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2 Western News | April 10, 2014

Coming EventsApril 10-16

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10 // Thursday

Study dAy

rGE MurrAy 2014 ANNuAl lEcturEStephen Goff, Columbia University. Players in the Silencing of Retroviral DNAs in Embryonic Stem Cells. 10:30-11:30 a.m. dSB 3008.

phySicS & AStroNoMy colloquiuM Niel Brandt, Astronomy and Astro-physics, Pennsylvania State University. New probes of quasar winds: Multi-year variability, redshifted troughs, and hard X-ray spectroscopy of Broad Absorption Line quasars. 1:30 p.m. p&A 100.

pSycholoGySex, Drugs & Rock n Roll. Faculty members will show why the mantra of the 60’s refers to much more than pop culture. William Fisher, The Scientific Study of Sex. Free. No registration re-quired. Two-hour validated parking in Citi Plaza.7-8:30 p.m. central library, Steven-son & hunt meeting room.

11 // Friday

FiNAl ExAMiNAtioN pEriodApril 11-30.

ANAtoMy ANd cEll BioloGy SEMiNArT. Michael Underhill, Cellular & Physi-ological Sciences, University of Brit-ish Columbia. Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Health and Disease. 12:30 p.m. MSB 282.

14 // monday

GrEAt hAll cAtEriNG JoB FAirOn-campus part-time positions for catering staff and bartenders. All ap-plicants will receive an initial interview. Training provided. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Somerville house 3320.

rotMAN SpEAkEr SEriESCharlotte Werndle, London School of Economics. Confirmation and Calibra-tion in Climate Science. 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. WSS 2130, the chu international centre.

ANAtoMy ANd cEll BioloGy SEMiNAr Akiko Yanagiya, Department of Bio-chemistry at McGill University. Trans-lational Control via Poly(A)-binding Protein (PABP) in Key Physiological Processes; Male Germ Cell Develop-ment and Glucose-induced Insulin Biosynthesis. 12 p.m. MSB 148.

GErMAN coNvErSAtioN Group12:30-1:30 p.m. uc 288.

ArABic coNvErSAtioN Group4:30-6:30 pm. uc 222.

15 // Tuesday

WEStErN EducAtioNRachel Heydon, Faculty of Education. Lessons For Us All: What Intergenera-tional Curriculum Can Teach About Education for Wellbeing. Free park-ing. RSVPs not required, but appreci-ated. edu.uwo.ca/research/letstalke-duc.html.7 p.m. Faculty of Education Building 1139.

16 // Wednesday

toAStMAStEr’S cAMpuS coMMuNicAtorSBuild your confidence in public speak-ing. 9119.toastmastersclubs.org/. Con-tact Donna Moore, [email protected] or 85159.12 -1 p.m. ucc 147B.

itAliAN coNvErSAtioN Group2:30-4:30 p.m. uc 288.

thE dEpArtMENt oF ModErN lANGuAGES ANd litErAturESLa Tertulia. Anyone wishing to speak Spanish and meet people from differ-ent Spanish-speaking countries is wel-come. Email [email protected]:30 p.m. uc 205.

@westernuniversitytag with #westernu#

Your Western Retirement Plan – Annual Member Meetings

No matter what stage you are at in your career, the Annual Member Meeting is a great opportunity to increase your understanding about Western’s retirement plans. All members of the retirement plans and their spouses are invited to attend any one of three annual meetings presented by Western’s Joint Pension Board. By attending you’ll learn about 2013 investment results, see investment trends, have your questions answered and gather important information to help plan your journey to retirement.

Meeting dates are as follows:

Day time sessions (bring your lunch): Thursday, May 1, 2014 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. orMonday, May 5, 2014 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Both these sessions are in Spencer Engineering Building, Room 2202. Evening session: Thursday, May 8, 2014 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

This session is in Social Science Building, Room 2050.

The session on May 8th includes a special presentation by Rob Carrick, personal finance columnist for the Globe and Mail. Carrick has been writing about investing, business and economics for the past two decades and has authored numerous books on finance.

