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How Canada can lead — and uOttawa can support — the post-COVID economy

🇨🇦 · UOttawa Richard L ’Abbé Makerspace · Anonymous

How Canada can lead — and uOttawa can support — the post-COVID economy Anonymous Wed, 03/15/2023 - 13:58 home University of Ottawa How Canada can lead — and uOttawa can support — the post-COVID economy January 11, 2022 As the world emerges from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are asking how Canada can use its recovery as a catalyst to build a more resilient, green, and equitable economy. This was the topic of discussion at the Chancellor’s Debate on December 1. The event was hosted by Chancellor Calin Rovinescu and featured Stéphane Brutus, dean of the Telfer School of Management, and Monique Leroux as the guest of honour. Leroux is a Canadian Business Hall of Famer, former CEO of Desjardins Group, and chair of the Industry Strategy Council, a group of business leaders tasked with gathering national perspectives about the impact of COVID-19 on key sectors of the Canadian economy. The conversation touched on a range of topics, from Canada’s rising inflation rates to how the private sector can bridge social inequalities to the opportunities brought by new technologies. Here are some of the key ideas shared. Industry insights: Canada’s global strengths The conversation began by discussing the advice that Leroux and other members of Canada’s Industry Strategy Council gave to the federal government during the pandemic. What became apparent from the council’s nationwide conversations was that Canada needs a long-term, well-defined industry strategy, similar to other countries worldwide. Creating such a strategy requires collaboration between the private and public sectors and, as Rovinescu put it, a philosophy that we can create industrial champions who can take their rightful place on the world stage. In consulting with business leaders, academics, and communities across Canada, Leroux and the Industry Strategy Council identified three areas of strength where the country could lead. The first relates to Canada’s natural resources, and how to grow or transition using an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) lens. “ESG is very powerful. It’s about creating a roadmap for businesses and governments that is long- term and able to provide prosperity,” explained Leroux. “Prosperity is not just wealth creation., iIt considers the environment, the people, and the impact particular organizations have on the community and various stakeholders.” A second area of strength is the potential to pair Canada’s highly educated workforce with digital tools and training in a way that benefits the economy. The final area of strength Leroux highlighted is Canada’s capacity for cutting-edge manufacturing, particularly in the aerospace, automotive, life sciences and humanities sectors. “These are sectors where we have the ability to be front runners, but in some cases, they don’t have the critical mass to compete as global players. How can we promote the growth of those businesses so they take on an international scope, promote economic growth in Canada, and provide great jobs for our graduates?” she asked. The opportunities for uOttawa Both Rovinescu and Leroux emphasized the role post-secondary institutions can play in Canada’s economic recovery. “The whole mindset and mentality of an entrepreneur is so important for our students, whether you work for a small business or a huge corporation,” said Rovinescu. “It’s about being courageous, not being risk averse, and being able to deal with failure.” Rovinescu’s comments prompted Brutus to mention the Telfer School of Management’s significant focus on entrepreneurship . This focus is consistent across uOttawa, where initiatives such as the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Engineering Design (CEED) and various accelerator programs spark innovation and creative problem solving. Leroux further discussed how uOttawa can foster multidisciplinary thinking and build supportive ecosystems for entrepreneurs and business leaders.: “Universities need to be careful about not putting students in silos. Collaboration between faculties will naturally bring students to understand the connection between computer science, marketing, finance, and other areas of study.” Gone are the days of being able to think of problems “vertically,” Leroux noted. Future leaders — be it in the private or public sector — must value different areas of expertise and work with people from various backgrounds. This spirit of integration can be further nurtured in universities through private sector partnerships that provide students with real-world perspectives. Overall, the discussion’s message was one of optimism and hope. “If I look at it from a political, geo-economic, and democratic point of view, Canada has a lot of advantages,” Leroux concluded. “From natural resources to education to social programs, we have everything we need to be ambitious, bold, and to provide prosperity to all.”

