NESS

If you’re a Nano student, you’ve probably heard something about the up and coming Nanotechnology Engineering Student Society (NESS). However for those of you who have not, Waterloo’s own Nanotechnology Engineering undergraduates have initiated a society to give a voice to one of the most unique engineering programs in Canada.  Designing and innovating at the molecular and atomic level is no easy task, yet it is one that these students take on with a fresh mindset and positive attitude each and every day. The NESS will serve and represent these nanotechnology engineering students on a larger scale within our diverse community of engineers here at the University of Waterloo. The initiative is supported by the Nanotechnology Engineering Administration, including the Program Director (Dr. Shirley Tang) and Associate Director (Dr. Ariel Chan). The plan for the establishment of NESS was initially presented at the Meet the Profs Pizza Party in the previous term, and the time has now come for the founders (Alicia Veilleux, Austin Boucinha, Jatin Patil and Mayuran Saravanapavanantham) to bring their ideas to life and share their passion for nano by what looks to us like a promising step towards the development of an emerging society.

The purpose of the organization is to foster an alumni network, create an official forum for program-specific concerns and to organize and host outreach events for the students and faculty (including WIN – Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology)一all things nanotechnology students can really benefit from. By establishing NESS, the founders hope to help the VP Academic of EngSoc to fulfill their duties more easily and to ultimately create a social bridge between the cohorts/graduating classes.

So how is NESS different from EngSoc? NESS will be affiliated with EngSoc as a sub society, structured similarly in terms of governance. The society roles however, will be more program-oriented as NESS is specifically fitted to cater more towards nano students. Additionally, NESS will be able to address pressing, cohort-wide concerns in a more cohesive manner than the current class-rep system.

NESS governance documents will be reviewed and confirmed in late June at the the EngSoc Joint Annual General Meeting (JAGM) but there are a couple of ways to get involved. For those interested in joining NESS and their mission, plenty of volunteers are needed to help build the society. NESS is also looking for a logo and submissions are due on January 30, 2017 for anyone who is interested. As for executive positions, there will be a formal application process constituting an election in the near future. In the meantime, for anyone with further questions, NESS can be contacted through Jatin Patil via email: jjpatil@uwaterloo.ca