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July 3, 2001

posted on July 3: Sutherland serves as acting provost and vice-president academic

Dean of Science Peter Sutherland has been named acting provost and vice-president academic. The appointment was approved last month by Board and the Senate Committee on Appointments and was effective July 1. His appointment could be for a few months or up to one year depending on how soon a new provost is in place. "Peter brings a wide range of experience to the position and his understanding of the University's success and current priorities will be important to McMaster's ongoing operations," said University President Peter George. Sutherland has informed the Board and Senate that he would not be a candidate for the position. A search is currently under way for a new provost to take up the post. See Search for new provost underway in the Worth Mentioning section of the Daily News for more details. John Drake, director of the School of Geography & Geology, is acting dean of science. (End of story)

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June 29, 2001

posted on June 29: McMaster’s solar car ready to soar

As one observer noted, it looks like something out of the Jetsons. A group of McMaster students and graduates are feverishly putting the finishing touches on the University's first solar car. Some of the team who've worked on the car that looks like a miniature blue-paneled spacecraft unveiled it Wednesday at the Faculty of Engineering's second annual summer barbecue. A team of about 10 plan to race the No. 13 Fireball in this summer's American Solar Challenge, a race that will follow historic Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles. The first test will come July 8 when the car is entered in a qualifier event held at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich. If it meets the requirements there, then the team will head to the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago for the July 15 kickoff. The solar car race is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and will feature about 40 solar-powered cars built by university teams -- including at least eight Canadian university teams -- and companies and clubs from around the world. The McMaster solar car has been in development for the last four years and made its inaugural debut in the annual solar car race in 1999. That time the car wasn't ready. Team drivers and contributors include Jeff Winter, Tom Rodinger, Ben Zimmermann, Andrew Baerg and Bob Maharaj. They're convinced this summer their pet project -- built with many in-kind donations that would total about $400,000 -- is going to fly. They have spent days without sleep and hundreds of hours assembling the car's components and meticulously placing about 800 small solar cells on the car's body. "We think the top speed could be about 100 kilometres an hour but the average speed for the race will be about 60 kilometres," said Rodinger, a biochemistry graduate and one of the team's three drivers. The team will use the engineering Fireball van to haul the car to the race but they still need two other vehicles to travel with the car on the race route. And they could use some sponsorship so they can eat along the way. And what if the race route through the desert isn't sunny? "We'll go slow and conserve energy," said Rodinger. The car is equipped with a battery that can also juice up the blue machine. SOLAR CAR TEAM: (L) Bob Maharaj, Andrew Baerg, Ben Zimmermann, Tom Rodinger, Jeff Winter UNDER THE HOOD: (L) Jeff Winter, Tom Rodinger Photo: Shelly Easton

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June 28, 2001

posted on June 28: Campus beautification projects include plans for a town square

McMaster will soon have a "town square." That's the term used by physical plant staff to describe one of the campus beautification projects under way this summer. "Everything's coming out," says grounds co-ordinator Len Van Hoffen, referring to grounds area around the University flags. "All the asphalt will be ripped out from the Burke Science Building to the sidewalk, the flower beds, everything except for the flag poles." The plan is to replace the asphalt with grey-patterned concrete that will be set off with lines of white concrete. The raised bed in the Gwen George Garden that often shows the McMaster "M" in flowers will be three times as large and the overgrown junipers behind the raised bed will be replaced with perennials. The garden, which lies empty now following the removal this spring of the shrubs and plants that were there, will be 2.4 metres (eight feet) wider. Van Hoffen says eventually tall fountain grasses, hostas and day lilies will be planted with annuals along the side. Mums will probably be put in first so there will be flowers by early fall. The memorial rock for Gwen George has been removed temporarily while the work is being done and it will be replaced once the garden is refurbished, says Van Hoffen. Eight ironwood trees have already been moved from Hedden Hall and are now on either side of the garden. The large concrete rectangular space between the garden and the Burke Science Building will have new benches. "It will be like a town square where people could make announcements with the garden behind them," says Van Hoffen. The funding for this project is coming from the McMaster University Futures Fund (MUFF). Tenders are being prepared and work will likely begin by early July, Van Hoffen says. Elsewhere on campus trees are being planted thanks to MUFF funding. Van Hoffen says he would like to establish an arboretum walk where people could stroll around campus to look at a variety of different trees. This season he's planning on putting in Amur cork trees, European walnuts, many different varieties of oak, service berries, tulip trees, sycamore and red buds. In addition to the planting of new trees, already established trees are being moved around. A Japanese lilac was moved from behind Matthews Hall to the front of the engineering building. And the Nootka tree in front of Burke Science was moved a bit to the south to make room for the ironwoods. "We take them out with a 10-foot high tree spade," says Van Hoffen. "The 101-inch root ball helps the tree to establish itself and then we give it over 100 litres of water per week and special shock fertilizer." Twenty-five McMaster students are working this summer to keep the campus beautiful. Van Hoffen has divided them into three different crews: mowing, gardening and tree-planting. "We couldn't run without them," says Van Hoffen. Other projects planned to make the campus more beautiful include the hanging of flower baskets along University Avenue and the planting of a variety of different types of day lilies around Thode Library so there will be blooms all summer long. GREEN THUMBS: Fourth-year kinesiology student Jennifer Viveiros (L) and fourth-year chemical engineering student Jessica Pigeon are part of the campus landscaping crews this summer. Photo: Shelly Easton

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June 27, 2001

posted on June 27: New construction projects to begin this summer

McMaster's Board of Governors has approved three new construction projects, worth $23.3 million, which are slated to begin this summer: The Advanced Materials Technology Research . . .

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June 27, 2001

posted on June 27: Four more Canada Research Chairs awarded; About $2.5 million in research facility grants announced

McMaster has received four new Canada Research Chairs (CRC) and about $2.5 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for infrastructure funding for CRC award winners. This third round of Canada Research Chairs awards brings the University's total to 26. The four newest recipients are conducting research in the areas of antibacterial drugs, globalization, semiconductor devices and data communications and digital signal processing. They are: Eric Brown, Department of Biochemistry, Canada Research Chair in Antimicrobial Research William Coleman, Department of Political Science, Canada Research Chair in Global Governance and Public Policy Jamal Deen, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Canada Research Chair in Information Technology Zhi-Quan (Tom) Luo, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Canada Research Chair in Information Processing A fifth recipient, John Lavis, an assistant professor of clinical epidemiology & biostatistics, was awarded a Canada Research Chair between rounds two and three. Lavis is the Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Transfer and Uptake in Health Policy-Making Environments. He will study whether and under what conditions, federal and provincial policy makers make use of evidenced-based health research to improve the health of Canadians. For profiles of all McMaster recipients, click on Canada Research Chair Chairholder Profiles. The federal government dedicated $900 million in its 2000 budget to create 2,000 Canada Research Chairs in universities across the country by 2005. About 400 new chairs will be named in each of the next five years with chairholders coming from inside and outside Canada. The goal of the program is to help universities become world-class research centres. The Canada Foundation for Innovation funding is money that will help researchers build the labs and facilities needed to conduct their research. McMaster's award-winning projects in this round include money for an optoelectronics research laboratory, an online edition of philosopher Bertrand Russell's collected letters and a facility dedicated to molecular, physiological, and environmental research on fish. The Daily News has included a list of award winners, the project titles and the CFI contributions in the "Read more" version.

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