Meet one of uOttawa’s longest-serving professors

🇨🇦 · UOttawa Richard L ’Abbé Makerspace · Anonymous

Meet one of uOttawa’s longest-serving professors Anonymous Wed, 03/15/2023 - 13:58 home University of Ottawa Meet one of uOttawa’s longest-serving professors December 16, 2020 Leonard Maler, an accomplished neuroscientist, takes us back to when he first started working at the University in 1975. “Things were pretty different back then,” recalls Leonard Maler, a distinguished professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine who started work at the University of Ottawa in 1975. “In 1981, I wrote my very first papers — two 100-page manuscripts — completely by hand, then they were transcribed on a typewriter by the departmental secretary. What a long and time-consuming process, but necessary because learning to type wasn’t part of our academic education.” During his academic journey, Maler learned from a string of famous neuroscientists and went on to become one himself. He is a pioneer in the field who has helped us understand how perception works in our brains. He has used electric fish, whose brains are fundamentally similar to ours, to trace signals as they move through the entire sensory process, observing the hidden signs of brain activity in moments of focus. Currently a member of the uOttawa Brain and Mind Research Institute and the Centre for Neural Dynamics, his research centres on experimental and computational analysis of the neural networks underlying perception and spatial learning. Maler received a BSc from McGill University in 1968 and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1973. At MIT, he worked in a lab run by renowned neuroscientist Walle Nauta. After completing postdoctoral fellowships at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, he joined the University of Ottawa in late 1975 and has been with us ever since. “How was I hired? A process very different from what it is today,” says Maler. While doing his postdoc at Max Planck in Göttingen, he was invited to speak at the University of Aarhus, in Denmark. After his seminar, he met and spoke at length with Professor Theodore Blackstad, an eminent neuroscientist and the chair of medicine at that university. “A month or so after I returned to my research in Gottingen, I received a handwritten letter from Dr. Blackstad,” says Maler. “He mentioned that the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine was looking to recruit a strong neuroscientist to their Department of Anatomy. He asked for my permission to write a letter of recommendation to the department on my behalf. I wrote back, in my best handwriting, ‘Yes, thank you. Please do.’” It wasn’t long before Maler found himself at uOttawa, hosting a seminar for the Department of Anatomy, which was also a way to evaluate him for a position. After the seminar, he was immediately offered a job. Talk about the power of networking! “I started as an assistant professor in late 1975,” says Maler. “I was immediately surrounded by very supportive people: Dr. Marc Colonnier, a very fine neuroscientist and the chair of the Department of Anatomy at the time, who acted as my first mentor and guide, Dr. Jean-Jacques Lussier, the dean at the Faculty of Medicine, who, sadly, passed away soon after I arrived, and his replacement, acting dean Dr. Margaret Beznak, who was equally encouraging and supportive, and offered me space and time to begin my research.” In 1976, Maler recalls, the Faculty of Medicine was mostly devoted to teaching. He spent half his time teaching medical students, many of whom have gone on to do great things and still keep in touch with him, and the other half conducting research with colleagues, including Emily Sas, with whom he was very fond of collaborating. In 2017, he and colleague André Longtin of the Department of Physics were awarded NSERC’s Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering for combining their expertise to uncover key features of the neural code that underlies the operation of the brain. “I have seen numerous changes and the biggest one is how uOttawa medicine retained a high level of medical education while simultaneously becoming an excellent centre of biomedical research,” says Maler. “Altogether, I look back and am really pleased with my career and with the tiny bit I contributed to making the Faculty of Medicine an outstanding place for both teaching and research.” On November 26, more than 600 members of the uOttawa community came together virtually to celebrate our longest-serving employees. Here are the faculty and staff who have been with the University of Ottawa for 40 or more years: Lise Desjardins , administrative assistant, School of Music Balbir Dhillon , professor, Faculty of Engineering Francine Lamadeleine , senior academic assistant, Teaching and Learning Support Service Carolyn MacDonald France Morrisette , professor, Civil Law Section Dan-Sorin Nesculescu , professor, Faculty of Engineering Stavros Tavoularis , professor, Faculty of Engineering Annie Trottier Cousineau , Financial Aid and Awards Service Leonard Maler , professor, Faculty of Medicine Robert Nadon , technician, undergraduate laboratories Thank you for all your hard work and dedication!

