Iron Warrior: Volume 8, Issue 6

8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 8, Issue 6

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The Engineering Society s Student forum July 1987

The inal our


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Iron Warrior

The Editors Perspective

Michelle Wahl Chris TagueAs exams loom on the horizon,

the pressure begins to build aroundus. This is nothing really new, ofcourse. We are, after all, engineers who thrive on intensity . Asthe saying goes, we "work hard andplay hard". We tend to scoff atArts courses that do not push us toour limit. Think about it . Evenamidst scholastic pressures, our timeoff is strewn with the same levelof stimulation in a different form.We consistently strive to make boat,....ri'cessary part of l ~ n g i n > r -ing life.

t could be pointed our that weare purely a subset of t.he American lifestyle. We are like everyone else - buying the latest st e reoand T.V. equipment to ensure thatour relaxation hours are filled withlights, camera and most import.antlyaction. Still even within our fastpaced society, engineers are reput.edto study harder, work harder andplay harder than most. In fact, ourhigh energy level is often that whichmakes us marketable and successful.The question arises, is this a badthing? After all, are we not simply

RON W RRIORThe Iron Warrior is a forum forideas presented by the students of theUniversit y of Waterloo. Views expressed in the Iron Warrior, otherthan editorials, are those of the authorSand do not necessarily re8ect the opinions of the editors.The Iron Warrior welcomes all submissions from students, faculty, andother member of the university community. Articles, letters, and artworkehould reflect the concerns and intellectual level of the University in general.All submissione become the propertyof the Iron Warrior which reeerves theright to refuse publication of materialwhich it deems unsuitable. The Iron

living life to its fullest? There is, asalways, another side.

Spicy food eventually dulls thetaste buds; tolerance builds in thedrug addict. Considering the analogies, one wonders if we are not losing out on something. Sensitivitycan be diminished. Are we, then,restricting our enjoyment, deafeningourselves to strains perhaps just asworth hearing as the crashing intensities we insist upon? Are we missing t.he finer points'? Beyond thein t rin sic enjoyment of life, sensitivity comes in to play in our profession. In a world of countless subtleties and precarious balances sensitivity is a necessary characteristicof a good designer. Gone are thedays when thf' blatant bulldoze approach brings t.he answers.

AdmiLt.edly, t.he other extreme,living wrapped in ~ o t t o batting, isa milch worse approach. Still, thereis sorneth ing to be said for questioning our cont.inued adherence to the'work hard play hard' philosophy. Infollowing t.his direct.ion, it is easy tolose access to what lies behind theglare of more brilliant colours. So,t.he next. time you reach for anotherswig of red-pepper sauce for yourhot tomali or pack yet another stimulus filled event into your calender -consider what you may be losing.

Thanksfrom theEditorsAlong with the president, we as

editors must say farewell. In retrospect, the paper has presented achallenge and, in sp it e o f late nights,disappearing articles and typsettingsystems that go down during thunderstorms, being editors has beengenuinely fun. We would like to extend a word of t.hanks to everyonewho helped: to t.hose who submitted articles, to the EERC for the useof their resources, and to those ofyou who helped with layout . Special thanks to Lindi and Carolyn,layout managers; Carl Spiess, copyeditor; SheJdon McGregor, advertising manager; Ian Worland, photographer; Peter Hanson, typesetterand Tom Lee, IW guru. Finally lastbut never least, thanks Bruce, headtypesetter, the man with the goldenlocks and infinite patience. Well , asthe term draws to a close, we hopeyou, the reader, have learned a littlethrough the paper, or perhaps simply enjoyed reading. Au Revoir

Warrior also reserves the right to editgrammar, spelling, and portions of textthat do not meet University standards.Authors will be contacted for any majorchanges that may be required.All submissions must be legible andmust include the author's name, class (ifapplicable) and a phone number wherehe/she may be reached.All submissions and advertising enquiries should be forwarded to:Iron WarriorEngineering SocietyCPH 1327 - ext. 2323

July 987

@. .CO\n;Edi )J: .Carl Speisst. .;-


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July 1987 ron Warrior 3A Farewell fromthe President

by Bill J ackesThe time has come to pass overthe reins of Eng Soc to the new execthat was elected this term . Con-

gratulations to Matt , Sarah, Jay andBarb. I hope you will have as muchfun as we did in the last sixteenmonths .

Along wi th t he ga ining of a newexec comes my responsibili ty ofth anking all t hose who were invo lvedwi th the organization of Eng Socthis term . I saw a lot of enthusiasmand effort from the directors in the

running of the pubs , events and ac-ademic affairs , and the end resultwas a lot of success. For instance ,the Welcome Back Pub Crawl was abit of a chance since it was replacingthe very traditional stag . The resultwas a great party that was in mymind, more fun than previous stag.As well the Blue Jay Road Trip hadthe largest attendance in many yearsfor this event and if it were not forEng Soc 's Mini Olympics on CanadaDay, I think there wou ld have beenlots of bored kids with nothing to dofor t hree hours whi le waiting for thefireworks. As for the Booze CruiseI have never heard of a better drinkand drown party

Success is very d ifficu lt to achievein this game. It takes a lot oft ime to run the events, attend andrepor t on meet ings, organize pubsetc.. A large reason of why peopleget involved with this stuff is for th echallenge of mak ing them successful.Believe me, it is a cha llenge.On behalf of Ka ren and myself,I wou ld like to t han k a ll the direc-tors and classes t hat participated inmaking Eng Soc a success. I had alot of fun and I hope you did as we ll .If I have any luck, I will see youin Ja nuary

Visitsby Owen Kelly

Shad ValleyT he chairman of the Science

Co un cil of Ca nada and formerprovincial Liberal leader , Dr. Stu-art Smi th , vi sited UW's Shad Valleyschool this week .

Dr . Smith spoke to the groupof grade students on the roleof science policy and science andtechnology in Canada 's economic fu-ture . The Science Council advisesthe government on science policy.Economists, he said, are only re-cently recognizing the importance ofscience and technology for Canadaover the traditional strategy of rawresource market development.

The council's three areas of con-cern are: the maintenance of an in-frastructure to support research (eg .NSERC), consideration of researchimpact on society, and fostering thelink between research and industry.We are failing to derive a com-parative economic advantage fromour research. Higher education

a lone cannot spur this developmentif t here is little demand from indus-try for such graduates . Hi storically ,the government of Canada has ab-sorb ed t hese grad uates in to its ownlabora to r ies; consequentl y govern-ment research ($3bi l/yr) far exceedsprivate research.

