Thursday, April 19, 2012
Medical geneticist Philip Andrew Hieter and evolutionary biologist Dolph Schluter of UBC were among 220 new members elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Hieter, a professor in the Dept. of Medical Genetics, studies the molecular genetics of proteins that are required for proper transmission of chromosomes during cell division, with the goal of relating his work in yeast to human cancer. For more information, visit http://med.ubc.ca/philip-hieter-elected-to-the-american-academy-of-arts-and-sciences/
Schluter, professor and Canada Research Chair in the Dept. of Zoology, focuses his research on adaptive radiation, the evolution of ecological diversity in groups of organisms that are multiplying rapidly. He is the fifth UBC science researcher to be named to the Academy. Mathematician Donald Ludwig, evolutionary biologist Loren Rieseberg, physicist William Unruh, and physicist and educator Carl Wieman, are all members. For more information, visit http://science.ubc.ca/news/614
The class of 2012 will be inducted at a ceremony on October 6 at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Academy’s current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.
Dr. Neil Cashman, chief scientific officer, director and founder of Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. and professor in the Division of Neurology and Scientific Director of PrioNet Canada at UBC, has been awarded the 2012 Genome B.C. Award for Scientific Excellence.
Cashman’s career includes authoring over 300 publications, a Canada Research Chair in Protein Misfolding, the Jonas Salk Prize, and being elected into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
He will receive the award at the Life Sciences BC annual awards gala on April 19, in Vancouver.
For more information, visit http://news.techfinance.ca/dr-neil-cashman-cso-of-amorfix-receives-genome-bc-award-for-scientific-excellence/.
The Bank of Canada announced that UBC economics professor Francesco Trebbi is this year’s recipient of the Governor’s Award.
Trebbi’s current research focuses on the political economy dynamics related to the financial crisis, consistency of financial sector regulation and the impact of housing market dynamics on the real economy.
The Governor’s Award recognizes outstanding academics at a relatively early stage in their careers who are working at Canadian universities in areas of research critical to the Bank of Canada’s mandate.
For more information, visit http://www.econ.ubc.ca/
Three Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) reports are at the top of Thomson Reuters’ “Hottest Research of 2011” list. Mark Halpern and Gary Hinshaw, of UBC Physics and Astronomy, are involved in the WMAP project, a NASA mission providing data for cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole.
For more information, visit http://www.phas.ubc.ca/wmap-tops-thomson-reuters-%E2%80%9Chottest-research%E2%80%9D-list-2011
Associate Professor Joanna McGrenere from the Department of Computer Science at UBC has been awarded the Canadian Association of Computer Science / Association d’Informatique Canadienne (CACS/AIC) Outstanding Young Computer Science Researcher Prize. The prize recognizes young computer science faculty members at Canadian universities within 10 years of their Ph.D. who have made significant contributions in their research careers.
McGrenere was one of three computer scientists in Canadian universities who received the prize.
For more information, visit https://www.cs.ubc.ca/news/2012/03/joanna-mcgrenere-receives-cacsaic-outstanding-young-computer-science-researcher-prize
Professor Emeritus William (Bill) Rees of the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) has received an honourary doctorate from Laval University.
To view photos of the event, visit
http://www.scarp.ubc.ca/news/2012/apr/17/bill-rees-honourary-doctorate-laval-university
Jenny Hanbi Kim, a graduate student from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC, has been selected to attend the 2012 Young Generation Forum (YGF) in Korea. This international forum draws 80 university science and engineering students from all over the world to exchange knowledge, network, and participate in five days of workshops. Kim is one of 12 students from Canadian universities selected to participate in this year’s forum.
To read more, visit http://www.pharmacy.ubc.ca/aboutus/faculty-news/2012-04-16
Computer Science graduate student Ron Maharik is the recipient of the Faculty of Science Graduate Prize. The award recognizes a Faculty of Science student whose record is the best in the graduating class for a Master’s degree with thesis.
For more information, visit https://www.cs.ubc.ca/news/2012/04/ron-maharik-receives-faculty-science-graduate-prize.
Short text memos or video interviews on current issues in Asia and across the Pacific are published twice-weekly at http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/
Two most recent Memos:
Apr. 17 – National Testing in Japan and Australia: To Publish or Not to Publish Scores? Keita Takayama, University of New England, Australia.
Apr. 12 – Exporting “Tough on Crime” Policy to Thailand: Harper’s Recent Visit, Aim Sinpeng, UBC political science PhD student.
Kate Collie is visiting Green College from the University of Alberta and the Arts in Medicine program at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. Mia Weinberg, a Vancouver artist specializing in public art, has been Collie’s primary artistic collaborator since 2000. Collie recently lost some use of her hands. Their latest collaboration are paintings, made mostly by Weinberg’s hands and mostly of Collie’s ideas.
Date: April 24
Time: 5-6:30 p.m.
Place: Coach House, Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Info: www.greencollege.ubc.ca/whats_on/index/events670/2012-04.php
Graduating students of Applied Science’s Class of 2012 are featured on http://www.apsc.ubc.ca/stars/congregation12/index.php
New profiles include:
• Jacob Bayless, Engineering Physics
• Saba Farmand, Masters in Landscape Architecture
• Emily Landry, School of Engineering
• Jared Whitehead, School of Civil Engineering