Common Law student wants to make it easier for future queer BIPOC lawyers to enter the workforce

🇨🇦 · UOttawa Richard L ’Abbé Makerspace · Anonymous

Common Law student wants to make it easier for future queer BIPOC lawyers to enter the workforce Anonymous Wed, 03/15/2023 - 13:58 home University of Ottawa Common Law student wants to make it easier for future queer BIPOC lawyers to enter the workforce April 14, 2021 She stepped away from a career in civil engineering to study law at uOttawa. Now Michelle Liu is honing her legal skills at the Common Law Section so she can better advocate for diversity and equity in the workplace. She also worked with her Faculty’s Career and Professional Development Centre to help prepare 2SLGBTQ+ law students for their future careers. Author’s note: Liu identifies as a cis-queer woman with she/her pronouns and says that she makes every effort to speak based on her own experience, including what she has witnessed or been told. “Having to turn your various identities on and off to fit into different groups is a way of life for too many people,” says Michelle Liu, a first-year student at the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section. “As an Asian-Canadian, I am often unable to present my queer identity to other Asian-Canadians due to culture- and religion-induced homophobia, and I can rarely speak about my challenges as a racialized individual in the white-dominant queer community. This happens to almost everyone who identifies as both BIPOC and 2SLGBTQ+, and it’s one of the reasons I set aside my engineering career to pursue law.” After eight years of studying civil engineering and working in construction, an environment which she says lacks awareness of the issues surrounding equity, diversity and inclusion, Liu decided to switch gears and get a law degree at uOttawa so that she could develop her legal knowledge and advocacy skills. “I’m really excited to be in law and to be surrounded by people who are relatively more attentive to these issues and who want to make changes,” she says. “To kick off my career, I’m interested in construction law because it overlaps with my engineering background and is a rapidly growing area of law. Ultimately, I want to be an advocate for equity-seeking groups in the workplace, especially in STEM. I want to help attract more people with intersectional identities to engineering because the diversity just really isn’t there right now and that’s what drove me away. I hope to be able to help change that for the next generations.” In the meantime, Liu is finding ways to advocate for BIPOC and the 2SLGBTQ+ community within the Faculty of Law. To help carve out a safe space for queer law students, she built a website for OUTLaw , uOttawa’s official 2SLGTBQ+ law student association, that includes a list of professors at the Faculty who are allies of the queer community. She has also been working with OUTLaw and the Faculty’s Career and Professional Development Centre (CPDC) to develop resources and host events that cater to 2SLGBTQ+ law students. “There are a lot of 2SLGBTQ+ people in law school, compared to in engineering and on construction sites,” she says. “We’re well represented, so it makes sense to have resources tailored to our needs. Right now, the advice on dress code and conduct in law firms, for example, is all very heteronormative — men should wear a suit and women should wear a skirt and blazer. A lot of people may feel left out by these resources and that could lead students to question whether they belong in such a field.” Last February, Liu collaborated with the CPDC to organize a panel discussion called “ Legal Career and Intersectional Identities ”, which brought together major diversity and inclusion leaders in the legal profession to discuss the nuances of having intersecting marginalized identities and what that means when looking for work in big law firms. “We talked about things like whether you should disclose your identities on your resume, how you should dress, what your interactions should feel like, that sort of thing, which is especially useful for first-year law students who have never interviewed or who don’t have any work experience in a corporate environment,” she says. The event coincided with the nation-wide recruitment process that many law firms take part in every year in February and March. “The timing allowed for the largest number of people to feel a little more empowered going into this process,” says Liu. Here are some of the takeaways from the event: For many of us, the decision to attend law school was largely informed by our identities and lived experiences. Marginalized individuals are drawn to the law as an avenue for advancing social justice in the workplace and beyond. Where we land may not perfectly align with our visions of the future, indicating that a number of challenges come with being the first or few in a workplace, but so do a number of opportunities . The societal shifts we tend to take for granted were unthinkable just a short time ago. While the industry is still imperfect, the panelists are living testaments to the fact that queer and/or racialized folk are successfully carving out unique roles from the law’s existing infrastructure . As more employers realize the need for inclusive spaces, the businesses most worthy of your talent will regard diversity as an asset. Choose your employers carefully. Spend time gaining a sense of whether a potential employer can offer you a safe work environment by perusing their social media, making connections, and asking questions. Ideally, you will work alongside people whose treatment of you reflects the expertise and passion you are working hard to foster in law school. Rather than worry about how best to mask your identities, regard cover letters and interviews as mediums for self-expression . Of course, openly presenting your most authentic self will be more difficult for some; gatekeeping, feeling like an oddity, tokenism and tokenism-like behaviours do occur. In these moments of discomfort, know that you are not alone. Take advantage of the support networks and resources available to you. Liu plans to continue amplifying the voices of BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+, and other equity-seeking groups in her upcoming roles as president of the Common Law Student Society and Senate representative for the Faculty of Law. As well, in consultation with the University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) equity commissioner (whose role includes consulting and working closely with members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community), Liu recently led the UOSU to adopt a pronouns policy for executive and board members, to make online spaces more inclusive. The four panelists were: Samantha Peters, the first-ever Black Legal Mentor-in-Residence at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law; Nikki Gershbain, Chief Inclusion Officer at McCarthy Tétrault; Paul Saguil, Deputy Head of Global Sanctions Compliance and Anti-Bribery at TD Bank; and Lucas Kilravey, an associate at Borden Ladner Gervais. Missed the event? You can watch it here .