Other (less endowed)coun t ries have been forced to crea tean econ omic advantage by addingvalue .( design/manufacture/ labour)to their resources before export .Canada has rel ied on its raw ex-ports and never fe lt the incenti veto develop such industr ies. Smithstressed entrepreneurship as a pa t hleading Canada to develop morevalue added industries . As a furtherstep, he pJans to start a businessoffering management consulting ser-vices to the government research fa-cilities to push their endeavors to-ward the needs of Canadian indus-t ry and to make their services moreaccessible .. In an open discussion , most of thestudents expressed interest in thequality of science and technologicaleducation. Smith pointed out thefailure of our education system , andsociety in general , to recognize sci-ence as a cultural phenomenon . Anactive effort should be made to un-derstand and control the role of sci-ence and technology in our lives.Dr. Smith has been involved withthe Shad Valley program since itsinception and said he welcomed theopportunity to discuss these issueswith some of Canada 's future re-search/industrial community.

nvironmentalVandalismby Lindi Wahl

A veritable army of boats, trucksand angry env iro nmenta lists a t-tacked Laurel Creek early last wee kin hopes of removing up tohundred gallons of diesel fuel thathad d rained into the water system atso me point durin g t he weekend. The

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4 Iron Warrior July 1987

Responsible Educationby Sidney Fels

Why is it that in some classes youseem to learn a great deal, while inothers you are bored, listless andlearning very little? The learningthat takes place for a given subject isheavily dependent on many factorsincluding organization and prepara-tion .According to Biehler and Snowman (Psychology Applied to Teaching) there are a number of responsibilities that the professor has to enhance the potential for learning of aparticular subject. In addition , thestudent has responsibilities too .

Pro.fessor sResponsibilitiesFirst though, consider what theprofessor should be doing. If they

are negligent in these areas then it isnot unfair to attribute some of theblame on them for a poorly learnedsubject. Conversely, you may beable to recognize a good professorwhen you encounter one. However, if the professor has followed thesuggestions given, then perhaps theblame lies in you shirking your rcsponsibili ties.

The responsibilities of the professor fall in two main categories: organization and sett ing objectives.

The first category is organization.In engineering t he main teachingstyle is lecturing. Since this methodis used, the need for an organizedn?''''''''''' ,r\1 1 m r an apppriate rate of learning to occur.

For a professor to be organized thefollowing should be observed:1. On the first day of classes anoutline of the course should be

distributed. The outline shouldbe more than just a cursoryoverview with non-specific titles, but should include number of lectures that will be spenton areas and references to textchapters.

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2. A list of when tests willbe, what they will cover andtheir weighting should be distributed. The weighting doesnot have to be fixed, however anindication as to the variabilityand evaluation scheme shouldbe given.

3. A set of lecture notes shouldbe used by the professor. Thisforces the material to be covered to be organized for presentation in class. In addition, ifstudents refer back to a pointmade in a previous lecture itwill be easy to look up thenotes. These notes mayor maynot be available to students depending on the professor's bias.

4 If applicable, lectures should beconsistent with material covered in the labs (or vice versa).Either way, the two must besynchronized.

The second responsibility a professor has is devising objectives forthe students (this is described inBiehler and Snt)wman, 1986). Theseobjectives should De given to thestudents. Again, since lecturing isthe preferred method there is littleor no chance of negotiating objectives with students, thus the professor is liable for correctly specifyingthem.In engineering we are primarilyconcerned with objectives in the cognitive domain as opposed to affective or psychomotor domain. Bloomet al (1956) outlined six categoriesfor objectives in the cognitive domain. These are hierarchical with1 being the lowest. They are:

1 Knowledge - knowing facts,terms, conventions, trends classifications, methods, principlesand theories.

2. Comprehension - grasping themeaning of information.3. Application - applying knowl

edge to actual situations.

4. Analysis - breaking down objects or ideas into simpler partsand seeing the parts are relatedand are organized.

5. Synthesis - rearrang1ng component ideas into a new whole.6. Evaluation - making judge

ments based on internal evidence or external criteria.Professors should outline whatabilities they feel the students

should have by the end of thecourse. These are the objectives ofthe course . These objectives shouldfall into the objective categories out-lined.Once these objectives have been

listed some means of testing whetherthese have been acquired is needed.Gronlund (1978, 1981) has outlineda method to do this. (taken fromBiehler and Snowman) These are:

1. Examine what is to be learnedwith reference to the objectiveslisted. Use these to formulategeneral instructional objec-tives(GIO) that describe typesof behavior students should exhibit to demonstrate that theyhave learned. For example aGIO for an objective at theevaluation level would have theform Judges on basis of external criteria ... or at thecomprehension level Translates communications ... .

2 Under each GIO, list up tofive specific learning out-comes(SLO) that begin withan action verb and indicatespecific, observable responses.These would have the formof criticizes, compares, contrasts for the evaluation levelor solves, constructs for theapplication level for example.

From the SLO lists it is easy for aprofessor to set exams and be surethat the questions will reflect thecourses objectives for learning.

WOW

It is important that the studentsare given copies of the o b j e ~ t i v e s atthe beginning of the course. 'Even though this seems like a lotof work, in the long term less workwill be spent on the course. Stu-dents will learn better, tests willbe easier to devise and the nexttime the course is taught there willbe little preparatory work required.These are just a few of the advantages realized using this technique.

StudentsResponsibilitiesStudents must also do their partin aiding the l e a ~ n i n g process. Luckily, if the professor is organized andhas stated objectives the student'srole is simple. Unfortunately, if the

professor has not followed the guidegiven the student has a difficult taskahead.Lecture attendance is the responsibility of the student. There is acorrelation between grades and at -

tendance. Students must decide ifthe lecture to be presented is goingto be useful or not; or if they coulddo something more worthwhile. Obviously, if the student does not knowwhat the lecture will be on then theycannot make an appropriate decision, strengthening the argument fora concise outline.

Students must be prepared for lectures. This is a tough one for moststudents. However , interial and doing problems with thematerial that is to be covered before class, learning from the lectureis greatly enhanced . Again, the professor must be organized enough sothat students know what will be covered so they can prepare.

The rate of forgetting materialpresented follows an exponential decay after a lecture if the material isnot reviewed. T h i ~ decay can be significantly reduced by reviewing thelecture material 24 hours after it waspresented. The longer you wait after this optimum time the less youwill remember of the original mate-rial in the future (i.e. exam time),tltus, you have to re-Iearn much ofthe lecture.

Finally, it is the student's responsibility to demand organization ofthe professors. They should complain if there is no outline or specification of tests. In the long run, byforcing the professor to be organizedboth parties will benefit. Withinelectrical engineering there is a bookcalled the Yellow Book which contains the start of an outline for eachclass in electrical. AP a minimumthis should be distributed to stu-dents at the beginning of lectures.

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July 1987 Iron Warrior 5

Whither the APEOby Sean Richens

As you may have read in the lastissue of Iron Warrior, an ad hoccommittee of Engineering studentsis meeting to discuss issues relatingto the professionalism of engineers,and more particularly, the possibility that Bill 123 (S.O 1984 c.13,for you budding legal eagles) will beamended such that the APEO, ourlicencing body, will no longer be ableto offer some of the services to itsmembers that it now does , such asgroup insurance plans, salary surveys, etc. The net result would beto organize engineering more alongthe lines of tbe other professiOlls,with two distinct organizations, onea watchdog , the other a service andlobby group (such as the Bar Association and the Law Society of Upper Canada). One of the strongestarguments in favour of this, I feel,is that chemical and electrical engineers tend to be left out of some ofthis discussion to start with , sincelicencing is not as often necessaryin these disciplines. A service/lobbygroup would enable these engineersto be a part of the larger professionwithout ' having to obtain a licencethey do not really need (unless theyintend to work as consultants in thefuture).

