Daily News

posted on Oct. 11: Future engineers compete in Faculty Olympics

More than 500 potential engineers from 26 secondary schools across Ontario will show their mettle today at the Faculty of Engineering's popular annual Engineering Olympics and open house. Competition will be stiff as teams of students compete in events such as "Oodles of Noodles" students will have to make a structure using pool noodles; the ever-popular Egg Drop and the Physics Paper Triathlon. Prizes will be awarded to the top teams in each event and more than $20,000 in McMaster entrance awards are available to be won. All events will be held at the John Hodgins Engineering building. So as not to be left out there is also a special competition for teachers accompanying the students the event, involving slide rules will run from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. In addition, students will have a chance to meet faculty and students in the engineering labs, view numerous displays and demonstrations and tour the McMaster campus. On display will be the McMaster engineering solar car and the McMaster Engineering Society will have a booth with information about the school and career opportunities for engineering graduates. Opening ceremonies will be followed by the morning session of the Olympics from 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and the afternoon session from 12:45 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Closing ceremonies and awards presentation will be held from 3:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information about the Engineering Olympics visit the Web site by at http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/olympics. Photo: Students obtain information about various engineering programs at last year's Engineering Olympics. (End of story)

posted on Oct. 10: Ten candidates vie for undergraduate student seat on Board of Governors

The Board of Governors office is holding an electronic undergraduate student election from 9 a.m. today (Oct. 10) to 4:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 12. Election of one undergraduate student is required for the Board of Governors for a two-year term from Nov. 1, 2001 to Oct. 31, 2003. Ten undergraduate students have been nominated as candidates and the risumis for each candidate may be viewed at the Board of Governors election Web site. Students are encouraged to vote online at any personal computer with internet access. Student IDs and a Personal Identification Number (the same as the MUGSI system) will be required to cast a ballot. Eligible voters who do not have access to the Web site may vote in one of the computer laboratories or at the Board of Governors office (room 115, University Hall). Any questions regarding the election or voting process may be directed to the Board of Governors office at ext. 24370. (End of story)

posted on Oct. 4: Museum of Art reopens in November

There'll be fresh paint on the walls, new labels on the paintings and a new exhibit to see when the McMaster Museum of Art reopens its doors on Sunday, Nov. 18. Museum staff have used the past several months while the facility has been closed to spruce up the art gallery and catch up on projects they couldn't do on a daily basis. It's the first major opportunity they've had to renovate since the new museum in the Alvin A. Lee Building opened its doors in 1994. They're focusing on the positive after having unexpectedly closed their doors in mid-May due to a mysterious smell that left some staff feeling ill. "This closing has given us an opportunity to refresh the facility and make it practically brand new again. The galleries will have a new polish and sparkle to them and we're excited about that," says Christine Butterfield, new assistant curator.

posted on Oct. 4: Astronomer Beckwith brings the universe to McMaster

A painting, a poem and the universe: that's what American astronomer Steven Beckwith brought to an overflow audience in the Health Sciences Centre last evening during the first of this year's two Whidden Lectures, given under the whimsical title Rocket Science and Little Green Men: The Universe from Orbit. Last night's talk by Beckwith, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute and professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., was called Where Did We Come From? Where Are We Going? In his second lecture tonight, called Looking for Life in the Galaxy, he will discuss new space technologies that will allow us to search for signs of life on planets orbiting other stars. The lecture will take place in HSC-1A1 at 8 p.m. Last night, Beckwith discussed how scientists from Galileo to American astronomer Edwin Hubble to modern researchers have observed the night sky and developed ideas to explain an enduring mystery: the origins and continued unfolding of our universe. Against an opening slide backdrop of Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, he said, "Asking where we came from and where we're going is a deep-rooted notion in people." It was Hubble who first got an inkling not just of the size of the universe but of its continual expansion, an observation that underpins the Big Bang theory of the universe's origins. "This was a really remarkable discovery," Beckwith said, pointing out that Hubble's work in the 1920s still guides much of modern astronomy. Perhaps no more visible proof of that lies in the Hubble space telescope. Launched in 1990, the telescope orbits above the earth's atmosphere to provide a clear-eyed view of the universe in greater detail than ever. Beckwith said the school-bus-sized instrument allows us to "look at a time when stars and galaxies were first being created. That's what Hubble has done."