“Canada boosts university research funding,” screams the CBC: a whopping $275.6 million into science and technology research. A closer look shows that all what they are announcing (again) is this year’s installment on what past governments had committed a long time ago for the Canada Research Chairs and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
This is of course expected from the political class, but when did the CBC become so amateurish in its reporting?
I have been scratching my head for a while as to what it means to represent the faculty on the Board of Governors. How can I know the issues that my colleagues care about, and where they stand on them? How to keep them informed about major Board decisions that affect the academy, confidentiality considerations permitting, of course.
Continue reading
They deserve to be treated fairly by our institutions and our government,” said Meaghan Coker, President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), which represents the interests of over 140,000 professional and undergraduate, university students at seven Ontario institutions.
Continue reading
The Canadian puzzle
Do we or don’t we want foreign talent to move to Canada?
So many mixed signals.
Continue reading
David R. Jones
David R. Jones, UBC Professor Emeritus, Member, Order of Canada (2003), Distinguished Scholar, Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC (2002), Flavelle Medal, Royal Society of Canada (2000), Killam UBC Research Prize (1993), Fry Medallist, Canadian Society of Zoologists, 1992, Killam Senior Fellow (1973-74, 1989-90), and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1984) passed away last Friday.
Continue reading
Simple structure, Complex debate
I thought I was the only one whining about our colleagues not getting the Nobel prize for Physics.Wrong!
According to Naturenews, the Nobel prize committee did not do its homework before making the 2010 award for physics.
Continue reading
I blogged about my own experience on UBC’s Board of Governors, and others’ but I did not mention the biggest surprise of all.
It was supposed to be a four Board meetings per year affair. The reality was different, and I am not counting the receptions, dinners, special events, etc…, since I attended very few of those. So here was the schedule of 2010. I kid you not!
Continue reading
Jim Simons lecturing
“Mathematical models, miscast as villains in some accounts of the current financial crisis, have been responsible for keeping the hedge funds of at least one carefully watched firm spectacularly profitable. In a classic case of giving back, profits from those funds are now being used to benefit the discipline from which the models emerged”.
Continue reading
I am supposed to participate in a public debate with Isabelle Blain, NSERC’s Vice-President, Research Grants and Fellowships.
Topic: Comparison of NSERC Discovery Grant Application Evaluation Systems: New and Old
Time: Sunday, December 5, 5 PM – 6:20 PM
Place: Nelson Room, Coast Plaza Hotel & Suites, 1763 Comox Street, Vancouver, BC
Continue reading
Erwin Schrodinger
The Austrian Ministry of Science informed the Erwin Schrödinger Institute (ESI) on November 8, 2010, that the Institute’s funding would be terminated on January 1, 2011, which essentially coincides with the 50th anniversary of Schrödinger’s death.
News spread among the scientific community and sparked off a large number of messages to Dr. Beatrix Karl, the Austrian Minister of Science and Research, in support of the ESI.
Continue reading
Recent changes in the Canadian immigration policies will have severe effects on our abilities to attract and retain graduate students in Canada.
Indeed, UBC international students were surprised to learn recently from a Canada immigration officer that PhD students can no longer apply for permanent residency till after they have finished a PhD program and have worked in Canada for one year with a full time work permit (and not the study permit which foreign students normally hold).
Continue reading
… trying to change the system from within.” Leonard Cohen.
After blogging about my own experience on UBC’s Board of Governors, I was reminded that, back in 2004, a colleague of ours, Dennis Danielson (English Department) had also written in the Faculty Association’s Newsletter about his stunt on the BoG, under the title: Run for Governor, Anyone? Danielson
There is also a lively description by our friend Bob Russell of his years on the SFU Board of Governors, of which I am including a few excerpts.
Colleagues in France are currently busy filling applications to try to get a piece of “Le grand emprunt national” or “The big loan”. Now this is supposed to be a glamorous way (only in french) to describe what is essentially …. a science stimulus package, with a special emphasis on the borrowing aspect from international financial markets.
Continue reading
UBC - Vancouver Campus
The background: UBC essentially “controls” one of the most valuable pieces of land in North America. The challenge is to try to unlock the multi-billion dollars value of that land in order to support student, faculty and staff housing, create a vibrant environment around the university, and beef up the endowment, all without disposing of the land base, infringing on the academic zone, altering the academic character of the UTown, threatening the governance of the university, and creating a reverse traffic flow out of UBC.
Continue reading
The Danger of Cosmic Genius, By Kenneth Brower
In the range of his genius, Freeman Dyson is heir to Einstein—a visionary who has reshaped thinking in fields from math to astrophysics to medicine, and who has conceived nuclear-propelled spaceships designed to transport human colonists to distant planets. And yet on the matter of global warming he is, as an outspoken skeptic, dead wrong: wrong on the facts, wrong on the science. How could someone as smart as Dyson be so dumb about the environment? The answer lies in his almost religious faith in the power of man and science to bring nature to heel.
Louis Nirenberg is one of the mathematical giants of the second half of the twentieth century. A world scientific leader, a prolific problem solver, a committed educator, and an outstanding human being, Louis Nirenberg has contributed enormously to the development of the mathematical sciences throughout the world.
Indian President Pratibha Patil, left, presents the Chern Medal to Louis Nirenberg
His legendary lectures, numerous expository articles and clear writing continue to inspire generations of mathematicians. His dedication to the mentoring of students from all over the world is unmatched. His 46 PhD students have in turn trained more than 180 mathematicians in more than 30 countries. All of them pride themselves for being his intellectual “descendants”.
Continue reading
I am completing a 3-year term as a faculty representative on UBC’s Board of Governors. Here are a few selected personal notes from my experience on that Board. My 33 years of academic service at UBC were surely helpful in dealing with the steep learning slope, but nothing could have prepared me for the challenges of this experience.
Continue reading
Piece of Mind 