At this point, engineers are stillbeing consulted on the pro osedchanges, and if we, the future engineers, wish to have a voice in thisprocess, it is up to us to speak up ,and push for any changes that wefeel would be to our benefit or to thepublic good, Two areas that I feelare qot sufficiently dealt with underthe present system are the protec-tion of the rights of the working engineer and the setting of standardsof skill and education for engineersafter they have left schooL

should it not also protect those whoabide by those standards? The engineer who feels obliged to blow thewhistle on dangerous , illegal or otherwise unethical practices has no official organization to whom to turnfor instructions on how to proceed.

All an engineer can do , at present,is to proceed as cautiously as possible, and ultimately, to rely on thecourts in case of dismissal. Evenwhen a court rules that the whistleblower must be reinstated or otherwise compensated for any retaliationby the employer, there is always thechance that the event may mark theengineer, and make a future in theprofession impossible . A discreetcall to the employer from an organization with real clout, an experienced representative, or overwhelming sanctions against a vindictiveemployer , might enable the engineerto both sleep at night and keep ajob . Few companies could afford toneglect a legally enforced (and indef. . wi d i -gineering services if they retaliatedagainst a legitimate whistleblower.Right now, engineers are legally required to put their necks on the linewithout any hope of support, andthis is good for neither the engineernor the public.

Another area of unfair treatmentfrom which engineers have insuffi cient protection is in cases of discrimination. Happily, engineers arevaluable enough that these cases arerarer than in some occupations, butthey still occur. A lawsuit or complaint to the Human Rights Commission, successful or not, carries astigma which is harder to bear for anengineer than for a more anonymousassembly-line worker. It is alreadyrecognized in the Code of Ethics ofthe APEO that engineers are owedcertain courtesies as professionals,

n e ~ 1 t e c t i o n of the w orking e ngi- so why not include some form of ex-. often felt to be unnecessary, tra protection?smce .f I expenenced employee whos l ~ Y ' ~ f l y dealt with by his/her The last issue of protection that

othPer op t. seen to have plenty of I want to raise is the practice ofTh including so-called "non-disclosure"howev 'e. ere are some ar- I T h Ieas, h h d causes m contracts. e emp oyerh betw'l ere some very arc olces I d I' I' has a legitimate right to preventhood have haQ>rmclp es an Ive 1-b d b former employees from giving awayengineers. At pe rna e y. some company secrets or stealing com-one to turn to f ~ n t t.here IS no-d h pany ideas for themselves. Theical issues; an eni? vIce on -a moral dilemma onr f ~ c e d WIth problem is that these clauses areb ld currently worded in a way that putsturn to a lawyer to 1 JO wou too much of the onus on the en-rights he/she has to act put .what gineer. Some clauses forbid work-his/her conscience. Woullfdmg to ing "in a related field" for as muchan improvement to have a "lot .be as two years Fortunately, thecluding lawyers, engineers aIY 1 I ~ - courts do recognize that a special-cal specialists to help an enginthl- ized worker is locked in to a certainthe right thing, not merely to adO area of research or design, and willon what the consequences of dol. not deny someone the right to earnso might be? . a living without evidence of uneth-

More specifically, if the APEO '-:al c o ~ d u c t For the p r o ~ e c t i o n ofis supposed to enforce standards of 't eng.meer, It would be Simpler toethical conduct among its members, isImme once and for all, by leg'n or by a test case before the

courts, exactly what are the limitsto this kind of contTact provision,so that the employer and employeeboth know where they stand.

Much has been said about underfunding of universities in general, and of the technical programs in particular, but the issue has really remained a student / faculty / administration cause.A number of students picnicking onthe lawn at Queen's Park gets the issue in the newspapers, but the Governments of the country cannot beexpected to see the issue as affecting more than our special interestsunless (let's face it) a more crediblegroup joins the campaign. Underfunding of education will eventuallyaffect the national economy, and ultimately public safety. Although theEngineering Act (2 .(3) and (4)-1 &2; - look it up) states that the APEOshall establish, maintain and develop" standards of skill and qualification tha.t the public interestmay be served and protected , theymay be overstepping their bounds infighting underfunding as it smacksof self-interest. A vocal and independent lobby group is vital in seeing that the public sees our cause astheirs.

In some countries, engineers arerequired to take refresher coursesand pass exams to reta in Lheir licences. Aft'e'r We" -gradt Mle, we amt-plete two years' training and arenever again tested on our knowledge

before we retire . There is no requirement to prove competence inusing new technologies before applying them, and no way of checkingup on how well we remember general principles unless we happen toscrew up in a big way.7:h(rb is nQ e q l d T i l 1 i i 1 1 t l 4: t ' o v e C()mpete, ce 1 . q u t i 1 ~ . ..11 eW c h n u l o g r . e s / J i J o r 4 , ~ l" ,lPPlylng themThe most common form of con

tinuing education for engineers isthe commercial course. While someof these are outstanding, they tendto concentrate on one manufacturer's products, there is no regulation of the quality of teaching, andno standards for the examinations(how often does someone fail thesecourses?).

There may never be a consensusamong students as to whether splitting the APEO into two separate organizations is a good idea or not , butthe Task Force cannot represent Waterloo engineers without your input.I f you have opinions on any of theissues raised in this or the previousarticle, please drop a note off at theOrifice addressed to the Task Forceon Professionalism". Also, any informal.ion on how eng ineerinl > is or ganized and regulated in other ju risdictions, and how well it works,would be greatly appreciated .

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STY Get the ig Pictureby Mark Anderson andRussell LeggeA Society, Technology andValues elective may help giveyou a wider perspective onwhere your studies as anengineer fit into the history andfuture of humanity s progress.Power for the People

Conservative calculations estimatethat the average individual in today s North American society controls 5000 times as much power asdid his or her counterpart 200 yearsago. With running water and electricity in our homes, cars and airplanes to carry us around, and computers to manage everything fromour money to our telephone communications, we have far greatercontrol over our immediate environment than any other civilization inhistory .Progress? Says who?

Medical technology, in particular,has drastically changed our view ofhealth and survival. Natural selection no longer decides which individuals shall propagate our species.Our society tends to ha il this asprogress : a distancing betweenourselves and our more primitive

past. I f we think objectively,though, are we really any better off?Certainl y we ve longer now, buare we any happier? Are we anycloser to creating an environmentwhere we would like our children tolive? Which groups of people inour society should decide this? Andwhen they are deciding, what valuesshould they use to determine good ,better , and best ? These are someof the questions addressed in Society, Technology, and Values (STY)100 - the introductory course Lo theundergraduate option of the samename.

WisdomIf you are tired of classes giving you knowledge in the form ofimmeasurable details and dozens oftheoretical techniques, which youcannot imagine how or when youwill ever use again, maybe youshould consider stepping back a couple of hours each week to get the bigpicture ... to see how the things youare learning can really affect our society in the long run. STY 100 isa challenging course that asks a lotof questions that have no easy answers . Through readings and discussions you will explore the balances, compromises, and conflictingtruths, that guide our civilization sprogress. The class will help togi ve you the tools to understand thefundamentals of these issues as wellas their applications, and make youmore prepared to face some difficultdecisions in the real world. Thismay be the closest thing to wisdomyou are ever taught in university.New Applications ForOld Moral Values

In a world where the control oftechnology is directly related to thepower to impact people s lives, ourculture is realizing the impor tanceof professional ethics. Almost everynew technology passes through thehands of engineers at some stage inLt s development. Ther. is a ~ r o w i n gfeeling that engineers hav e a dutyto ensure, to the best of our ability, that new technologies are used in a morally responsible manner .This means more than understanding the potential military applications of our research . The STY 100class this Spring term addressed values issues in relation to informationtechnology, bioengineering and thetransfer of Appropriate Technologyto developing countries of the world.