5G Campus opens a world of possibilities for uOttawa

🇨🇦 · UOttawa Richard L ’Abbé Makerspace · Anonymous

5G Campus opens a world of possibilities for uOttawa Anonymous Wed, 03/15/2023 - 13:58 home University of Ottawa 5G Campus opens a world of possibilities for uOttawa January 25, 2022 The University of Ottawa has signed a $6-million partnership agreement with Telus Corporation to modernize the campus by joining the 5G wireless network — making the University among the most connected in Canada. The five- to 10-year agreement includes the installation of state-of-the-art TELUS 5G infrastructure on uOttawa’s campuses. In addition, the telecom company will be equipping two 5G-research laboratories on the campus. Operational by the end of the year, these labs will allow researchers and students to transmit and receive vast amounts of data, at speeds twenty to fifty times faster than current 4G-LTE wireless networks, with negligible delays. “For the last five to 10 years, people have been clamouring for 5G and predicting how 5G would revolutionize the world and revolutionize work, research and productivity,” says Guy Levesque, uOttawa’s associate vice-president, innovation, partnerships and entrepreneurship. “The timing for our university campus to become 5G-ready is perfect, and it’s right now. It is the tool to allow us to use data to change the way the world around us works.” A quantum leap for research The agreement earned the immediate praise of several uOttawa researchers working in fields where connecting to a 5G network will advance their work. Accessing the TELUS 5G network will provide “a tool, or platform for researchers for whom research depends on the ability to gather, process and implement solutions around data,” Levesque says. The network will provide researchers with good quality data, timely access and the ability to use that data to make good decisions, he added. Those changes will occur because 5G will propel research advances in fields such as cybersecurity, engineering, virtual reality and telemedicine. More than forty uOttawa professors are already working in 5G-related research. “5G is a key enabling technology for the internet of things,” says Professor Shervin Shirmohammadi, a fellow with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and director of uOttawa’s Discover lab. The internet of things refers to objects or collections of objects embedded with sensors, software and the processing ability to communicate with other systems and devices over a network such as 5G. “I’m happy that the University is taking the initiative to be a leader in 5G and I’m certain we will all benefit from it,” says Shirmohammadi, who had already investigated the costly process of installing antennas and infrastructure just for his own lab. “We can now start designing and implementing and testing futuristic applications that can take advantage of this high speed and low latency.” Professor Melike Erol-Kantarci, who holds the Canada Research Chair in AI-Enabled Next-Generation Wireless Networks, had been urging Levesque to enter such a partnership and so, finds this agreement “very promising.” Her own research into AI-enabled wireless networks, 5G and 6G, smart grids and electric vehicles will become even more pertinent once the 5G network is operational on campus. Erol-Kantarci also foresees new research opportunities alongside TELUS on healthcare and agriculture applications in particular. In addition, the University of Ottawa Centre for Law and Technology and Society researchers studying the ethics and impact of 5G on decision-making, privacy and security will have real-world examples and case studies at their fingertips. An exceptional learning tool for students 5G will increase accessibility and the quality of the learning experience for people off campus and in remote environments. In addition to improving transmission times and image quality during online classes and distance learning, the new network will provide students with an immersive, virtual and augmented reality learning environment, says Lévesque. Once uOttawa becomes a “test bed” for 5G technology, students will also be able to participate in and learn from cutting-edge research projects in artificial intelligence, gaming, cloud computing, cybersecurity and multiple other fields that rely on big data. Inside the classroom, the 5G network will also allow professors to create immersive teaching environments, even including avatars of students and lecturers who interact and converse, uOttawa researchers predict. “We will need a couple of years of research and development, and uOttawa could be