The University of Waterloo has been ranked the most innovative post secondary, and as such there is pretty much a steady stream of news coming out of campus. I’m going to catch you up on a few stories that you may have missed.
Quantum Error Research Chair
The Institute for Quantum Computing is one of the most prestigious and advanced centers worldwide for research in quantum information science. This has been made possible through the efforts of the University of Waterloo and generous donations from Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis. The research chair, with a value of eight million dollars, is devoted to studying the error associated with quantum computing and specifically on how to correct for it. This is considered one of the biggest issues that quantum computing still needs to overcome. Raymond Laflamme, who was one of the founders of the IQC and was its director from 2002 till earlier this year, was named as chair.
Columbia Ice Fields Field House
The construction at Waterloo it seems will never stop. The PAC-SLC expansion is currently underway, but the university also has plans in the works to expand the Columbia Ice Fields facilities. The plans for this expansion, which is set to break ground by January, were unveiled back in September. The facility is slated to open next September, and will contain a 100-by-50 foot artificial turf field. This field will be used for recreation first, but will also likely be used for varsity team development. Roly Webster, the director of recreation and athletics who joined Waterloo in 2014, stated that the “reality was nobody would argue that our facilities need lots of work,” and also noted that to create a “vibrant student experience” the athletics department needs to play a large role.
The expansion, which from renderings appears to extend from CIF near Warrior Field, is viewed as a stepping off point for expansions. Future expansions could include a bleacher building around warrior field or a new ice pad. As a student who has played his fair share of 11pm intramural hockey games at CIF I think that this would be a terrific idea. The university has already committed the funds for the new expansion, roughly 15 million dollars.
UW Exceeds He for She STEM Outreach Goal
Back in September University of Waterloo President Feridun Hamdullahpur travelled to the United Nations facility in New York to announce that Waterloo has exceeded one of its gender equality goals years early. The He for She 10x10x10 initiative focuses on impact champions (10 schools, 10 national leaders and 10 business executives) each of which are striving for gender equality. Waterloo has a three different goals that it is trying to achieve in its STEM programs by 2020: have 33 percent female participation in outreach programs, have 30 percent female faculty, and recruiting and retaining women in senior executive positions. This year the university has around 35 percent female participation in outreach programs, and 29.5 percent faculty in STEM. Retaining senior executives is a harder metric to measure, but Hamdullahpur has assured the organization that steps are being taken in the right direction, including the hiring of two female vice-presidents. Ideally of course Waterloo would like to have an equal representative of male and female faculty and students in each program, but it sounds like UW is on the right track.
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