The problem is more difficult thansimply encouraging the widespread

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use of widely agreed upon professional ethics. In many areas, we areon completely new ground and facedwith applying commonly acceptedmoral principles to situations whichhave never been dealt with before .For instance, does the state have theright to know everything about anindividual that is stored in a computer somewhere? Who has theability and/or responsibility to ensure that companies developing newstrains of bacteria are taking properprecautions to protect our environment? What is the best strategy foreliminating world hunger even if we. assume we have sufficient resourcesto do so?Eight-year olds withRocket LaunchersOne theory explaining the injustice which exists in the worldclaims that our moral growth hassimply not kept pace with our intellectual development. We nowhave the intelligence to build verypowerful tools for ourselves, butwe simply do not have the insight required to use them properly. Analogous to an eight-yearold with a rocket launcher , we don tpossess the judgement required tohandle these machines in a responsible manner. If engineers are reallyserious about wanting to improvethe world around them, they shouldconsider developing their ability todeal with t he values dimension ofthe new technologies they are asso-

ciated with. If not, we should notbe surprised at the fact that thevast majority of our technological research and development is currentlydirected at maintaining ratlter thaneliminating injustice.Good Engineers

There is not a field in engineering to which issues of social concern do not apply. As we all realized, when we registered as frosh, anengineering degree holds more thanthe power to make-.money, it canhold the power to change the world.With that power comes the responsibility to understand when we arehelping the world in the long runand when we are not. Maybe youhave thought a lot about these questions already, maybe you still do notthink they are important to you asan engineer. In either case, an STYcourse will give you a rare chance toshare those ideas in a fertile environment, and an alternative to justanother elective of equations and algorithms. Those are valuable, but sois gaining the perspective on the wayyour career can affect the lives of alot of people in this world. Waterloois a progressive engineering schoolwhich produces progressive graduates: STY can help prepare you tobe a positive force on technology sleading edge.

For more information on Society,Technology, and Values as an optionor ngineeT , con ac ri igg(x6215) or Russel Legge (885-1460).

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July 987Oneby Victor Quintana

There is a new opportunity ontbe educational horizon which is exciting UW graduates. The University of Waterloo has joined withWilfrid Laurier University to create a new full time MBA which canbe completed in one calendar year.The programme has been designedto cater to the special managementneeds for UW technology graduates :Engineers, Math CS students andScience graduates.

Walter F. Light, senior executive of Northern Telecom, has said,"Canadians are responsible for thecountry's poor productivity in recent years. What is needed are first

Wilfrid Laurier's MBA studentsplaced second in an internationalbusiness case competition sponsoredby Dalhousie University. They are ,

by Brian HamiltonAs a co-op student, everyone says,

you can put up with anything forfour months. Even the worst of jobsprovides that ever-valuable "experience". This way of thinking is finefor the early years of your co-op degree. Eventually, however, as youbecome better qualified, it is important to become pickier.

In the middle of your degree, withsome work terms under your belt,you are a marketable resource. Thedifficulty is that not enough of usknow this . We simply go looking fora job, instead of for the ideal one.'

Of course, within the co-op system it is impossible, to insist upona 'perfect' job. The choice is limited. Hbwever, by "thinking big" -identifying what you want from yournext job and setting out to get it- you will get the most out of co-

Iron Warrior 7Year MB ProgramOpportunity Knocks for UW rads

class managers of new technologiesin Canadian business . J. Alex Murray, Dean of Wilfrid Laurier's Schoolof Business Economics, has confirmed that several task forces (bothof industry and government) havefound that Canada is falling behindits application of technology to business . Dean Lennox has stated thatthis new MBA programme will :

respond to the demands of industry provide the opportunity for

graduates to receive early acceptance into management

help hi-tech firms in the regionfind qualified management personnel

standing, left to right: Roger Pettit,Victor Quintana , and Mike Cottenden ; and seated, left to right : ArvGupta, Jody Priest, and Pat Naccarato.

The programme is unique inCanada in its focus on technology.There are similar programmes inthe United States, particularly, atM .I.T . and Stanford .

The full time MBA is primarily open to those technology graduates who meet the following requirements :

3 years work experience or 6 coop work terms a GMAT score of no less than500 a "B" average (73%) in the final

year of undergraduate studies prerequisite courses in: Orga

nizational Behavior, Statistics,Micro- and Macro- Economics,and Operations Research.

The entrance requirements aremet by those engineering studentsin the Management Sciences Option. Those who do not fully meetthe requirements, but are exceptional cases, are cons idered for admission, according to Dr. ThomasF. Cawsey, Laurier's MBA Director .Th e M BA progr am off r lS 0M Sci graduates for up to 5 yearsafter graduation from engineer ing.Those who may wish some time offaway from school , or to completeRome pr er qui l itc co nrSCHmny do 0 .

The MBA kicks off in May witha fOllr month srJnester called tilt>Link term . this gives t.he MnA candidates the final set of courses required to enhance student's management skills. I t also a llows membersof the class to develop into a cohesive team before starting Phas('

The Ideal Jobop, and you will be best preparedfor choosing your full time job upongraduation. All of these worktermsare leading up to the first real job,which, after all, will set your career'sdirection and occupy most of yourwaking hours thereafter

As a graduate of last spring, I sawmany of my classmates looking forjobs just as they had done within coop: by process of elimination. Starting from the Graduate Want Ads,they eliminated the jobs which didnot interest them and ranked theones remaining. All that remainedafter interviews was to choose thebest offer that came along.

My objection to this way of finding employment is that it is essentially passive. By letting the jobscome to you, there is no need togo searching, but you never know ifsomething which was far better didnot make it into the Want Ads.

In the co-op system, too, part of

your choice is made for you . It is interesting to think for just a momentabout the selection of jobs offeredeach term. Is it a representativesample of what is out there in industry? Probably not, because certainkinds of employers came to Wa ter loofor certain kinds of students. If yourstrengths are not those for whichWaterloo students are well known ,then your ideal employers probablydo not participate in co-op. As well ,the small companies , who often offer the most challenging jobs, rarelycome on campus to interview.

Thinking big can get around thelimitations of co-op and of the Graduate Placement process. It involvesidentifying your skills and careergoals more carefully than you wouldjust to rank jobs on the rankingsheet. However, once this has beendone, you are in a position to takeback your power of choice from theco-op system.

The process of writing down the

II. The second phase of MBA allows students to choose electivesranging from Strategic Marketingto International Business to Portfolio Management. Business Policy courses (which incorporate allfacets of business) are mandatorycore courses. Full time students jointhe evening part time students forelective courses so they can share theyears of experience which the olderstudents bring to class.

One of the advantages of the fulltime MBA programme is that itallows graduates to complete theirmasters before they become too tieddown with work and family responsibilities . An MBA is not only advantageous to engineers who willeventually pursue management careers in large corporations such asNorthern Telecom, IBM, or BNR,but it is also advantageous for thesmall entrepreneur who will requirethe basic skills to organize, manageand expand his or her hi-tech business.

