UBC News Digest

The UBC News Digest is a weekly summary of news stories about UBC people, research, learning, community, and internationalization initiatives. News Digest past issues are also available on-line.

May 28, 2004

• Two UBC Professors Receive Royal Honours
• Award-winning Filmmaker Mina Shum Explores Her Identity as a Hyphenated Canadian on June 22
• Wildlife Habitat Canada Presents Forest Stewardship Award to Canfor and Scientists at UBC Faculty of Forestry
• Computer Science Professor Chosen as First Recipient of Anita Borg Early Career Award
• Professor Acknowledged for Contributions to Nuclear Chemistry

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Two UBC Professors Receive Royal Honours

Two UBC faculty members have received awards from the Royal Society of Canada for accomplishments in the humanities and sciences.

English prof. William H. New, an internationally recognized expert on Canadian and Commonwealth literary traditions, has been awarded the Lorne Pierce Medal for an achievement of special significance and conspicuous merit in imaginative or critical literature written in either English or French.

New is University Killam Professor Emeritus in the UBC department of English. Author of 14 books, more than 85 articles and editor of 30 volumes -- in addition to having been the editor of the journal Canadian Literature from 1977 to 1995 and editor of the recently published Encyclopaedia of Literature in Canada (2002) -- New is considered the premier scholar of Canadian Literature today.

New has been an outstanding voice for Canadian thought and writing -- while shaping the current study and understanding of Canadian literature both nationally and internationally. He has made a difference through his editing and publishing of such critical studies as Articulating West (1972), A History of Canadian Literature (1989; 2nd ed. 2003) and Borderlands: How We Talk about Canada (1998), and through his conscientious and outstanding work as a journal editor, poet (six volumes to date) and lecturer.

Prof. Vijay K. Bhargava, the head of the Applied Science faculty's department of electrical and computer engineering, is this year’s recipient of the Thomas W. Eadie Medal. Funded by Bell Canada, the award recognizes major contributions to the fields of engineering and applied science, with preference given to those who have had an impact on communications.

Bhargava has had a profound effect on the field of wireless communications. A blend of theoretical and practical has been a hallmark of his research, and there have been numerous practical applications. Original contributions have been made in the field of next generation wireless mobile multimedia networks that will support data and video, in addition to voice.

Professor Bhargava is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In 2001, he was awarded a Canada Research Chair in broadband wireless communications and in 2002, he became the first non-US recipient of the IEEE 2002 Graduate Teaching Award "For excellence in graduate teaching. curriculum development, and inspirational guidance of graduate students in the area of wireless communications".

New, Bhargava and 11 other award and medal winners will be honoured at the Royal Society's Awards Banquet on November 20, following the induction ceremony of newly elected fellows. For a complete list of this year's award winners, visit the Society's website at http://www.rsc.ca.

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Award-winning Filmmaker Mina Shum Explores Her Identity as a Hyphenated Canadian on June 22

Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Mina Shum will explore the challenges facing “hyphenated” Canadians in the inaugural UBC Lecture on Multiculturalism June 22 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. Shum, born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, rose to fame with her film Double Happiness, which premiered at the 1994 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to earn critical acclaim in Vancouver, Torino and Berlin. The film struck a chord with Canadians who straddle the divide between fighting and accepting cultural roots and carving a sense of self. By sharing specific stories of how she came to embrace her hyphenated identity, Shum hopes to celebrate and encourage others.

Shum's most recent film, Long Life, Happiness, and Prosperity, has appeared at more than 20 international film festivals. Shum has a BA in theatre and a diploma in film production from UBC, and was a director resident at the Canadian Film Centre.

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Wildlife Habitat Canada Presents Forest Stewardship Award to Canfor and scientists at UBC Faculty of Forestry

Wildlife Habitat Canada on May 19, 2004, presented Canadian Forest Products Ltd (Canfor), and scientists from the UBC Faculty of Forestry with its Forest Stewardship Recognition Program (FSRP) Award for their collaborative efforts to develop and implement a Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Framework for B.C.’s forests.

The Sustainable Forest Management Framework uses a unique land-use planning model that enables planners to balance ecological values such as biodiversity with social and economic values inherent in B.C. forests. Crucial to the framework are the suite of support tools that were developed at UBC and the University of Alberta, bringing together expertise in economics, forest policy, wildlife biology, ecology, landscape architecture and other social sciences.

Since its establishment six years ago, the Forest Stewardship Recognition Program has recognized more than 125 individuals, companies and organizations for their stewardship and for their conservation efforts in Canada’s forests. There are 13 forest stewardship award winners across Canada this year, and four are from B.C.

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Computer Science Professor Chosen as First Recipient of Anita Borg Early Career Award

Joanna McGrenere, an assistant professor in the UBC department of computer science, is the first recipient of the Anita Borg Early Career Award from the Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W). McGrenere was chosen for her contribution to the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and her commitment to promoting computer science to girls and women. The award’s namesake, the late Anita Borg, was an early member of the CRA-W and an inspiration for her commitment to increasing the participation of women in computing research.

McGrenere is the lead researcher on The Aphasia Project -- a large, multi-disciplinary project that utilizes participatory research methods to design innovative technology to overcome difficulties associated with aphasia, a language difficulty most often caused by a stroke or brain injury. Prior to her death, Borg acquired aphasia as a complication from a brain tumour and was, in fact, the Aphasia Project’s first participant. The goal of the research is to design technology to aid people who have aphasia to maintain a higher degree of independence. The interactive multi-modal digital planner and recipe book that utilize pre-existing iPAQ technology (handheld devices) are two of the projects that McGrenere’s research group continue to work on.

To review Joanna McGrenere’s website: http://www.cs.ubc.ca/people/profiles/joanna.html

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Professor Acknowledged for Contributions to Nuclear Chemistry

Donald G. Fleming, a professor in the UBC dept. of chemistry, has been awarded the 2004 Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry for outstanding contributions to nuclear or radio chemistry. The award was presented at the annual general meeting of the American Chemistry Society.

Fleming obtained his BSc and MSc in chemistry from UBC, and went to UC Berkeley, to obtain his Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry. He rejoined the UBC chemistry department in 1971. Previous major awards in recognition of his work include a Guggenheim Fellowship from the U.S., a Canada Council Research Fellowship, a UBC Killam Research Prize, an Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize (Germany), and the John Polanyi Award of the Canadian Chemical Society for his pioneering work in the applications of nuclear chemistry of physical chemistry and chemical physics using muon spin probes.

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