The annual meetings will be led by Martin Bélanger, Western’s Director, Investments. Representatives will be available to answer your questions following the formal presentations.

The presentations are free and registration is not required, but room capacity is limited. We encourage you to submit questions in advance of the meeting to Martin Bélanger at [email protected].

B Y A D E L A TA L B O T

AS it StANdS, it’s possible for you to play your bank and get approval for a loan that, maybe, you shouldn’t be granted.

“When you fill out an application form, you can lie,” said Mimi Chong, a fourth-year Statistical and Actuarial Sciences PhD student at Western. “The purpose of my work is to catch liars.”

Chong is anticipating the publication of a paper titled Catching Liars: Big Data and Credit Card Fraud, this fall, in Intelligent Data Analysis. The paper, in which she proposes a method to safeguard against small lies costing banks big bucks, is the culmination of her doctoral work.

Little lies on an application form can turn into big bucks for you. But for the bank, it can mean a significant loss, if you default on your loan, she explained.

Imagine this scenario: You go into a bank to fill out an application for a car loan or mortgage. The application asks for a number of things, like your income, assets or current debt load, to determine whether or not you are eligible for the loan. You’re not a terrible applicant on paper, but you make a smidge less than what the bank would consider adequate for a loan.

So you lie – nothing big – just enough to sneak under the bank’s radar.

“A person may earn $5,000 a month and can lie and say it’s $7,000 a month. The banks don’t really verify everything,” Chong said.

Matt Davison, Chong’s supervisor, continued. “Banks don’t really verify everything that’s on your application form; there are lots of different fields and some things are easy to verify, like your income with your T4. Other things are harder to verify,”

April 10, 2014 / Vol. 50 No. 13

w e s t e r n n e ws . c a

PM 41195534

Western’s newspaper of record since 1972

The lies we tellResearch explores the games people play on credit applications

ILLUSTRATION BY FRANk NEUFELD

The lies We Tell // ConTinued on page 11

ADELA TALBOT // WESTERN NEWSMimi Chong, a fourth-year Statistical and Actuarial Sciences PhD student, has proposed a method for banks to safeguard against the small lies customers tell, ones which end up costing big bucks in the long run.

Crying FowlHow one researcher looks to save an endangered habitat

Story // Page 6

Page 3

Western News (ISSNO316-8654), a publication of West-ern University’s Department of Communications and Public Affairs, is published every Thursday throughout the school year and operates under a reduced schedule during December, May, June, July and August.

An award-winning weekly newspaper and electronic news service, Western News serves as the university’s newspaper of record. The publication traces its roots to The University of Western Ontario Newsletter, a one-page leaflet-style publication which debuted on Sept. 23, 1965. The first issue of the Western News, under found-ing editor Alan Johnston, was published on Nov. 16, 1972 replacing the UWO Times and Western Times. Today, Western News continues to provide timely news, informa-tion and a forum for discus-sion of postsecondary issues in the campus and broader community.

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and Information director, Nov. 16, 1972

Opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of or receive endorsement from Western News or Western University.

• Western News applies a commentary label to any article written in an author’s voice expressing an opinion.

• Western News accepts opinion pieces on research, con-ference topics, student life and/or international experi-ences from faculty and staff. Limit is 600 words.

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COMMENTARY POLICY


WHAT’S IN A NAME? CLARE HALL

BrESciA uNivErSity collEGE’S latest addition, Clare Hall, opened its doors in 2013 and is named in honour of the school’s founder, Mother Clare Gaukler. ‘Mother Clare,’ as she was known, was the much-loved Superior General of the Ursulines from 1915-30. It was Gaukler’s mother, Josephine, who bequeathed to the Ursulines the $228,000 used to purchase the land and build Ursuline Hall. The pavilion area in Clare Hall, called Mercato at Brescia (mercato means ‘market’ in Italian), was chosen to honour not only the school’s Italian roots in Brescia, Italy, but also evoke a sense of food that is local, fresh and nutritious. It has quickly become a community hub for students, staff and faculty to gather, eat, celebrate and connect.