Some successful graduates of Laurier's MBA programme include:Pat Forde, President of FORDATAand John Lauer, Vice President ofSchneiders Meat s . I myself am anElect r ica l Engineer graduate (Classo ' 7). -

T here will be an information session to be held mid-July with regard to Wilfrid Lallrier 's MBA amiUW H l I t . Sci c . ( ' (:racl n

I ~ t < . progmrnllH Wn k h for Ilyt' r)land cL d(t.nillllg Llll' da l,' and lo-cation. In I.it(' Il)(,o.u tillie' , YOII ransend for infornmt.ioll by mniling illa tear-olT postcard nva.ilabl( rrompost('rs located around campUR, Tby ca.lIi ng Yvei.te I l I C - I l I ( , H , at t t l l ~W J,U MBA Offic('; 885 1970 extension 2544.

characteristics of your ideal job canbe really helpful. You get an idea ,then, of how close the Want Adscome to meeting your needs. Ifthey are very far away, maybe itis worth investigating other possibilities. More likely, however, youwill feel more confident about yourranking choices because you havea sense of direction. An excellentbo ok, incidentally, which helps toidentify goals and career possibilitiesis "What Co lour is Your Parachute"by Richard Bolles.

The worst that this exercise in actively deciding what you want fromyour next job will do, is confirm thatyou are on the right track. The potential is there, though, to a.rrive ata clearer sense of what you wantfrom the system. The co-op system is of course designed to servethe needs of the average student. I tis important to ensure that the decisions affecting that impending career are personal ones.


8/16


EMF The Nev,/ - . v/ r V ~Several much publicized eventshave left the University of Waterloo(and other universities) in a troubled financial state: the lack of gov

ernment funding for universities, theimposed ceiling on tuition fees, thebanning of the computer fee, andmore recently other compulsory fees .A shrinking budget is threateningthe Quality of our education sincecutbacks must be made somewherein the system. The lack of fundsmay result in higher ratios of students to Teaching Assistants, or areduction in course offerings, for example. A more tangible implication,especially significant in engineering,is the deterioration of undergraduate teaching equipment.

T1Je Dean has indicated that heis no longer able to dedicate a separate allotment in his budget for educational equipment. New equipmenthas been purchased through specialprovisions, such as the funds generated from the computer fee during the five terms it was in place.Some examples are the MAC LABnow open to students, and Beaconproject soon to be in place. However, j,here no longer exists a sourceof funds to maintain or replace thisequipment for undergraduate educational use .

Monday NightSpecialINCLUDES FR DELIVERY)Large Pizza

Time forThe result of all this is an imminent decrease in the quality of ourengmeenng educatlOn It a strategyt.o obtain the resources required tomaintain our program is not implemented soon.The Dean has stated that in order to maintain a balanced budgethe will have to either access morefunds or cut back th e services offeredto the students. A reduction of theservices currently available is obviously not in the best interest of stu-dents, and can only negatively affectthe quality of our education. Due tocurrent restrictions imposed by thegovernment, however, there are fewmethods of generating funds available to the university, and specifi-1 h l y of n ineering.

negatively offect the ~ ~ J 'ojour educationGovernment regulations only allow user fees to be imposed onitems which are not required forthe completion of a students degree(i .e. only for optional course items).Thus, user fees cou ld only generate

PASTA SANDWICHES ITALIAN DELI OT SPECIALS CATERING PARTYPLATTERS PANZEROTTIPARTIESWITH 3 ITEMS AND 4 COKES11.9933 UNIVERSITY E WLOO

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The Question of a student initiated referendum to establish aQuality of Engineering Maintenance Fund" (QEMF) has beenraised by Dean Lennox. The Deanfeels that in view of the current un-

ctionfunds on a limited basis, and couldinfluence student's course selections.Furthermore, at best user fees mightsucceed in covering the costs associated with the individuals use ofequipment. They would not serveto address the issue of enhancing thequality of education. Implementinga voluntary fee to be paid by eachstudent every term is one way of obtaining a contribution from individuals which could be put towards enhancing the quality of our educationas a group.

A QEMF established by the stu-dents through a referendum wouldbe subject to student contro\. Acommittee of students could be established to make decisions regarding the allotment of funds to proposed projects. The dean wouldwork with this committee, andwould make recommendations, butthe students would make the finaldecisions . Thus , the implementationof projects which otherwise mightnot occur could be realized.

The ultimate solution would bea compromise, whereby the government would raise t h ~ ceiling on tuition fees , with students assumingthe responsibility for a larger percentage of the total cost of theireducation. However, lobbying the

derfunding situation the institutionof a QEMF represents the best option of those available : reduce services, charge user fees, or implementa standard voluntary fee . The proposed QEMF would have to be gen-

government to this end is not sufficient, and will not stop the deterioration of our program in the meantime. While students alone can notprovide the resources the universitycurrently needs, it is clear that thegovernment is not going to supply

additional funds in the immediatefuture. An effort on our part to minimize the effects of insufficient funding on our education will help usestablish credibility with the publicin our fight to win government support.Protests and cries of urgency aresimply not enough; it is time for ac

tion . We must take steps to dealwith the current crisis , while continuing to lobby the government forassistance in order to achieve a finalsolution.

Supporting the establishment of aQEMF means assuming more of thefinancial responsibility for our education, and taking a positive step toensure its quality .

IEEE Newsby Alan J. Ferguson

The IEEE Student Branch hasonce again completed another successful term of events. I would liketo thank all those who helped makeit all a success.

The lunchtime seminar series, organized by Peter Simmons, was verypopular. Representatives from theCanadian military, Transputer andAccam, Digital Audio Tape, SPARAerospace (co-sponsoredwith CSME/ASME/CAE and BellNorthern Research presented informative seminars to a packed CPH2387 throughout the term .

Careers Night '87, organized byDave Brown, provided an opportunity for students to meet prospective employers before interviewsstarted. Some of the largest employers, such as Bell Northern Re-search and Hewlett-Packard helpedmake the event a success with their

demonstrations of newly developedproducts.

The Brick Brewery tours, organized by Grant Eshpeter and cosponsored with Chern Eng Soc, provided an opportunity for students tosee 'modern control systems'. Ac-tually, the Brick staff knew why agroup of engineers would really wantto visit a brewery so the tours onlylasted a half hour while the remaining two and a half hours were spentin the hospitality room taking freesamples of the just released BRICKRED BARON.

By the time you are reading this, anew IEEE executive will have beenelected for the Winter '88 term. Itrust that they will continue to buildon the cooperation with other technical societies that was initiated thisterm and go on and do even biggerand better things


9/16

July 987 ron Warrior 9 -

eded Solution? y Karen Hubbard and Ian Plummererated from a voluntary fee sincethe government has prohibited thecharging of compulsory fees for mostitems (those included in base operating budgets).In 1982 the proposal of a compul-

The following paragraphs willoutline some of the reasons why theQuality of Education MaintenanceFund (QEMF) should not be considered, at least not at this time.Recognizing the immediate need forfunds in the engineering faculty, thisarticle will show why the QEMF isnot the best solution by first specifically considering the shortcomingsof the fund itself, and then discussing some of the alternatives wehave before us.

