Knowledge for all ages at the Science Open House

by Victoria Van Cappellen.

The Faculty of Science is hosting its 21st annual Science Open House and Gem & Mineral Show this Saturday, October 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Centre for Environment and Information Technology (EIT). The Gem and Mineral show opens Friday, October 23 at noon.

This year includes more than 100 hands-on activities, with extra experiments and demonstrations geared to middle-school children. Take tours of the Velocity Science and iGEM labs, where you’ll meet the entrepreneurs behind some of Waterloo’s most exciting companies as well as learn about synthetic biology from Waterloo’s award-winning team. You can also drop by the Science and Business SciBiz Career Booth where you can try on a Science career and snap a picture to share with friends!

Young visitors can dress up like a scientist, pan for gold, extract banana DNA, explore a giant cell, concoct slime from household products and jump inside a giant soap bubble, all while learning about chemistry, genetics, momentum and gravity.

Families are invited to attend the colourful and explosive Chemistry Magic Show at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

“It’s hard to tell who is more excited about the event – the undergraduate students sharing their passion for science or the visiting school-age scientists,” said Heather Neufeld, manager of science outreach for the Faculty of Science at UWaterloo. “We’ve made an extra effort this year to ensure that we’re capturing the interest of our middle-school visitors, and have a number of new activities.”

The event is free, and free parking is available in Lot C, off of Seagram Drive. For more information visit the Science events page or contact Heather Neufeld.

Vote for the best 24 Hours of Waterloo photo

On Wednesday October 14, Waterloo community members came together to share photos and videos of a day in their #UWaterlooLife during 24 Hours of Waterloo. Participants campus-wide (and even a few across the pond!) were encouraged to share images using Twitter, Instagram and e-mail in order to promote a sense of pride and community via social media.

We’ve narrowed down the top 15 submissions, and now we need your help to choose number one.

Visit the UWaterloo Life Facebook page and cast your vote by liking your favourite photo until Friday October 23 at 12:00 pm. The lucky student whose photo receives the most likes will walk away with $500 to spend at Retail Services.

To check out what #UWaterlooLife looked like on October 14, check out Tint.

Waterloo launches annual travel survey

by Mat Thijssen.

As many of you know, the University of Waterloo has partnered with the TravelWise program for the past several years to encourage sustainable transportation options. Each year we need your help to see how you get to work, understand what has changed, and identify areas we can help make your commute easier.

Please take a few minutes to complete this quick and confidential online survey. Raw data from completed surveys will be held online while the University of Waterloo continues to be a member of TravelWise, to measure year-over-year changes and trends.



By completing the survey, you could win amazing prizes, including one of:

One (1) $250 King Street Cycles Gift Card ($250 retail value)

One (1) $250 Adventure Guide Inc. Gift Card ($250 retail value)

Two (2) $100 Borealis Grille & Bar Gift Cards ($100 retail value each)

Two (2) $100 University of Waterloo Retail Services Gift Cards ($100 retail value each)

We encourage staff and faculty to complete your survey and enter into this fantastic draw. The survey will remain open until Monday, November 2.

Please note that the survey can be completed anonymously, however contact information must be provided in order to be eligible for the prize draw. Any personal data collected will be used to contact prize winners or to obtain a better profile of commuting behaviours so that transportation options can be made more accessible. Personal information will be separated from survey responses and all data from participants will only be presented in aggregate form.

New study space at Federation Hall

It was built as a nightclub, served for years as a special event venue (and even hosted a rave or two back when you could get away with that sort of thing), but now Federation Hall is expanding its utility to the campus community yet again, as it is now offering a new study space for students on campus.

Fed Hall's mezzanine has been set up with tables and chairs and now offers students a new area to study and work on assignments or group projects during the day in the north end of campus.

"UW Food Services hopes this offering will be utilized by students for their educational pursuits," says a note from Micaela Buchnea-Chew. "The Food Services website will be updated weekly with hours of operation for the study space, as it’s dependent on building bookings and operations."

All of this information can also be found on the student portal.

What rhymes with orange and other notes

Health Services is hosting high risk flu clinics this month for members of the community who fall into the following categories:

Adults (including pregnant women) and children with chronic health conditions;

Immune compromised conditions such as transplant recipients;

Neurologic and neurodevelopment conditions such as seizure disorders;

Residents of long term care facilities;

People 65 years and older; and

All children from 6 to 59 months of age.

The clinics will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Health Services 1101 today, tomorrow, and from Tuesday, October 27 to Thursday, October 29.

Human Resources is reporting that retiree Ida Mae Poth died October 1. Ida began her employment at Waterloo in September 1973 as a Food Services Assistant. She retired in November 1986.

Employers on campus next week hosting employer information sessions include Nulogy, Uber, Joist, Wealthsimple, Goldman Sachs, TJX Canada, LimeConnect, Conexsys Communications Limited and Autodesk Canada.