UBC This Week | Mar. 27, 2008

UBC This Week is a weekly summary of UBC people in the news, recent media releases and upcoming event highlights. UBC This Week past issues are also available on-line.

Sign up for UBC This Week and other UBC Public Affairs e-mail services at www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/eservices.

Recent UBC Media Releases

• Mar. 26: UBC researchers, partners earn more than $2 million in CFI funding
• Mar. 20: Money buys happiness when you spend on others: UBC and Harvard research

Upcoming Event Highlights

• Mar. 27: Men's rugby v. UCLA at Wolfson Fields
• Mar. 28: An Uncomplicated Kindness: An evening with Miriam Toews
• Mar. 31: Brio! Flute Workshop featuring Greg Pattillo
• Apr. 1: Clean Energy Research Centre Seminar
• Apr. 1: Major Evolutionary Transitions in Plant Reproductive Systems
• Apr. 1: Space, Time and Multiple Species: Statistical Modeling in Forest Entomology
• Apr. 2: Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic Percussion Clinic & Performance

Find out what else is happening at UBC this week. For sports events, visit the UBC Athletics site at www.gothunderbirds.ca/schedule.asp.

UBC People

• Professor’s book shortlisted for national award
• UBC professor chosen as Leopold fellow
• Doctoral student awarded best paper
• UBC Engineering awarded for student support
• Physics and Astronomy professors honoured for peer review work
• Engineering professor honoured internationally
• Engineering seminars open to the public
• Centre looks at the future of Japan
• Watercolour at the Botanical Garden

UBC People

Professor’s book shortlisted for national award

UBC Mechanical Engineering Prof. Robert L. Evans’ book, Fueling Our Future: An Introduction to Sustainable Energy, is among five books shortlisted for the Donner Prize.
 
The Donner Prize was established in 1998 to recognize the best public policy thinking, writing and research in Canada. The winner of this year's Prize will be announced in Toronto on April 16. The winner will receive $35,000, with $5,000 awarded to the other finalists.

For more information, visit http://www.engineering.ubc.ca/news/2008/mar27.html.

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UBC professor chosen as Leopold fellow

Assoc. Prof. Stephanie Chang, Canada Research Chair in the School of Community and Regional Planning and Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability, has been selected as a 2008 Leopold Leadership Fellow for her academic work on environmental issues. Specifically, Chang’s work involves computer modeling of consequences of natural disasters.

Based at Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment, the Leopold Leadership Program was founded in 1998 and is funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Up to 20 mid-career academic environmental scientists are selected each year to receive communication and leadership training to deliver scientific information effectively.

For more information, visit http://leopoldleadership.org.

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Doctoral student awarded best paper

UBC Computer Science PhD candidate Mario Enriquez received the Best Paper award in the Haptics Science category at the 16th Annual Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environments and Teleoperator Systems earlier this month.

Supervised by Computer Science Assoc. Prof. Karon MacLean, Enriquez beat out 63 other entrants in the longest established and highest reputed conference in the studies of haptic (touch) interfaces.

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UBC Engineering awarded for student support

Engineering Student Development Officer Erin Biddlecombe, Geological Engineering Program Assistant Teresa Woodley and fourth-year Chemical and Biological Engineering student Lindsay MacPhee have each received a UBC Just Desserts Award.

A tradition since 1985, the Just Desserts Awards are organized by the Alma Mater Society to recognize individual contributions to student growth and success at UBC. Each undergraduate society can nominate members of their faculty, staff or student body; the above were nominated by the Engineering Undergraduate Society for their service to engineering students.

For more information, visit http://www.engineering.ubc.ca/news/2008/mar26.html.

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Physics and Astronomy professors honoured for peer review work

Profs. Ian Affleck and Douglas Scott have been named 2008 Outstanding Referees by the American Physical Society (APS) for their work in assessing manuscripts for publication in APS journals.

This is the inaugural issue of the designation, which will go to roughly 130 of the Society’s 42,000 active referees each year.

For more information, visit http://publish.aps.org/OutstandingReferees.

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Engineering professor honoured internationally

Prof. Resve Saleh, Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the International Society for Quality Electronic Design's IQ-Award 2008 for his contributions toward improving the quality of integrated circuit designs.

For more information, visit http://www10.edacafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?section=CorpNews&articleid=505360.

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Engineering seminars open to the public

Chemical and Biological Engineering will host a public lecture by Prof. Robert Pelton, Canada Research Chair in Interfacial Technologies at McMaster University and Scientific Director of SENTINEL - The Bioactive Paper Network. Bioactive paper, used in water treatment applications, has the capacity to detect and deactivate pathogens, and was featured in New York Times Magazine as one of 70 innovative ideas for 2007.
The lecture is entitled Thermosensitive Microgels: The Long Road from Discovery to Application in Bioactive Paper.

Date: March 31
Time: 10 - 11 a.m.
Place: CHBE 202, 2360 East Mall
Info: http://www.chml.ubc.ca/events/Spk08/20080225_RPelton.pdf

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Centre looks at the future of Japan

UBC’s Centre for Japanese Research will host a seminar by Assist. Prof. Jennifer Chan, Educational Studies, on Another Japan is Possible: New Social Movements and Global Citizenship Education.

Date: March 28
Time: 5 - 6:30 p.m.
Place: Room 120, C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall
Info: http://www.iar.ubc.ca/bulletin/Mar27-2008.htm

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Watercolour at the Botanical Garden

UBC's Botanical Garden will offer a two-day introductory course on botanical watercolour with botanical painter Alison Watt. The class will cover watercolour materials (brushes, paints and paper) and basic techniques (mixing, glazing, wet-in-wet, masking). Special attention will be given to the concerns of plant painting (greens, whites, darks, stems, leaves, etc.).

Advanced registration is required; watercolour paper is provided. Students may bring their own artist quality paints or have paint provided for a $15 lab fee (at the time of the course).

Date: March 29 & 30
Time: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. daily
Location; UBC Botanical Garden Reception Centre, 6804 SW Marine Dr.
Cost: (General) $134.00 or (Garden Members) $124.00
Info: http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org  and http://www.alisonwatt.ca
Registration: call 604-822-3928 or e-mail botg@interchange.ubc.ca

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