The engineering students woulddecide whether or not to establishsuch a fund. A referendum wouldbe held in both A stream and 8stream in which a minimum percentage of students (say 60%) must voteand a minimum percentage of thosevoting (say 75 ) must be in favourof the fund which would require thateach student contribute (voluntarilysince compulsory fees of this typeare now illegal) approximately $60per term. This figure is what DeanLennox has calculated will cover thecosts of maintaining and upgradingthe equipment over the next fiveyears. However, what happens ifthe 40% of the students who didnot show up to vote and the 25%who voted against the fund decidethat they would like their money refunded? Even if these percentageswere relaxed a little, this amounts

to a substantial sum of money thatwould have to be recovered somewhere else anyway. And what ofthe people who did pay? Are theyexpected to assume the burden offunding facilities for people who didnot pay?

Who will have control of the fundand how is the money going to beused? In the past, money collectedfrom fees such as the computer fee(which the QEMF is effectively replacing) has been used to buy equipment and support special projectswhich most of us will never get ourhands on. I am speaking specificallyof the MAC LAB, a room of AppleMaclntosh computers for graphicsand laser printing purposes, and theB E C O ~ project, a number of DECCAD workstations to be used by upper year students. These and othersimilar ventures, although valuable,will cost everyone, yet benefit few.And will they actually improve thequality of our education; there areareas which are less tangible than

sory fee of fifty dollars per student,per term, to establish a QEMF wasnarrowly defeated in a student referendum.In this article we present the current issues pertaining to both sidesof the QEMF argument.

Band Aidequipment which could benefit fromincreased funding. So the answerto this problem is to give control ofthe money to the students. In otherwords, a student committee woulddecide where to allocate the funds,with some advice from the Dean ofcourse . What is to say, though, thatmoney that would normally be allocated to a now QEMF aided projectwill not get redistributed to areas ofless interest to students. This, in effect, would greatly limit the controlwhich the student body has over themoney in the fund. Is it realistic tobelieve that the money in the fundcould be allocated toward improvingthose intangibLe areas such as classsizes, etc. And will the student committee be able to satisfy each and every st udent who choses to pay thattheir money is being used wisely? Ifnot, perhaps more and more peoplewill choose not to pay which wouldresult in the sure death of the fund.If the QEMF is established now, wewill be sett ing a dangerous precedent for the years t.o come. Then>will continue to be a need for sucha fund until a more suitab le solutionis found.

There are more suitable solutionsout there. The QEMF is a band-aid solution, simply covering up thereal problem - th e government s atti-tude toward tuition in this country.But what other options are there?First, there is talk about introducinguser fees for the use of equipment.Although these may be applied toa limited number of activities, themoney collected would help supplement the problem until a long termsolution is found . This would alsoeliminate the concern about somepeople taking a free ride on the coat-tails of others. Another alternativeis cutting service, a scary thought atfirst, but one must realize that thissolution may eliminate some redundancies and force efficiency in thefaculty. The third option, and theone which will eventually providethe complete answer to the problem, is obtaining government action .The governments, both federal andprovincial, must realize that we arewilling to assume added responsibility toward investing in our education, if they are too. After all,who s responsibility is it to educatethe people of Canada?

The answer to this question is notas obvious as it may seem. Yes, compared to students in the U.S., weare doing quite well, but we are alsocomparing apples and oranges. TheU.S. government has decided thatit is the responsibility of the indi-

Solutionvidual to pay for his/her education.The Canadian government, thank-fully, feels the it is the right of every Canadian to obtain a quality education, and therefore is responsible for covering about 80% of thecosts involved. It is clear that moremoney is needed. What still remainsto be debated is from whom thatmoney will come. The provincialgovernment has continued to claim,in Waterloo s case, that the institu-tion has received ample funding. Ifthis is true, it raises serious questions about the allocation of funds

between faculties. Backing up a little, perhaps there are problems withthe distribution of funds to the universities of Ontario, or even from thefederal government to the provincialbodies . In allY ('asc , th(' wholt' qU('1lt.inn o f who aSSlIl l lNI thr rcspoll . ibility is still llnaIlRwt'r


10/16

- 1by Jennifer Armstrong

Shortly after the Engineering Society Executive elections, I had achance to speak with the new executive and find out what they haveplanned for their two school termsas the Eng Soc A Exec.

The President elect of Eng SocA is Matt Snell who is currently in3A Systems Design. Two of Matt'smain goals for next term are to getmore people participating in EngSoc and better communication between the classes and the exec. Hewould like to see the position of classrepresentative become more definedand carry greater responsibility.

With the recent government legislation banning t.he computer fee,Matt is convinced of the need foreither a QEMF (quality of education maintenance fund) or a userfee of some sort. QEMF is student initiated and a referendum willbe required to implement it. Theproblem arises when some studentsrefuse to pay their fifty or sixty odddollars to the fund and sponge offthe other students. An administration initiated user fee would be compulsory and a referendum would notbe required. Such a fee could potentially meet the same fate as thecomputer fee .

For this year's Eng Ball, Mattwants to rival that of Queen's. Although it is aimed at the grads, theEng Ball is an Eng Soc event andMatt wants to see everyone involved.The annual Engineering Bus Pull

for Big Sisters is coming up in thew j n ~ r term. Matt sees this event asa chance to bolster the image of the

Will we getany bear Dad?

ron Warrior

xecutive Profileengineering students in the community. Many people will be needed topull the K- W Transit bus from engineering to Market Square.

Sarah ( The Rock ) Rocchi from3A Civil is the new Vice-Presidentof Engineering Society A. Like Matt,Sarah would like to see a more openline of communication between EngSoc and the student body. This will

promote increased feedback fromthe students and greater awarenessof the issues and events (eg. QEMF,pubs, Eng Week) . More advertising and articles in the Iron Warriorare two of the ways she intends toachieve this.The course -critiques are anotherarea where Sarah feels there is roomfor improvement. A great deal ofwork is put into them, but the stu-

d non hat h y ha V anyeffect. This issue is one Sarah -tends to look into next term.

Directorships on the exec are opento anyone interested and applications are being accepted in the Orifice until Friday, July 24. Sarahhopes that many people will applyfor the positions and that she willsee new faces coming out, especiallyfrom the classes that have not beenwell represen ted in the past. Bribeswill be considered, she says, butnot necessarily accepted.

Working with the other membersof the exec is something Sarah islooking forward to. She would liketo thank the people who helpedwith [herj campaign and helped keep[herj sanity in that week .The new treasurer for Eng Soc Ais Barbara Adey who is in 3A Systems Design. Barbara says she ishere to keep Matt and Sarah hon

e and hat a heart she is a bizknob. She would like the engineer-

ake a lookt all theS

July 1987

ing student body to know that sheis a decent boat racer but a cheapdrunk.But on the serious side, thosegroups and organizations who wish

to receive money from the Engineering Society should let her knowduring the first week of the winterterm. This will be the only timeshe will be equiped to consider therequests. Barbara was already approached, during campaign week, byan IEEE representative who complained that his organization hadnot received its fair share of moneyfrom Eng Soc.

Barbara wants to be more th an anaccountant to Eng Soc. She intendsto see money used in the most effective way possible.

Jay Gibson, who is in 2B CompEng is the new secretary of Eng SocA. He is a lovable guy who likes kittens.The official duties of the secretaryare to take t.he minutes at Eng Socmeetings and to maintain and update the constitution. These thingscan be done by anyone. The unofficial duties that the secretary createsfor him or herself are what makes agood secretary. Jay intends to dowhatever is needed of him to makeEng Soc run smoothly. He plansto continue and hopefully enhanceEng Soc's involvement with the coordination process.

