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Posted on March 24: Researchers help develop intelligent lumber mills

McMaster is joining forces with Precarn Inc., Forintek Canada, Tembec and Comact Optimisation to develop an Intelligent Mill Wide Control System for the lumber industry. The official announcement was made Feb. 20 during the Canadian Lumbermen's Association Annual Convention in Montreal. Over the next three years the partners will contribute $2.7 million to create the Smart Mill Assistant (SMA). This advanced process control system will allow lumber manufacturers to monitor and control all independent production steps in an integrated fashion. The Smart Mill Assistant Project is being led by Forintek, which is Canada's National Wood Products Research Institute, in close collaboration with key specialists and mill staff from Tembec, Comact Optimisation and McMaster University (Dr. J. MacGregor and Dr. T. Kourti, MACC, Dept. Chem. Eng.) Theodora Kourti is an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering

Posted on March 24: CanChild researchers measure impact of research on the community

In the past decade there has been a clear move toward the development of research partnerships and alliances. It is estimated that 148 community-university research partnerships exist in Canada, accounting for approximately $340 million in research funding. Despite the millions of dollars spent on such partnerships, the impact of these research alliances has rarely been measured. CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, located in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University, is a health-system linked research unit, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care since 1989. Researchers at CanChild and four other community-university research partnerships have joined together to develop a reliable means of measuring the impact of these partnerships that address social or health services issues. Three other research alliances involved in the study include, The Research Alliance for Children with Special Needs, in London, Ont., Enhancement of Youth Resiliency and Reduction of Harmful Behaviours Leading to Healthy Lifestyle Choices, in St. Catharines, and Partnerships in Capacity Building, Housing, Community Economic Development and Psychiatric Survivors, also in London. The fourth partnership project, Therapeutic Relationships from Hospital to Community, is based in London, Hamilton and Whitby. CanChild's co-directors, Mary Law and Peter Rosenbaum are investigators on the study headed by Gillian King, research director at both the Research Alliance for Children with Special Needs and Thames Valley Children's Centre in London.

Posted on March 21: Class of 2003 learn about life as alumni

McMaster's Alumni Association introduced students to life after graduation at its annual Alumni Launch this week. Offered to students in their final academic year, the event is an opportunity to find out about the services, benefits and programs offered to alumni. It also allows students to learn about McMaster Alumni Association branches around the world, events or seminars offered, or what leadership opportunities are available. Several groups and services from across campus were on hand to provide information and answer questions. Students who missed the event can drop by the Alumni office in Alumni Memorial Hall, Room 203 to pick up a graduation gift between 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Posted on March 21: Students vote on bus pass

McMaster students have voted to accept the renewal of the Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) bus pass contract for another three years. Originally signed in 1997, the MSU/HSR Bus Pass agreement must be renewed every three years. The pass was last renewed through referendum in the spring of 2000. This year's referendum was run in conjunction with the SRA elections. Full-time undergraduate students currently pay $61 for an eight-month bus pass. The fee for next year will be $65, representing a $4 increase. This price is based on the HSR's cost for a regular adult monthly pass, meaning that McMaster students are offered a rate one-eighth the cost of non-students. Students voted 3,389 in favour of the bus pass renewal, 76 against, 19 students abstained, 46 students handed in spoiled ballots and two declined their vote. "It is clear by the overwhelming majority of students who chose to continue the bus pass program, that this is an excellent service for McMaster students," says Adam Spence, MSU vice-president education. "We hope that it will continue for many years to come." Student Representative Assembly elections took place at the same time. The Student Representative Assembly is the governing body of the McMaster Students Union with numbers of elected representatives from each academic area based on the size of the faculty or school. SRA election results are as follows: Arts & Science (one seat elected) Tom Aylward-Nally Commerce (four seats elected) Maria Joseph Erin O'Neill Tommy Piribauer Kris Somers Engineering (five seats acclaimed) Ali Hassanali Sidra Abid Joseph Diening Maisara Kobaisy Bhavik Patel Health Sciences (three seats acclaimed) Amanda Bateman Sean Park Hanieh Rahimi Humanities (four seats elected) Samantha Keddy Natalie Ott Erin Robinson Matthew Watts Kinesiology (two seats elected) Lindsay Campbell Kevin Nizi Science (six seats elected) Kerstin Erickson Brandy Grafton Jeff Hargot Lindsay Minard Tom Nault Jonathon Thon Social Science (six seats elected) Tyler Chalk Monica Gharabaway Umair Khan Shano Mohan Matt Sumner Aliyana Yusuf Social Work (one seat elected) Robert Cosby Complete election results are posted at the MSU office, Room 201, McMaster University Student Centre.

Posted on March 21: An important donation to the Bertrand Russell Archives: Russell and Alfred North Whitehead, 1916-1918

The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections has acquired a cache of documents concerning Bertrand Russell, all written during the First World War. The documents pertain primarily to the interaction between Russell and Alfred North Whitehead, the mathematician and philosopher. Prior to the war, Russell had been especially close to the Whitehead family. He had been Whitehead's pupil at Cambridge University and then a collaborator with him on a monumental undertaking, Principia Mathematica (3 vols., 1910-1913). But the First World War sadly set them apart. At the time Russell was a vigorous opponent of the British government. He was a pacifist and a defender of conscientious objection. In his campaigns with organizations such as the No-Conscription Fellowship, he set out quite deliberately to provoke government reaction. In the end not only did he lose his teaching position at Cambridge, he was imprisoned for six months in 1918. In contrast to Russell, Whitehead believed that the British government had done everything in its power to preserve the peace in Europe. In Whitehead's opinion, in order to protect Western freedom, Britain was morally compelled to resist German aggression against France and Belgium. All the Whitehead children served in the war effort. The heaviest blow to the family came in March 1918 when Eric Alfred Whitehead's airplane was shot down on a flying patrol over France. Alfred North Whitehead gave explicit instructions to his executors that his papers were to be destroyed after his death. The discovery of this newly found material and its donation to McMaster University Library by George Whitehead make this donation all the more remarkable. It consists of the following: two letters from Russell to Whitehead and his wife Evelyn and their draft replies; a typed report of Russell's visit to General George Cockerill, Director of Special Intelligence at the War Office in September 1916; a letter from the War Office asking Russell to forward his lectures for perusal and censorship; a typescript entitled Mr. Russell's Statement of Position, explaining his refusal not to use his lectures as a vehicle for propaganda; a manuscript of 31 pages, Political Ideals; and a copy of Russell's letter of 6 May 1918 written from Brixton Prison to his brother Frank.

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Posted on March 24: Researchers help develop intelligent lumber mills

Posted on March 24: CanChild researchers measure impact of research on the community

Posted on March 21: Class of 2003 learn about life as alumni

Posted on March 21: Students vote on bus pass

Posted on March 21: An important donation to the Bertrand Russell Archives: Russell and Alfred North Whitehead, 1916-1918

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