in the forefront if such a platform is developed,” says El Saddik, a university research chair in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and director of the Multimedia Communications Research Laboratory. Over the coming months and years, the University will be seeking innovative faculty members to champion pilot projects involving creative ways to incorporate virtual reality into their curriculums and teaching methods, says Levesque. The University will be looking to students for input into the ways they want to take advantage of 5G capacity, he says, and 5G’s impact on teaching will evolve over the next three to five years. Access to the network will also be vital for students to develop the skills they will require to participate in the post-COVID digital economy, uOttawa believes. Rolling out 5G in Canada could add an additional $40 billion and 250,000 permanent new jobs to the Canadian economy by 2026, according to a 2018 report the consulting firm Accenture Strategy, produced for the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. That means students in all fields of study will gain from exposure and proficiency in learning and developing applications on the 5G network. Those skills will be particularly critical for students in engineering, says an internal uOttawa report on the possibilities 5G could deliver. “This skill development will be essential to supporting the growth of IoT (internet of things) and big data applications which are likely to have a massive impact as sensor[s] become widely integrated and … we can work with data in real-time in machines, plants, construction sites, environmental monitoring, and much more,” says the report, entitled A 5G Campus: Opportunities, Possibilities and Transformative Impact. Smart campus TELUS is to begin installing antennas and accompanying infrastructure for the new network on rooftops, light posts and inside and outside buildings this spring. The Advanced Medical Research Centre on the Alta Vista campus will be a 5G facility by the time it is completed in late 2025. Smart buildings, smart classrooms, and even an autonomous shuttle to ferry students, staff and faculty around main campus are among the “transformative” outcomes Levesque envisions once the 5G network is active. Professor Erol-Kantarci envisions working with TELUS to apply AI algorithms to help the company optimize its operations on campus. Using anonymized data from the 5G network, she could determine, for example, the times of day and locations where students connect to the network most often. If, for example, people are downloading and streaming while in cafeterias over lunch hour, Erol-Kantarci could advise TELUS to add extra capacity then. “Those kinds of data-driven decisions can be made when we have the data, and we can work closely with TELUS,” she says. Connecting to a 5G network will, for example, allow the University to reduce its environmental footprint by having smart sensors embedded in buildings to monitor energy, water consumption and air quality, reacting almost instantaneously to changes in occupancy and use. Smart sensors connected to the new network will also make improvements in physical and cyber security possible, Levesque says. For example, sensors embedded in recycling stations could signal when they are full, allowing facility managers to better plan when to empty them. In situations similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, when many campus buildings have been virtually unoccupied, sensors enabled by the 5G network could automatically reduce or shut down lighting and heating based on occupancy. A competitive advantage Being able to connect to 5G will also provide uOttawa with a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining top talent among faculty and students, say Levesque and some of his colleagues. “We will be one of the few universities who will have a 5G campus, so we will be able to experiment on futuristic ideas,” says Professor Abdulmotaleb El Saddik. El Saddik is excited about the prospect of the planned 5G laboratories. He’s already dreaming of how the enhanced wireless connectivity will benefit their projects. Research testbeds, application development, smart classrooms and buildings, an enhanced student experience, improved accessibility and optimized campus operations and infrastructure are all reasons why a 5G-ready university campus makes sense for TELUS and for uOttawa, says Levesque. Overall, bringing the 5G network to the campus will help the University meet its goals of becoming more agile, connected, impactful and sustainable by 2030, says Levesque.