Jay feels it is important for everyone to get involved with aspects ofschool ather than the academics. Iwi never let school get in the wayof my educati on. is a favorite quoteof his from Mark Twain.

Sure Son,SandfordFleming always happenings Debates

.

gets the job done

~ ; .The Sandford Fleming FoundationWatertoo ampus hapterRoom 4332, Carl Polack Hall,University of Waterloo,Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1519) 885-1211, Ext. 4008

at yourheart out EmergencyLoan Funds Sandford

EducationalPress Medals TeachingAssistantshipAwards Work Term ReportAwards IndustrialVisitors Programme

Photo - 1872 FlemingParty which explored theCPR route from theAtlantic to the Pacific -from le ft to right: FrankFleming, SandfordFleming, George Grant(Principal of Queen sUniversity) and Dr. Moren(agricultural specialist).P S. Grant had no righthand; that s why his hat soff.

L


11/16

July 987 Iron Warrior

ResolvingHow Can

lobal QuestionsScience Helpby David Small

The Worldwide Pugwash movement began in 1955 when AlbertEinstein and Bertrand Russell calledupon the scientists of the world tomeet in conference to discuss the implications of their actions in the nuclear age. The first meeting, sponsored by Canadian-American industrialist Cyrus Eaton, took place inhis small home town of Pugwash,Nova Scotia in 1957.

Treaty for making the oceans andthe moon the common heritage ofall mankind , thereby inviting thetragedy of the commons. His opinions regarding the benefits of privatization were not wen received bythe mainly leftist Pugwash audience;he might find a friendlier receptionat UW.

A panel discusSion on Competition of Finite Resources and International Peace and Security , featured a trio of expatriate Canadi-

Concerning the technical background , we agreed that there isas yet no clear scientific explanation for the ozone hole over theAntarctic and that the fact that thephenomenon was large scale, fastacting, and entirely unexpected issomewhat disquieting .

The planned InternationalGeosphere Biosphere Programme(IGBP) was studied as an exampleof the type of scientific cooperationbeing contemplated to combat theCO and ozone problems.

From the above one might conclude that the conference solely consisted of sage discussions of the comparative advantages of 2-D versus 1-D convective computer models et c .Yet it would be a mistake to characterize the conference as all brainwork and cogitation. I

Thirty years later there are Pugwash organizations in over thirtycountries. The first Student Pugwash organization was created inCanada in 1979.

From June 11 to 14 at Carlton University in Ottawa, the 1987Canadian Student Pugwash Conference brought students together fromacross the country to discuss questions related to the theme Resolving Global Questions into theTwenty-First Century: How CanScience Help? .

We must redefine what wemean by security in thisage of cross-border pollutionand burgeoning third-lflorlddebt.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide iscontinuing to increase exponentially; fossil fuel burning adds 5 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere every year; if present trendscontinue, severe climate changes arepredicted. By the year 2050, aglobal mean temperature increaseof 1-4 degrees C is projected (withconsiderable latitudinal variation),which could transplant the climateof Cuba to the prairies. Throughout much of North America rainfallis projected to decrease; increasesare forecast for Africa, India, andChina.

There is as yet no clearscientific explanation for theozone hole over theAntarctic. IThe conference was sponsored by

among others, such well known coop employers as Bell 'Canada , Connaught Laboratories Ltd.,Corel Systems Corpora.tion, DigitalEquipment of Cand td., and Telesat Canada.

Almost ever university in thecountry was epresented, togetherwith dele es from Sri Lanka,Ii, Burkina Faso (for-merly per Volta), England, athe U . Many of the n d i n ~ r -ticip, ts had work and t r ~ e x p e -rie e abroad as well. My roommatea he conference had lived in Libya,orway, England, and Canada.

We must learn to think in anew waJI.An excellent keynote address was

given by Ivan Head, former special assistant to Pierre Trudeau onCommonwealth and foreign activities, now president of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa. He arguedthat the individual can indeed havean impact on global problems, andthat despair in the face of large scaleproblems is in no way justified.

The conference featured a public debate in the NRC's SussexDrive auditorium entitled Population Growth: Is it a Problem? . Thedebate evolved into more of a discussion of economic systems. f UW islooking for a controversial speaker,I suggest Dr. Walter Block, Senior Economist at the Fraser Institute in Vancouver . He argued thatpopulation growth/density is not aproblem since there are rich countries with high population densities(eg. Netherlands), and poor countries with low population densities(eg. Zaire). He depicted the popu- .lation problem as more of a reftection of the unwise economic policieschosen by dictatorial third worldleaders than of any Malthusian foodshortage. He condemned the Law ofthe Sea Treaty and the


12/16


ngineering Week

The Infamous Tool Subs Subs Subs

The Ides of July

The New Exec

The Softer Side of Engineering


13/16

July 1987 ron Warrior 13

M*U*S*H(Our minds turn to .. )by Mass Chemfusion

(Sung to the tune of Suicide isPainless )By early morning light I seeWatstar screen in front of meWith a function I can't integrateFor the course we love to hate.Chorus: Cause Mass Transfertakes patience .And too many equattonsAnd they can pass or fail us as theyplease.

The chemicals that help usSome we eat, and some we drink.To make the morning light tumblue .efore this damned asSIgnment sdue.

Chorus

The lab report is almost doneWe can t recall when we beganBut in Biotech we'll all get A'sSince we cloned it anyway.

Chorus

We ve been known to hit thejuiceThat s why we're here, that's ourexcuse.So we conclude this report:Distillation has its use.

Chorus: Cause Mass Transfertakes patienceWe get hallucinationsAnd they can pass or fail us asthey please.Because they know they have thedegrees.

The Prez in his Final Hours

Straight Fromthe rifice

by Matt SnellWell it has been quite the term.Hey, we came, we saw, we kicked itsass and now let us reminisce.We finished the term in grand Engineering style with a sensationalEng-week. It was a whopping Su.c-cess from the very start. The weeksaw ailstar competitors from acrossthe country competing for those coveted p points and it was quite ascene.We saw Maciv take top honoursin the pie eating contest edging outChem Waste by 30 seconds. Thecaps tourney was won by Fred withBoombaras and Mad. Mechs taking

the next two postions. Toast slithered its way to victory in the Fishing Derby with Mechy Mouse andHal' s Angels 2nd and 3rd. However,the win of the term mu.st go to TheBoombaras who took the scunt bystorm getting 12,446 points (whichincluded the Art s Lion) almost doubling their next cloS st competitionToast who finished wi th 6986 points.Third place was taken by IB Chernwith 6441 points.

Many of us sailed off into thesunset to finish Eng-Week in styleaboard the Aurora Borealis for

the Tropical Booze Cruise and aspromised it was th (HOTTESTEVENT OF THE TERM . Westarted with a pleasant cruise alongharbour front and then across theharbour to the island where wesailed through the peaceful innerwaterways (well they were peacefuluntil we got there). Then I amafraid things get a lit.t.le hazy until we were poured off the bus backat UW but many have assured me agood time was had by all.

