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Monthly Archives: November 2011
When the appointed can fire the elected
This is not another post on how the commissioners of the European Union proceeded to essentially “fire” the elected prime ministers of Greece and Italy. This is about the new state of affairs in British Columbia’s public institutions for advanced … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors
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Living out of a suitcase for so many good reasons
It is only 4:00 am (Pacific time) on this chilly Sunday morning, yet I am surrounded by many of British Columbia’s academic elite. Actually, we are flying back home from Ottawa, all eager to get back early enough to catch … Continue reading
How to build yourself a facility on campus if you must
The process of getting “yourself” or your department a building at a university is an enigma to most. The projects can vary from being a complex to house a major academic unit, to an infrastructure that suits your own “pet … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors
2 Comments
The wake-up call from a crumbling ceiling
“Dear all, The east entrance, in front of the men’s washroom of Math Annex, a portion of the ceiling has come apart and fell to the ground. This area is now out of bounds and considered to be unsafe. We … Continue reading
Posted in Board of Governors
7 Comments
The spoken word vs. modern-day centurions
The best speeches are not originating these days from the Palace of Westminster, the French National Assembly, or the US senate. And they are definitely not features of Question Period in our own House of Commons. Strasbourg has supplanted Rome as the hotbed of oratory, and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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I like the new “Google Scholar Citations”
Using “Google scholar” has always been a most frustrating experience. My publications/citations got always mixed with those of a cardiologist cousin of mine in Paris, and those of a childhood friend who founded a publishing house in London. But who … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
4 Comments
In praise of Mr. Goodyear
The early days of Gary Goodyear as Minister of State for Science and Technology were on the rocky side. A well publicized stormy meeting with a CAUT delegation, and a reported attempt to intervene in a peer-review process may have been lapses in … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
6 Comments
Berkeley: An intellectual crossroad between the 99% and the 1%
Last Friday, I gave a talk at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley, California. That the talk was at 11:00 am on 11/11/11 was a pure coincidence. That it started 11 minutes late was not. But “numerology” is … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
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Stop wasting researchers’ time
“It might be high time for Statistics Canada to start collecting data and measure the thousands of hours wasted by Canada’s researchers in filling forms and preparing proposals that lead to nowhere.” That’s what I wrote many posts ago in, “The … Continue reading
Posted in R&D Policy
5 Comments
Canada’s granting councils: “Mission drift” and inadequate governance
“The granting councils have played a pivotal role in developing both talent and ideas for Canada’s innovation agenda. Their core raison d’être has been and remains investigator-initiated research of both a basic and applied nature, and each needs to continue … Continue reading
Posted in R&D Policy
3 Comments
The market for free money is infinite
The latest issue of “Contact” announces that only half of the $15-million federal increase to NSERC’s budget is going to the “Discovery Grant” program, even though the number of applicants to that program keeps increasing –from 3300 in 2010, to … Continue reading
Posted in R&D Policy
6 Comments
Andy Rooney and the skills required for fame
Andy Rooney, a fixture of CBS for over 30 years died on Friday at the age of 92. I confess that he had been one of my favorite American characters ever since I landed on this continent 35 years ago. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Orgasmic mathematics
No, I am not talking about the ordinary tale of the love, passion and mathematics triangle. Nor am I talking about the film, “The Rites of Love and Math” where, having realized that they are seeing each other for the last … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
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Piece of Mind 