Registrace na ROBOTEM ROVNĚ 2023 začíná

🇨🇿 · PiSeC · Anna Jirásková

Vážení přátelé, kamarádi a všichni příznivci a příznivkyně robotiky! Opět nadešel ten správný čas pozvat vás na další ročník naší nejpopulárnější soutěže ROBOTEM ROVNĚ , která se letos koná všehovšudy již počtrnácté. !!! Nově zařazujeme kategorii dálkově řízených autíček. !!! Tímto dáváme na vědomí, že registrace soutěžících je spuštěna. Registrační formulář naleznete uvnitř článku a přihlašovat se můžete do 7. května 2023. Soutěž se koná v sobotu 13. května 2023 a letos se v ní vyskytne naprostá novinka – třetí kategorie sloužící strojům na dálkové ovládání. Tato akce proběhne v rámci píseckých Městských slavností 2023 . Tradičně se jí účastní české i zahraniční týmy, což přispívá k tomu, že je to akce již proslulá, atraktivní i pro veřejnost a hojně navštěvovaná. Vzhledem k tomu, že v tu dobu probíhá v Písku mnoho kulturních akcí souběžně, lze s sebou vzít celou rodinu s vědomím, že nikdo nebude zklamán. Jedná se o divácky nejnavštěvovanější soutěž celé robotické sezóny v České republice. Kromě robotů a jejich majitelů se mohou zúčastnit i ti, kdo si na robota netroufají. Od toho zde máme tyto kategorie: – Neřízená autíčka – upravená autíčka, která mají zablokované řízení a spouští se jen zapnutím vypínače. – Dálkově řízená autíčka – vozítka řízená dálkovým ovládáním. Jako novinku zde máme novou třetí kategorii , v níž je možné pokusit se zdolat naši 3,14 metru dlouhou parkovou dráhu s vozítkem řízeným dálkovým ovládáním, takže letos dostane možnost vydobýt si svou chvilku slávy i celá řada dalších RC amatérů, kteří se doposud nevešli do žádné z existujících kategorií. Máte-li pochyby o tom, do které kategorie by právě váš závodní stroj měl být zařazen, neváhejte se ozvat organizátorům, kteří vám (nejen) v tomto ochotně poradí. A pokud náhodou žádný závodní stroj dohromady nedáte, rozhodně přijďte alespoň fandit. V tom případě můžete přispět třeba svým hlasem do divácké soutěže “Miss robot” (bude probíhat po celou dobu závodu). Kdy? Sobota 13. května 2023 Kde? Písek, Palackého sady – start na straně u pošty GPS: 49°18″32,103N 14°09″4,775E Za kolik? Vstup pro diváky je zdarma, v kategorii autíček + vozítek na dálkové ovládání je start také zdarma – pouze za roboty zaplatí účastníci startovné 200 Kč. Pro koho? Pro všechny věkové kategorie (0-100+), muže i ženy, dívky i chlapce, nováčky i zkušené, místní i z daleka cestující. Zkrátka pro kohokoliv! Co získáte? Zajímavé zážitky, zajištěný oběd pro všechny účastníky s roboty a také kontakty na další kolegy a kamarády, zájemce o robotiku, elektroniku, radioamatérské vysílání a jiné technické obory… a samozřejmě v případě výhry i nějakou tu cenu Těšíme se na všechny účastníky i diváky! Registrace Celý popis a pravidel ← odkaz zde Registrujte se (CZ) ← zde vyplnit Whole description and rules in ENG ← link here Register (ENG ) ← fill out here Startovné lze uhradit i předem na účet 2001180022/2010 Jakékoliv dotazy směřujte na rororegistrace@seznam.cz nebo tel. +420 724 386 776

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uOttawa School of Nursing answers the call during the pandemic

