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.

Apr. 8, 2005

• New Michael Smith Research Building for the UK
• David Jones Named University Killam Professor
• First UBC Frye Fellow
• UBC One of Top North American Teams at World Championship Programming Competition
• Computer Science Lab Reaps Innovation Awards
• The UBC Quizbowl Takes on Ivy League at North American Championship
• Transit Lounge at the Chan Centre TELUS Studio Theatre
• UBC Students Participate in the First West Coast Model European Union Summit

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New Michael Smith Research Building for the UK

UBC’s Nobel laureate Michael Smith has been honoured at the University of Manchester with the March 8 opening of a new 50-million pound Michael Smith Building. The first of three research facilities, the building will eventually be part of one of the largest biomedical complexes in Europe. The complex will house more than 100 research groups and a number of externally funded centers.

Dr. Michael Smith was an alumnus of the University of Manchester prior to his UBC appointment as professor of biochemistry in 1966. He received the 1993 Nobel Prize for developing the technique of site-directed mutagenesis.

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David Jones Named University Killam Professor

Department of Zoology Prof. David Jones has been named a University Killam Professor. UBC confers the honour to members of faculty who have distinguished themselves as scholars in research and teaching and, as a result, have received the highest acclaim by the academic community and the general public.

Jones is recognized as one of Canada's foremost comparative physiologists. Internationally renowned for his studies on the behavioral and metabolic physiology of diving mammals and birds, he has pioneered the use of new tools and technologies for remotely monitoring the diving response of marine animals in their natural environment.

His contributions have been recognized by appointment as a Member of the Order of Canada, as well as election to the Royal Society of Canada, the award of the Fry Medal of the Canadian Society of Zoologists and the Flavelle Medal from the Royal Society.

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First UBC Frye Fellow

Ulrich Rauch, director of the Arts ISIT (Instructional Support and Information Technology) program in the Faculty of Arts, has been selected as a Frye Fellow in 2005. Rauch is the first person from UBC, and only one of a few Canadians, to receive the honour and will go on to receive training at the Frye Leadership Institute.

The Frye Leadership Institute is co-sponsored by Educause, the Councilon Library and Information Resources, Emory University and the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. The institute selects and trains those it considers future leaders in the field of educational technology.

For more information: http://www.fryeinstitute.org.

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UBC One of Top North American Teams at World Championship Programming Competition

A grueling five hours of problem solving and programming at Shanghai Jiaotong University earned UBC’s programming team a 17th place finish out of 75 teams. The University of Waterloo team was the only other North American team to place higher at fourth spot. The host university team Shanghai Jiaotong captured the top spot.

The annual ACM International Programming Competition is an intense, mind-over-problem race against time. UBC’s team members Igor Naverniouk, Frank Pok Man Chu, Bartholomew Furrow and coach Jonathan Backer’s 17th place ranking was slightly below their last year 15th placing in Prague.

The climb to the world championship begins early in the previous year when 1,500 teams participate in regional contests. Those teams then get whittled down to 75 of the best student programming teams. Smart, skilled, and practiced to extreme, teams that place well significantly improve their career and academic prospects.

This is the last year UBC’s team members are eligible to compete. They’ve been practicing together as a team for the past two years. Igor Naverniouk is working on a Master’s in Computer Science, Frank Pok Man Chu is in his final year of a Bachelor of Science, and Bartholomew Furrow is a Masters student in Physics who transferred to UBC from Queens University and was on the Queen’s team that placed 12th at the World finals in Prague in 2003. Jonathan Backer is completing a PhD.

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Computer Science Lab Reaps Innovation Awards

Recognized as the top lab in the world for research in Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP), the Software Practices Lab within the UBC Department of Computer Science has already garnered several awards in 2005.

The lab, which consists of faculty members Gail Murphy, Gregor Kiczales, Kris de Volder, and Eric Wohlstadter, has been recognized with three IBM Faculty Awards of Innovation totaling $77,500 US. In addition, Associate Professor Gail Murphy has been recognized with a Killam Faculty Research Award, and in February was acknowledged as the first recipient of the AITO Dahl-Nygaard Junior Prize 2005.

For more information: http://www.cs.ubc.ca/research/spl.shtml.

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The UBC Quizbowl Takes on Ivy League at North American Championship

In February, the UBC Quizbowl Club won the Pacific Northwest Sectional Tournament in a head-to-head contest with students from other post-secondary institutions. The contest covers knowledge of a wide variety of academic subjects.

Now the team, consisting of undergraduates Michael Whitaker, Brendan Newton, Fred Sheppard, and Luka Janicijevic, goes to the North American championship contest in New Orleans this month. The only Canadian team competing in the top division, their opponents will be from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia and other prestigious universities.

The club welcomes financial support from donors. Contact Quiz Bowl Club president, Michael Whitaker at 778.892.9306.

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Transit Lounge at the Chan Centre TELUS Studio Theatre

The UBC play Transit Lounge, co-produced by the Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing, runs from April 7-16, at 7:30 p.m. in the TELUS Studio theatre at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. Directed by Rachel Ditor, the production interweaves stories from a number of writers focused on the idea of home. It takes inspiration from the plight of Cosmonaut 3rd Class Sergei Krikalev who, in 1992, was stranded on a Russian space station when the Soviet Union collapsed. Tickets are available at the Frederic Wood Theatre Box Office or 604.822.2678.

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UBC Students Participate in the First West Coast Model European Union Summit

UBC students participated in a simulated EU Copenhagen Summit earlier this year, along with students from UC Berkeley, Brigham Young, Scripps, University of Oregon, University of Washington, Portland State University, and University of Pittsburgh.

The University of Washington hosted the one-and-a-half day event in Seattle, which began with a keynote address by Sir Michael Palliser, the United Kingdom’s first Permanent Representative to the European Community 1973-1975.

Simulated negotiations focused on the transatlantic relationship, European security and Defence Policy. The event helped UBC students Ann Wen, John Wang and Caleb Ficner improve their negotiation skills and understand issues confronting the EU. They previously took part in similar model EU events, sponsored by the UBC Institute of International Relations and were briefed by Visiting Assistant Professor Stefan Ganzle, one of the advisors and judges for the event. Visit www.ies.ubc.ca for more information.

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