- Paul Mayne

Commentary

Applauding new leadership in crucial student priorities at Western

B Y PAT W h E L A N

t he university recently announced and appointed two new strong leadership positions within the univer-

sity administration, the associate vice-president (AVP) student experience and the vice-provost academic programs. Previously, these two portfolios were led by one individual, the vice-provost academic programs and students.

This change has long been advo-cated for by students and the Univer-sity Students’ Council (USC), and has been a top advocacy priority for this year’s executive.

The AVP student experience will act similarly to deans of students at other institutions.

The ‘student’ portfolios at other institutions are typically responsible for the ‘out-of-the-classroom’ experi-

ence and support services. Western has many great services and pro-grams, including services for students with disabilities, counseling (aca-demic, career and personal), service-learning opportunities, experiential learning, assistance for indigenous students and many others.

However, without a single admin-istrator given the mandate to coordi-nate and set the vision for how these services need to work together, we have not hit our fullest potential.

Students feel like they have been lost in the shuffle, not sure which ser-vice provider they were looking for. With a new senior leader reporting to the provost, this crucial priority will con-tinually improve the lives of students and provide support throughout their studies, while being connected to the

academic mission of the institution. We encourage this position to continue to take leadership over all aspects of the student experience and student well-ness outside of the classroom.

This position will be a natural part-ner to the USC and we are excited to begin work immediately. We are extremely pleased with this direction of the university and we believe it is a signal to students that we will never lose the ‘best student experience.’

The announcement of a vice-provost academic programs is also incredibly valuable to the lives of stu-dents. This position will be able to focus on the teaching and learning of students. This person will be able to focus on the ‘in-the-classroom’ experience. Allowing development in crucial areas such as tech-enabled

learning, teaching support, the USC advocated for initiative of teaching fellows, and several other current teaching priorities.

With this renewed focus, we believe the teaching quality at our university will continue to improve for students.

While we expect changes to be incremental during the initial years of these positions, we are excited for this positive step towards being more col-laborative, coordinated and deliber-ate in the experience of our students.

Pat Whelan is the president of the University Students’ Council for the 2013/2014 term. He previously served as a senator representing undergrad-uate students, and is a Computer Science and Management student.

Western News | April 10, 2014 5

Academics

THE FLORENCE BUCKE SCIENCE PRIZE LECTURE

The Beautiful Science of Nearby Galaxies

by

DR. PAULINE BARMBYDepartment of Physics and Astronomy

Faculty of Scienceat

4:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014Physics and Astronomy Building, Room 100

Complimentary Reception to follow in the Atrium.

This lecture will be of general interest and everyone is welcome to attend.

New space more than a ‘fancy classroom’B Y A D E L A TA L B O T

A NEW proJEct from Western’s Teaching Support Centre promises to bring an innovative, state-of-the-art teaching space to campus, one that will revamp the classroom experience for students and faculty alike.

Western Active Learning Space (WALS), a new, general-use classroom currently under construction in the basement of the University Com-munity Centre (UCC), is the result of a Productivity and Innovation Fund grant, valued at roughly $250,000, from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

The university has matched the grant to assist in the creation of this new classroom, marking “the begin-ning of a new era in student-centred active learning and technology-enhanced teaching,” said Stepha-nie Oliver, an assistant on the WALS project, who completed her PhD in English at Western this year.

“It is much more than a fancy class-room with all the bells and whistles. The focus in this classroom is as much about active learning and collabora-tion, as it is about technology,” said Wendy Crocker, a curriculum and e-learning specialist in the Teaching Support Centre.

The room features an open-con-cept space in which there is no front or back of the room. A handful of tables are evenly dispersed, set up around short-throw projectors and boards. Each table has its own laptop and accommodates up to six students.

The classroom, once completed, will also feature an adjacent observa-tion room, making the space some-what of a lab where research can be conducted on pedagogy and technol-ogy enhanced learning.

“What makes WALS special is the focus on student-centred learning and collaboration and a shift in peda-gogy from a traditional lecture style to students being involved in their own learning,” Crocker said. “Students are on much like a teacher is on. There’s very much an expectation that you’re going to participate.