🇨🇦 · UOttawa Richard L ’Abbé Makerspace · Anonymous

uOttawa School of Nursing answers the call during the pandemic Anonymous Wed, 03/15/2023 - 13:58 home University of Ottawa uOttawa School of Nursing answers the call during the pandemic May 4, 2022 National Nursing Week runs from May 9 to 15, with the theme #WeAnswerTheCall. This Gazette highlights the contribution uOttawa nurses and nursing students have made over the past year. During the pandemic, uOttawa undergraduate nursing students, as well as students in the graduate nurse practitioner program, have provided care on the front-lines. Paula Forgeron, professor at the School of Nursing says, “When other students and (professors) were able to study in the safety of their homes, nursing students and their clinical (professors) continued to travel to clinical placements throughout Ottawa and the surrounding communities.” During the first wave of the pandemic, the University’s clinical partners (such as the Ottawa and Montfort hospitals) urgently needed help for their nursing staff. Our students were there. For many graduate students and all registered nurses, overtime became the norm. All hands on deck were required to care for patients, families and communities. Kristina Ma, a nursing doctoral student, says, “I found myself needing to step away from my doctoral studies to focus full time on the COVID-19 response in correctional institutions. I took a leave of absence from my studies for almost a year, largely to protect myself from burn out and fatigue.” Ma adds, “While I don’t regret taking on this role, as it has been both challenging and rewarding work, I’ve had to renegotiate and adapt my doctoral studies as a result.” Research The research-intensive School of Nursing has a national and international reputation for work that improves the health of patients, families and communities in all care settings. Professors continued to advance their research while supporting their graduate students, who were struggling with unprecedented clinical demands and challenging situations they were witnessing. Some research work was conducted directly in response to the pandemic. For example, with a 75% reduction in HIV testing due to health system closures, Professor Patrick O’Byrne enabled access to HIV testing during COVID with his “GetaKit.” Over 1,900 participants enrolled in the first 10 months. O’Byrne also expanded the GetaKit to include COVID-19 self-testing. Dr. Josephine Etowa and her multi-site research team received several grants to find particular solutions for African, Caribbean and other Black Canadians, groups disproportionally affected by COVID-19. Teaching The School of Nursing, like other units, quickly moved teaching online. Led by Natalie St. Jacques, a team of simulation learning experts working with professors completely re-organized experiential learning in the University’s Skills and Simulation Centre in record time. Professors and staff not only created online lab modules for basic demonstration, but also designed Blitz Days (intensive events with low student to professor ratios) to support hands-on learning before students returned to clinical training. Professor Jane Tyerman received grants to create interactive virtual simulation modules for staff nurses, student nurses, educators and other health-care professionals. Over 20 simulation modules available in both official languages were designed for students who needed to learn while social distancing. One of these modules, on assessment and the use of personal protective equipment, has been downloaded by over 2.5 million users within and outside Canada. L argest Francophone international nursing conference This fall, for the first time, the largest Francophone international nursing conference will be in Ottawa, presented by the Secrétariat international des infirmières et infirmiers de l’espace francophone, in partnership with the Montfort Hospital. Dr. Michelle Lalonde, an associate professor at the School of Nursing and a researcher at the Montfort’s Institut du Savoir, chairs the scientific committee. The University of Ottawa School of Nursing, ranked seventh in Canada and in the 51-100 top nursing schools globally, is 89 years old and has been on the forefront of nursing education and scholarship since it was established.

uOttawa becomes first university in Canada to train next generation of Egyptian engineers

🇨🇦 · UOttawa Richard L ’Abbé Makerspace · Anonymous

uOttawa becomes first university in Canada to train next generation of Egyptian engineers Anonymous Wed, 03/15/2023 - 13:58 home University of Ottawa uOttawa becomes first university in Canada to train next generation of Egyptian engineers November 26, 2020 This innovative, competency-based program represents a unique opportunity for the University to strengthen its collaboration with the local and international business community in Egypt and Africa. Today, the University of Ottawa becomes the first university in Canada to sign a strategic partnership with the Egyptian government to train the next generation of Egyptian engineers in digital technologies. Ultimately, 300 engineers will be trained as part of the government's Digital Egypt Builders Initiative (DEBI). The Faculty of Engineering will welcome each year about 100 students selected through a national competition in its Master of Engineering programs in critical areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science, as well as Internet of Things and Robotics. The experiential component of this online training will be accompanied by internships in Egyptian and international industries based in Egypt, supervised by the Ministry and in collaboration with the University of Ottawa. This innovative, competency-based program represents a unique opportunity for the University to strengthen its collaboration with the local and international business community in Egypt and Africa. DEBI is an initiative that aims to develop local skills in Egypt to accelerate the country's digital transformation, ensure economic development, promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and contribute to solving major global challenges, in partnership with world-class organizations and universities. "The agreement between the University of Ottawa and Egypt is a logical extension of a new dynamic in which we are engaged and is a further step in the internationalization of our institution. We will accelerate the implementation of bold and structuring training and research projects, and this partnership strengthens the University of Ottawa's position among the world-class universities," said Sanni Yaya, Vice-President, International and Francophonie. “I could not be more excited about this new partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) of Egypt and what it means to the advancement of modern technologies such as AI & Data science, the Internet of Things and Robotics,” explained Jacques Beauvais, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Ottawa. “These are crucial technologies for a modern economy and the growth in both our countries depends directly on our ability to train our engineers at the cutting edge of these disciplines. What we learn from one another through this partnership will help us forge a path that will allow institutions to continue to build long-lasting collaborations with the world’s future leaders in technology.”

