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posted on July 27: First-year students get a head start on life at McMaster

First-year McMaster students who enrol in a Student Send-Off event in their local community get a head start on their university experience. The Office of . . .

posted on July 25: Sharing magic of math earns professor prestigious award

He's won McMaster's and the province's top teaching awards. Now Miroslav Lovric, an assistant professor of mathematics & statistics, has another award for his dossier -- the prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship. It is Canada's only national interdisciplinary fellowship and recognizes teaching excellence as well as educational leadership. This year the fellowship was awarded to 10 university teachers from across Canada. Award winners attended a three-day retreat at Chateau Montebello in Quebec where they had the opportunity to share their teaching experiences and discuss new ideas. Last year Lovric received a Teaching and Academic Librarianship Award from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations. In 1999 he received the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching at Spring Convocation. Since he began lecturing at the University in 1991, students have nominated him every year for a McMaster Students Union Teaching Award. In 1994 he won the overall teaching award at McMaster. Students praise their mathematics professor for his ability to simplify complex concepts to an understandable level. In addition to teaching, Lovric actively promotes mathematics through competitions. He has developed and significantly improved several math courses and has written a textbook called Vector Calculus. (End of story)

posted on July 24: Earthquake engineering expert appointed to infrastructure renewal chair

Ahmed Ghobarah has been appointed to the Joe Ng/JNE Consulting Chair in Design, Construction & Management of Infrastructure Renewal in McMaster's Faculty of Engineering. Ghobarah has served in the Faculty for 19 years. Ghobarah has contributed significantly to innovative research into structural strengthening, rehabilitation and upgrading strategies and techniques. He is a recognized world leader in earthquake engineering and design. "The appointment of Ahmed Ghobarah builds on our current reputation as one of Canada's most research-intensive engineering Faculties," said Mo Elbestawi, dean of engineering. "I am confident that under the leadership of Dr.Ghobarah, our Faculty will continue to be at the forefront of research in infrastructure renewal." After completing his M.Eng. and PhD degrees in civil engineering at McMaster, he worked for 12 years in the international consulting engineering industry before joining the engineering Faculty in 1982. He has to his credit more than 300 journal publications, conference presentations and industrial research reports. As the Joe Ng/JNE Consulting Chair, Ghobarah will focus on leading-edge research in design, construction and management of infrastructure renewal. He will also provide liaison between the consulting engineering sector, government and academia. (End of story)

posted on July 23: A plan for the future

You can't judge a book by its cover. -- a traditional proverb Many visitors don't heed that advice when appraising McMaster's campus and their first impressions aren't always favourable. Urban Strategies Consulting is working with internal and external stakeholders to develop an updated campus plan due to be unveiled later this fall that addresses those views. The goal is to develop a plan that takes into account feedback from neighbours, students, University employees and community representatives about what people like and dislike about the way the campus looks and works. What the consultants have heard so far is that while the interior parts of campus are generally embraced by users, the University's exterior is considered by many to be uninviting. "We heard about 'the moat' that surrounds campus," said Cindi Rottenberg-Walker, an Urban Strategies consultant who is helping create a draft campus plan. Visitors have the impression, especially from the "entrances and faces" of campus that buildings are inward facing, there is no sense of arrival and pedestrian walkways are poorly organized and not well connected to the surroundings, she said. There is also room for improvement on the edge of campus where open space is fragmented and there is conflict between pedestrians and cars. The core campus "works well," she added. A draft plan will be drawn up this summer and presented to the public at a September open house. CAMPUS PLANNING: Earlier this year about 60 people spent a day discussing their visions for how the campus should look. Photo: Shelly Easton

posted on July 20: MacShad minds come together to assist people with disabilities

The 52 McMaster Shad Valley students that travelled from all over Canada and Scotland to spend July learning more about the fields of science, engineering and business are starting to see the fruits of their labour. Three weeks ago the senior high school students were split into four teams and presented with the challenge of brainstorming, designing, constructing, marketing, presenting and writing a full business plan for a product or service that would assist people with disabilities. "It's been a real challenge," admitted Edwin Li from Vancouver, B.C. "It's not something that you think about every day and most of us have never used the types of products that we're designing - it's really opened our eyes." The four products designed by the student teams cater to a variety of physical disabilities. The "Pop-A-Lid" serves as a lid and can-opening device to assist people with weaknesses in their hands or fingers, shifting stress away from the hand and allowing people to use their whole arm as a lever. A specialized cane with features that allow for greater independence in cane users includes a second handle to assist the user in standing from a seated position and a belt clip holster to free up hands while the cane is not in use. The "Easy Handle," a portable and adjustable device for converting door knobs into door handles, will ease discomfort experienced by individuals suffering from arthritis. Finally, a reaching aid for people in wheelchairs will assist individuals in obtaining items that would otherwise be inaccessible. Presentations of these devices and the accompanying business plans will take place Monday, July 23 from 2 to 4 p.m in the John Hodgins Engineering building, room 264. Several individuals from the community will provide expertise in engineering, business and disability awareness while serving as judges of the competition. Everyone hoping to learn more about Shad Valley is invited to attend. The winning team from McMaster University will go on to compete at the Royal Bank Shad Entrepreneurship Competition held in Toronto in October.

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posted on July 27: First-year students get a head start on life at McMaster

posted on July 25: Sharing magic of math earns professor prestigious award

posted on July 24: Earthquake engineering expert appointed to infrastructure renewal chair

posted on July 23: A plan for the future

posted on July 20: MacShad minds come together to assist people with disabilities

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