Former Ubyssey reporter Chris Nuttall-Smith has won the Canadian Association of Journalists/Canada Newswire Student Award of Journalistic Excellence.

Nuttall-Smith received a plaque and a $1,000 prize for "He Said, She Said," a report on sexual harassment published in The Ubyssey.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Arts last year and has just completed a master's degree at the Columbia School of Journalism.

Gail Bellward, associate dean, Research and Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, has been appointed to the Science Management Committee of the new federal Toxic Substances Research Initiative (TSRI).

The committee of 20 senior scientists will decide how to invest $40 million over four years to support research into the effects of persistent organic pollutants -- chemicals that disrupt sex hormones, air pollutants and toxic forms of metals.

Bellward, a faculty member since 1969, specializes in toxicology.

Her appointment with TSRI extends to April 2002.

Civil Engineering Prof. Nemkumar Banthia has been chosen for the coveted position of Visiting Scientist of the Japan Science and Technology Agency for 1999.

Banthia specializes in the study of cement-based composite materials.

Banthia recently earned the Wason Medal of the American Concrete Institute for his research.

Two distinguished UBC engineers -- Electrical Engi neering Prof. Guy Dumont and Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof. Rabab Kreidieh Ward -- have been elected fellows of the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEEE).

Dumont, an NSERC Industrial Research Chair at the Pulp and Paper Centre, was cited for "contributions to the theory and practice of adaptive control and its applications to process industries." Ward, director of the Centre for Integrated Computer Systems Research, was singled out for "contributions to digital signal processing applications in television and medical imaging."

The honour recognizes worldwide achievements in electro- and information technology. In 1999, only 239 new fellows were elected from a global IEEE membership of more than 300,000.