Thursday, May 31, 2012
Three UBC Faculty of Applied Science engineering professors are leading automotive research projects with $2.1 million funding from AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Canada’s automotive research program. They will partner with researchers from other Canadian universities over a two-year period.
Materials Engineering Assoc. Prof. Daan Maijer will lead a project worth $823,200 that advances chill technology for powertrain components, which will increase fuel economy. Mechanical Engineering Assoc. Prof. Douglas Romilly will lead a project worth $812,250 that addresses ways to reduce occupant injury in rear-end collisions. Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof. Lutz Lampe will lead a project worth $514,000 that focuses on power line communications for electric vehicles.
The AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence has invested $22 million in 40 automotive research and development projects at Canadian universities in partnership with more than 100 public and private sector companies. Topics include advanced material research, biofuels and clean diesel, children’s vehicle safety in Aboriginal communities, and improvements to manufacturing processes.
For more information, visit http://www.auto21.ca/.
James Rochlin, a professor of political science with the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences at UBC’s Okanagan campus, has been awarded a $200,000 Partnership Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for his project Human Security and the Colombia-Canada Free Trade Agreement.
He will lead a team of nine researchers from Canadian and Colombian universities and researchers from Colombian non-governmental organizations. Among the collaborators on the project is Barbara Sobol, a librarian and researcher at UBC’s Okanagan campus.
For more information, visit https://news.ok.ubc.ca/2012/05/29/ubc-professor-receives-200000-grant-from-sshrc/
Graduating Applied Science student Alexey Pazukha is the recipient of this year’s Governor General’s Academic Medal. Pazukha achieved the highest academic standing in the Applied Sciences program.
Pazukha’s plans include working at McKinsey & Company as a business analyst and Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he will start his MBA studies in 2014.
The Governor General’s Academic Medal is awarded to the student graduating with the highest academic average in university programs across Canada. For more information, visit http://www.ece.ubc.ca/news/201205/renaissance-man-and-governor-generals-medal-winner.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies at UBC has announced the new Killam Doctoral Scholarship recipients for the 2012-2013 academic year. These are awarded to the top doctoral candidates in the annual Tri-Agency / Affiliated Fellowships competition. The scholarships include a stipend of up to $30,000 per annum for two years and a $2,000 allowance for research-related travel during the 24 months of the scholarship.
The Killam Doctoral Scholarships are provided annually from the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Fund for Advanced Studies. View a list of the 2012-2013 Killam Doctoral Scholarship awardees at http://www.grad.ubc.ca/awards
Four educators from the Faculty of Applied Science were honoured during May 2012 congregation for their contributions to teaching at UBC.
• UBC Killam Teaching Prize for Graduate Instruction: Asst. Prof. Maged Senbel, School of Community and Regional Planning
• UBC Killam Teaching Prizes: Assoc. Prof. Peter Cripton, Mechanical Engineering; Prof. Marcello Veiga, Mining Engineering; and senior instructor Leo Stocco, Electrical and Computer Engineering
The UBC Killam Teaching prizes are awarded annually from the Killam Endowment Fund to faculty nominated by students, colleagues, and alumni in recognition of excellence in teaching.
For more information, visit http://bit.ly/L2AKjx
Professor and dean emeritus Dr. Frank Abbott of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC has been appointed a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences (CSPS). To read more, visit http://www.pharmacy.ubc.ca/aboutus/faculty-news/2012-05-24
B.C.’s new International Education Strategy gives local students new opportunities to study abroad and welcomes those arriving from overseas. As part of the strategy, Advanced Education Minister Naomi Yamamoto announced $5 million for scholarships and research internships to assist students embarking on an international education experience.
The scholarship winners from UBC are Alexa Geddes, Karly Drabot, April Feenstra, Dhruv Payndev, Matt Redekopp and Alexandra Knott.
For more information, visit http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2012/05/international-education-strategy-a-roadmap-for-bcs-future.html
A team of three students from UBC Computer Science competed in the ACM Programming World Finals and came in 18th in world ranking. For more information, visit https://www.cs.ubc.ca/news/2012/05/ubc-team-ranked-34th-acm-world-finals
UBC graduate student Albert Jiang, together with faculty member Kevin Leyton-Brown, won the Best Student Paper Award at the Association for Computing Machinery Electronic Commerce Conference.
For more information, visit https://www.cs.ubc.ca/news/2012/05/albert-jiang-and-kevin-leyton-brown-win-best-student-paper-award-acm-ec.
The award recipients in the Master of Architecture program for the current academic year have been announced. A list of awardees and award descriptions is available at http://www.sala.ubc.ca/about/news/2012-architecture-graduating-awards-announced.
The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC will receive $450,000 from the British Columbia Pharmacy Association (BCPhA), to be used for a student commons in the new pharmaceutical sciences building to open in September 2012. To read more, visit http://www.pharmacy.ubc.ca/aboutus/faculty-news/2012-05-30.
Okanagan band member and indigenous educator Edna Terbasket has been awarded the Association of BC Deans of Education (ABCDE) Education Advocate of the Year award for 2012. Terbasket is a member of the UBC Okanagan Aboriginal Advisory Council, which helps create and strengthen Aboriginal programming and resources at the university. For more information, visit https://news.ok.ubc.ca/2012/05/30/prominent-indigenous-educator-recognized/.
Short text memos or video interviews of current issues in Asia and across the Pacific are published twice-weekly on the Asia Pacific Memo series http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/
• Drivers’ Education in Japan: Personality Tests and ‘Road Rage?’ Mount Holyoke College’s Joshua Roth