In Photos: A uOttawa move-in week like no other

🇨🇦 · UOttawa Richard L ’Abbé Makerspace · Anonymous

In Photos: A uOttawa move-in week like no other Anonymous Wed, 03/15/2023 - 13:58 home University of Ottawa In Photos: A uOttawa move-in week like no other September 9, 2020 In a normal year at uOttawa, 3,800 students move into 11 residence buildings over a span of five days. This year, things were significantly different. Only 1,000 students will be living in residence this fall, and the majority of those students moved in over a nine-day period, from August 29 to September 6. Move-in 2020 can only be described as a meticulous and calculated process. All precautions were taken to keep students and their families, as well as all members of the uOttawa community, safe from the risks of COVID-19. A team of University staff members volunteered their time to help make the move-in as smooth as possible. The University of Ottawa warmly welcomes all our new residents! President Frémont was on hand (or elbow) to greet parents and students as they arrived at 90U on Sept 1, 2020 One family made the epic road trip from British Columbia to move their new GeeGee into residence. Housing Services used trays to bring sanitized keys to new residents to avoid any physical contact. Community Advisor Ahmad (Tij) welcomes student Talia with a new resident kit, which contains valuable information along with safety items, such as branded Gee-Gees masks and sanitizer. The new normal: campus is just as beautiful, even while practicing safe distancing and wearing a face mask.

Keiner hackt feiner! Besucht uns am internationalen Tag des offenen Hackerspaces!

🇩🇪 · Subraum · snowball

Zum 1010₂-ten Internationalen Tag (und Nacht!) des offenen Hackerspaces öffnen am 25. März über sechzig Hackerspaces wieder die Türen und laden Neugierige und Wissbegierige ein, uns in unseren natürlichen Habitaten zu besuchen. Auch wir laden dazu in unsere Vereinsräume ein, um mit echten Nerds und Hackerinnen zusammenzukommen und dabei zu sein, wenn wir mit Euch gemeinsam Hardware und Hackingmythen zerlegen. Egal ob du dich für künstliche Intelligenz interessierst oder für Datenschutz und offene Software; ob du lieber mit Holz, Metall und Leder baust statt mit der Tastatur; ob du kreativ bist mit buntem Licht, Schneidplotter oder Textil ‒ bei uns findest du sicher jemanden mit ähnlichen Interessen. Komm auf einen Kaffee vorbei oder bring deinen Laptop mit und lass dich länger nieder. Ein interessantes Projekt findest du bestimmt bei uns! Als Gesprächsanstoß wird es einige Vorträge geben: „Shamir Secret Sharing“ (Kryptographie), „Versions- und Dateiverwaltung mit git“ und „ChatGPT produktiv nutzen“. Außerdem präsentieren wir einige Projekte, die bei uns oder in der Open Source Community entstanden sind. Wenn du an dem Tag nicht in Paderborn sein kannst, schau doch mal, ob es auch in deiner Stadt oder deinem Land einen Hackerspace gibt. Auf dieser Karte findest du jeweils Links zu den teilnehmenden Spaces. Dabei sind die Hackerspaces so divers wie die Städte, in denen sie gewachsen sind, und wie die Leute, die in ihnen heimisch geworden sind ‒ und Ihr könnt der Anstoß für eine ganz eigene Forschungs-, Bastel- oder Philosophie-Nische in Erfas oder Chaostreffs in Eurer Nähe werden. Denn diese Spaces stehen für einen kreativen Umgang mit Technik, sind aber auch Orte, um endlich normale Leute zu treffen. Kommt zahlreich! Die wichtigsten Infos im Überblick: am Samstag, 25. März 2023, ab 13 Uhr Vorträge zwischen 15 und 16 Uhr Im Subraum in der Westernmauer 12-16, 33098 Paderborn. Eine Wegbeschreibung mit Foto findest du hier . Abweichend von unserer sonstigen Regelung gilt an dem Tag keine Maskenpflicht. Du darfst natürlich gerne eine Maske tragen, wenn du das möchtest. Falls du dicht nicht gut fühlst oder deutliche Krankheitssympthome zeigst, würden wir dich bitten an dem Tag zu Hause zu bleiben und stattdessen z.B. Mittwochs zum Open Chaos vorbei zu kommen. Bei Rückfragen kannst du uns unter mail@c3pb.de erreichen.