Thursday, April 26, 2012
Stephen Withers, Director of UBC’s Centre for High-Throughput Biology, was elected to United Kingdom’s Royal Society on April 20. Withers is a professor of chemistry who studies how enzymes function, engineers them for use in industrial applications, and develops inhibitors as potential therapeutics. Eleven UBC Science researchers have been elected to the Society to date.
For more information, visit http://science.ubc.ca/news/616.
UBC Okanagan Engineering Asst. Prof. Cigdem Eskicioglu has received the 2012 Early in Career Award from Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFA BC) for her work on processing organic waste into renewable energy and organic fertilizer. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/I7o4uf.
Akram Alfantazi, professor in the Dept. of Materials Engineering and associate dean, Research and Graduate Studies of the Faculty of Applied Science, has been selected to be a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) in recognition of his contribution to the metallurgical industry, through his work on corrosion and electrometallurgy. He joins previous CIM Fellows from the department: Keith Brimacombe (1988), Indira Samarasekera (1999) and David Dreisinger (2009).
For more information, visit http://bit.ly/HYbZVi.
UBC Landscape Architecture Assoc. Prof. Patrick Mooney has received the Exceptional Contribution Award from the B.C. Society of Landscape Architects (BCSLA) for his service contribution to the BCSLA and for enhancing the relationship between UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and the profession. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/ITs63A.
UBC Chemical and Biological Engineering Prof. Madjid Mohseni is this year’s recipient of Excellence in the Water and Waste Community – Individual Award from the B.C. Water and Waste Association (BCWWA) for his contributions in safeguarding public health and the environment by advancing excellence in the water and waste community. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/K6Y25F
Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof. Leo Stocko has been recognized for outstanding achievement in teaching with the UBC Killam Teaching Prize. Faculty members are nominated by students, colleagues, and alumni for this award. For more information,visit http://www.ece.ubc.ca/news/201204/dr-stocco-wins-ubc-killam-teaching-prize.
UBC School of Nursing faculty members Lynda Balneaves, Alison Phinney and Elsie Tan were recognized by the College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (CRNBC) for their contributions to the profession and for demonstrating excellence in relation to the CRNBC Professional Standards for Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/IwnUv5.
UBC graduate students are recipients of the Africa Initiative Graduate Research Grant (AIGRG) which supports Africa-and Canada-based graduate students undertaking policy-related research on Africa. The 2012 round of grants include 10 based at African universities and 10 based at Canadian institutions.
• Charles Roger from UBC will be researching with Addis Ababa University.
• Kieran Findlater from UBC will be researching with Stellenbosch University.
• Chris Tenove from UBC will be researching with the International Criminal Court and Makerere University.
• Claude-Michel Nzotungicimpaye from the University of Cape Town will be coming to UBC to work with a professor in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences.
For more information, visit http://www.africaportal.org/exchange/students-profile.
First year student Zeeshan Dhanan from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC is the first-place winner of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists video competition. To read more and see the video, visit http://www.pharmacy.ubc.ca/aboutus/faculty-news/2012-04-24.
Computer science undergraduate program assistant Chelsey Maher, PhD student Sarah Rastkar and lecturer Kimberly Voll have all received the Faculty of Science Achievement Award. The award recognizes staff, students and faculty whose contributions in service, administration, leadership and outreach have had a positive impact in achieving the goals of the Faculty of Science. For more on the award, visit http://science.ubc.ca/faculty/awards/achievement.
PhD student Bruno da Silva has won the Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award. The certificate, with a $1,000 prize, is awarded annually to 17 UBC teaching assistants in recognition of the valuable role they play in undergraduate programs. For more information, visit http://vpacademic.ubc.ca/killam-graduate-teaching-assistant-awards/
Harshul Srivastava has received the Larry K. Wilson Regional Student Activities Award in recognition of his exemplary service to the UBC IEEE Student Branch. For more information, visit http://www.ece.ubc.ca/
Chemical and Biological Engineering student James Butler has received the 2011/12 UBC Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award which recognizes UBC graduate students for their outstanding contribution to teaching and learning.
Chemical and Biological Engineering graduate students James Butler and Nagu Daraboina were awarded the John R. Grace Graduate Scholarships for demonstrating academic excellence and performing research on energy, the environment, and/or multi-phase systems.
UBC Mining Engineering students were awarded Canadian Mineral Industry Education Fund (CMIEF) Scholarships. Kyle Buckoll, Brad St. Pierre and Mike Myers received the Futter award traditionally given to one student with the most potential from across Canada. UBC Mining received 21 CMIEF scholarships, the highest number of scholarships awarded across Canada.
As part of National Volunteer Week, UBC Access and Diversity’s Crane Library hosted its first ever narrate-a-thon. For 24 hours on April 20, volunteers took turns narrating books for K-12 students in the Bella Coola School District.
Crane Library creates audio-recorded materials for persons with print disabilities and is one of the largest producers of human voice audio in Canada.
Successes from the narrate-a-thon include:
• 74 volunteers participated
• 3,376 pages read
• 11 books completed and several more started
• One volunteer narrated for 10 hours straight
• One volunteer narrated for 7.5 hours straight, from 1 a.m. until 8:30 a.m.
Short text Memos or video interviews of current issues in Asia and across the Pacific are published twice-weekly on http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/.
The two most recent Memos:
Apr. 24 – Regulating International Student Mobility
Apr. 19 – Protests in China: Oppositional, or a Reflection of Faith in the System?
Former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan will host another season of salons featuring Vancouver’s leaders and thinkers. Speakers for the May 16 Public Salon: Ideas That Move the City will include Charles Barber of City Opera, Jim Bolger, environmental ocean researcher, Carolyn Chan and Clancy Dennehy of Metal Dog, Hal Gunn of Inspire Health, Jas Johal, Global TV journalist, Unjali Malhotra, women’s health expert, and Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon.
Date: May 16
Time: 7:30 – 9 p.m.
Place: Vancouver Playhouse Theatre (southeast corner of Hamilton and Dunsmuir Streets)
Info: http://www.greencollege.ubc.ca/whats_on/index/main3/events/category65.php