Daily News

Posted on April 5: McMaster Nuclear Reactor celebrates 45 years of groundbreaking research

Nearly half a century ago, a round hole was dug at the west end of campus to make room for a structure that would revolutionize radiation research and education. From it, new cancer fighting isotopes would be produced, fossilized specimens would be dated, students, researchers and scientists from around the world would have access to some of the most sophisticated research facilities, and a Nobel Prize would be born. On April 4, McMaster's Nuclear Reactor (MNR) marked its 45th anniversary. The reactor, built under the leadership of former McMaster President Harry Thode, opened in 1959 by John Diefenbaker, then Prime Minister of Canada. It was the first university-based research reactor in the British Commonwealth and today is the only Canadian medium flux reactor in a university environment.

Posted on April 2: McMaster medical students chosen by innovative bell-ringer interviews

McMaster University has developed a new way to select its medical students that has the applicants doing 12 short successive interviews instead of a traditional panel interview. This week, 384 potential students are at McMaster for bell-ringer interviews that have them attending individual 10 minute sessions with a consecutive series of interviewers over two hours. Each interviewer asks the same questions of each candidate on a topic in the areas of ethics, communications, collaborative work or critical thinking. A bell is sounded when students should rotate to the next interview. The change is the result of three years of study on ways to improve the student selection process, and is unique among Canadian medical schools. "This new process is far better than other methodologies for being able to differentiate between candidates on the basis of their personal qualities," said Harold Reiter, chair of admissions for the medical school. "Research has found that the reliability of measuring those qualities through traditional interviews is weak."