Yogi Berra said Ji ain t o ~ e rtill its over and even as I writethis article many stout of heart arestruggling up to cap Eng-week of inthe finest engineering tndition withNautical II.It has been a term to remember

ansJ it would not have been withoutall those who got out of those lecturehalls and labs to participate and orchestrate for Eng Soc. Extra special thanks go to the ~ x e of thesepast two terms; Bill, .Karen, Daveand Val who leave us flOw for somehigher purpose. j..-

All the best to ~ ~ o n on thework t.erm. See you t i i ~ a n u a r y (onpage 3). JlI :As always I r e m i ~ ~ o u r man inthe orifice. Mattman .J


14/16

14 Iron Warrior July 1987World News riefsby Barbara Adey

Tax ReformFlim-Flam

Finance Minister Michael Wilsonchose to avoid biting the bullet ontax reform with his new tax plan,tabled in the House of Commons onJune 18. Though he streamlined theincome tax system and reduced levels of personal tax for lower-incomeearners, he did not decisively tacklethe sales tax issue.Given the Tories' low popularityin recent opinion polls, Wilson wasunderstandably reluctant to implement his preferred scheme of a national tax on all goods includingfood . It is a disappointment, however, that he is not using the Conservatives' t r o n ~ majority in the Houseto bring in a necessary and sensib lereform.

Of course, there has been an evenless responsible reaction from theOpposition. John Thrner, who wasa finance minister in the Trudeauera and should know better, turnedup in Ottawa's Byward market recently to inspect the veggies with hiswife Geills and bemoan the possibility of a tax on food. And the NDP'sMichael Cassidy, a former financialjournalist who should also know better, fails to mention the regressiveand unfair nature of the present federal tax in his criticism of Wilson'sproposals.

Does anyone know ifthe Rhinoceros party has an officialposition on the issue?

President Reagannjured

(The following news it.em was issued on the Dow Jones wire on July10.)President Reagan bruis d hislower left eyelid while removing acontact lens, the White 1J0use saidtoday. During a speech on budget reform, photographers lookingthrough large lenses noticed puffiness and redness in the President'seye.

White House physician Dr. JohnHutton issued a st.atement later saying, 'Yesterday, while removing thecontact lens from his left eye, thePresident created a slight superficialcontusion (bruise) to his lower eyelid. The inside of the lid and eye aretotally normal.'The bruise was not noticeable toreporters in the back of the room.

Don t Leave HomeWithout tThe University of Western Ontario has entered into an agreement

with Canada Trust to issue Westerncard, a version of the trust's MasterCard. WesternCard is decoratedwith the university's logo and carries the weight of MasterCard's goldcard. The deal gives alumni cardholders a break on annual fees andinterest rates. And $20 of the $45annual fees will be going to the university Treasury.

It is clear that the Un iv ersity ofWaterloo must not be outdone . Theonly solution is for Doug Wright toapproach American Express immediately and arrange for the issue ofa Platinum WATCard.

Don t Say TheyDidn t Warn YouThe University of Waterloo has anexcellent reputation in the fie lds ofengineering, mathematics and computer science. Students here can testify that surviving the undergraduate curriculum is no small feat.However, the public relations staff of

the university can be credited withsubtly warning incoming students asto what is in store. In past years, therecruitment literature for the university has promised "We give youour best (a solid left hook comes tomind), and previously "Meet yourWaterloo" (remember what happened to Napoleon?). Now , themotto cheerfully warns that Thebest can still be had. OntarioScholars, beware.Mac s, 7-11 Owners

Take p ArmsThe management of convenience

store chains across North Americahave reacted decisively to what theyinterpret as a tolerant mood in thecriminal courts. Within the last twomonths both Bernhard Goetz, theNew York subway vigilante who shotdown his would-be muggers, andStephen Kess ler, the Calgary drugstore owner who shot and killed arobber, have been acquitted.As of September 1, managers ofMac's and 7-11 stores in the U.S.and Canada will be equipped withshotguns and licensed to kill.

Waterloo's only independentlyOwned Supermarket

Westmount Place Shopping Centre(Erb Westmount)

Owned and operated by Jim and Donna Morris

Undergrad - Makethe Most of tby K.DayJe Oliphant

Feeling a little burnt out fromthe hectic demands of this so calledhigher, co-operative education???Are you comforted by the factthat at the end of the semester youwill have furthered your personal development by writing yet another 28hours of exams? Upon graduation ,this number will total to 225 hours(or 9.5 days).Is your only release a highintensity squash game followed bybeers at Fed Hall?Want more? Enough questions,consider this ...

There are presently a number ofexchange programs to other countries which let you earn credits towards your degree and also let youget to know a whole new culture,make a ton of new friends and havethe time of your life. Currently exchange programs exist with universities in Mexico, Germany, France,Australia and Northern Ireland. Except for Mexico, credited work termsare possible on all exchanges. Noneof these countries turn your cran k?If you have your heart set on a particular country, make it happen Begin by talking to the profs in yourdepartment - it is possible that theymay have foreign affiliations withthe country you are interested in.

Not a millionaire? You don ' t haveto be. Except for the airfare, it 'sactually cheaper to live and studyin some countries (due to Canada'shigh standard of living and ~ x r -bitant (sorry Dean Lennox) tUItIOnfees) .

So you are unable to speak thelanguage? Do not worry - wherethere's a will, there's a way. Itmay require some extra work initially (i.e. a correspon dence courseduring a work term) but you canlearn the basics here and you'll beamazed how fast you pick it up onceyou're there. (Of course, you couldalways choose an English speakingcountry) .

Worried about not graduatingwith your class? Stop that. Giventhat they comply ~ i t h your courserequirements, your foreign creditswill be transferred over to UW .

Miss your mom or that special someone? Normal ly exchap.gesare for a one year period, but ifthat's too long , a single academicsemester exchange can sometimesbe arranged. Overseas work termsare also a possibility - apply at theAIESTE office in Needles Hall.

One thing 's for sure - you willnever regret your decision to go. After my first 4-month exchange toMexico, I just had to go for a wholeyear to Germany . You'll bring awhole new ou t look back with you,having a greater appreciation forCanada's strengths and new in ightinto recognizing and perhaps evensolving its weaknesses. Now that iswhat I call an education.For more information, contactProfessors J .C. Thompson (re: Mexican, Aussie and Irish programs) orR Schuster (re: German program)in Civil Engineering or Professor P.Roe (re: French program) in Systems Design.

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July 1987 Iron Warrior 15

Engineering ApplicationsHeat Transfer Analysis ofBeer Drinkingby Dave Petro

Sipping back a few cold ones whilelying out in the sun appears to bea pretty mindless activity to theuntrained observer . But in realitysome pretty serious analysis is required in planning such an event.

To ensure that the beer you'redrinking is a cold one several factors must be considered. These factors include, the temperature outside,Th, the temperature of the beercooler,Tc, the highest tolerable temperature for your beer, Tb, and thebeer container used.The BasicsThe rate of heat transfer betweenany two bodies is a function oftheir temperatures and the physicalproperties of the medium connecting them. This relation can be expressed as,

. Tl - ToQ = (1)R

Figure 1:Control Volume Beer

/Q 7- -\ )/

ation of the beer can and convecti'onof the air . This resistance can beexpressed as,

where A is the area normal to the direction of heat transfer E is the emissive power of radiation he is the heat flux by convectionThis value was calculated to be

approximately a = 4.7611


16/16

16

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Iron Warrior: Volume 8, Issue 6