Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree…
Your search for the perfect Christmas tree can end on the UVic campus where the Vikes middle distance running team is once again selling evergreens to raise funds for their program. The prime Vancouver Island-grown trees come from Green Tree Farms in Merville (just north of Courtenay) and are on display on the tennis courts behind the McKinnon Gym every day between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. until Dec. 22. Several sizes and species are available, with prices ranging from $12 for the wild trees to $25 and $27 for the pruned grand fir and Douglas fir. Students, staff and faculty with valid identification receive a $2 discount on Scotch pines. Last year’s Christmas tree sale raised more than $1,800 for the Vikes. Team member Dylan Green, who is organizing this year’s sale, hopes to raise even more this year.
Whale lab “invades” Maui
UVic was well-represented at the 13th biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals held last week in Maui. Five grad students from the geography department’s whale research lab — Chris Malcolm; Ellen Hines; Anna Bass; Christina Tombach and Jason Dunham (who graduated in June) — presented posters (a visual display of their research). Sonya Meier was the sixth student in attendance. In addition, Hines organized a pre-conference workshop on using geographical information systems (GIS) and remote-sensing in marine mammal science, in which Dr. Dave Duffus and Olaf Niemann (both from geography) spoke. And Malcolm was a speaker in a post-conference workshop on the future of whale and dolphin-watching. Hundreds of marine mammal researchers from around the world were at the conference — organized by the Society for Marine Mammalogy — to swap notes about animals such as whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions.
Who wants to be a millionaire?
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) has created a new research prize worth $1 million dollars. The first Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering — named in honour of Canada’s first Nobel Laureate in chemistry — will be awarded in 2000. The medal winner will get $1 million over five years for his or her own research, or to use in some related way, such as scholarships or the establishment of a university chair. “This medal is this country’s premier research award,” says NSERC president Dr. Tom Brzustowski. “Our intent is not just to celebrate Canadian heroes, of whom Dr. Herzberg was one of our greatest, we want to provide a new level of research support that Canadian researchers have never enjoyed before.” Details of the award will be available in January on the Web at <www.nserc.ca/about/awardeng.htm>.
Get ready for New Media 2000
Following in the successful footsteps of the first international New Media Conference held at UVic last spring, organizers are now planning the New Media Conference 2000, again hosted by the university. Organized in partnership with Camosun College and Royal Roads University, the Feb. 23–25 event will showcase leading-edge products and trends in new media communications, such as interactive media, e-commerce, Internet publishing, course-ware for distance and distributed learning, Web-based learning and teaching systems, and digital arts. “The themes this year revolve around positioning education within the context of the new digital economy, such as e-commerce,” says Martin Segger (Maltwood), UVic’s director of government and community relations and conference chair. One of the big hits last year was the attendance of 100 secondary school bursary students; this will be repeated in 2000. “Many of these students are at the cutting edge of new media technology, so their presence really enlivens the discussions,” adds Segger. Anyone who would like to participate in the conference as a speaker, exhibitor, corporate sponsor, or to suggest agenda topics, should fill in the online form at the conference Web site: <http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/conf/newmedia/form.htm>. The organizing committee will review all requests and respond by e-mail.
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