke, "Mona Lisa Smile",
"Gothika") and Saturday (coffee house, juggling festival), Student
Life Centre.
_Charity Ball_ sponsored by [34]Smiling Over Sickness, dinner and
dancing at Knights of Columbus Hall, Thursday, March 11, tickets $25
from SOS booth in Student Life Centre.
Lectures explore Mennonite community
[35]Nancy Heisey, president of the [36]Mennonite World Conference,
will present the 2004 Bechtel Lectures in Anabaptist Mennonite Studies
at Conrad Grebel University College tonight and tomorrow. "Life and
Witness within the Global Mennonite World Conference Community" is the
theme.
Tonight, Heisey will speak about "Shaping and Being Shaped: Anabaptist
Identity(ies) Past and Present". Friday, her lecture is entitled
"Martyrdom as Metaphor: Aspects of Global Anabaptist Witness". Both
lectures will start at 7 p.m. in the great hall at Conrad Grebel. A
reception will follow the presentation.
Heisey is associate professor of biblical studies and church history
at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia.
"We're particularly pleased to have Nancy Heisey present the 2004
Bechtel Lectures," said Henry Paetkau, Grebel's president. "She will
help us think beyond the North American experience of 'being
Mennonite' and consider what it means to be part of a global Mennonite
and Brethren in Christ community." A global perspective is important
and appropriate not only for a lecture series dedicated to
[37]Anabaptist/Mennonite themes but also for [38]Conrad Grebel, which
stands in that faith tradition, he said.
The Bechtel Lectures in Anabaptist Mennonite Studies were established
in 2000 by Waterloo County businessman and farmer Lester Bechtel, in
honour of his late wife, Alma. The purpose of the lectureship is to
foster interest in and understanding of Anabaptist/Mennonite faith by
seeing it through the eyes of experts from a range of disciplines.
CAR
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[39]Communications and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1
(519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | [40]Yesterday's Daily Bulletin
Copyright © 2004 University of Waterloo
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