“You want students engaged in

their own learning. You want them exploring, learning, using the internet as a tool, using Blackboard Collabo-rate to talk to other groups of students or other institutions. Being able to all focus on that together – we don’t have that kind of facility at Western yet. This is blazing the trail.”

Because the room is set up with no front or back, the instructor must find a way to continually engage with everyone, she explained. The set-up also means students can’t be passive observers in the classroom because they can’t hide out in the back.

“WALS is kind of a play on words, because we also wanted to say that this is a classroom that’s going to tran-scend typical classroom walls, and take learning beyond a fixed space,” Crocker continued.

“And this is one of the few spaces that’s been built since the Accessibil-ity for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) legislation, so we wanted to ensure this was a classroom where anyone could participate, with room for assistive devices, dogs.”

Students and faculty from all disci-plines have come forward expressing interest. They see WALS as an inno-vative way to structure teaching and learning, Oliver added.

The UCC classroom will officially open in the fall. In the meantime, a smaller model of it exists within the Teaching Support Centre, inside the D.B. Weldon Library, where there will be an open house from 12-2 p.m. Monday. Drop-in sessions for students and faculty will follow during the week.

“Come hook-up and see what this will do,” Cocker said.

A WALS website, located at uwo.ca/wals, will go live next week and there will be online and in-person support available to those who wish to try out the space, Oliver added.

iF you goExplore the Western Active Learning Space (WALS) at its website, uwo.ca/wals, where you can find online and in-person support available to those who wish to try out the space.

SPECIAL TO WESTERN NEWS


Psychology/Westminster HallWestern University

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN FOR 2014-2015 SCHOOL YEAR

The 2015 Rhodes ScholarshipsEvery June, the Rhodes Trust makes its annual call for applications, including eleven Rhodes Scholarships designated for Canadian students. The Scholarships are tenable at Oxford University in England, and the award covers both university fees and a stipend for living expenses. For the upcoming competition, Rhodes Scholars-Elect will undertake their programs of choice at Oxford in the fall of 2015.

Selection of candidates is made on the basis of extraordinary scholastic merit, engaging personal characteristics and leadership instincts with a focus on effecting positive change in the world.

The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies invites interested candidates to contact Paula Menzies ([email protected]) for information on our strategic scholarship support services that serve to assist in the preparation of excellent Rhodes candidacies for the selection of Western’s nominees well in advance of the October 2014 deadline. The Canadian Rhodes Scholarships program information is available at rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/rhodes-canada.

Research

One researcher looks to save an endangered habitat

B Y PA U L M AY N E

EvEr try to slap a mini-backpack on a mallard duck? Hang out with Matt Palumbo long enough and you’ll find out how.

The Lake St. Clair region of southwestern Ontario has witnessed significant waterfowl habitat loss for a number of reasons – a conversion of wetlands to agricultural fields, industrial development like wind turbines, human popula-tion growth, even the increased use of the limited land by additional waterfowl wintering farther and farther north.

Because of these factors, said the Western PhD student, little is known about how waterfowl are using the region’s remaining habitat. Understanding that could lead to bet-ter conservation planning of the region, and, eventually, to higher survival rates for the animals.

“What we’re trying to look at is how they’re using this landscape in this area and how then, subsequently, this relates to their survival,” Palumbo said. “In terms of this area being so unique, it’s pretty much an open slate as to what’s going to happen.”

By capturing and equipping the female ducks with solar-powered GPS mini-backpack transmitters, Palumbo will obtain accurate locations, allowing him to assess daily habitat use and estimate the survival of each duck during the fall and winter months.

The GPS units – slightly larger than a matchbook and weighing around 25 grams, or less than 3 per cent of the ducks body weight – do not inhibit flying or any other aspect of survival for the ducks.

“What we’ll be doing is using a backpack-style unit, liter-ally a backpack for the duck, which attaches with a Teflon ribbon around the outside of the bird,” said Palumbo, adding radio transmitters will also be attached for a more precise location of the birds. “They will eventually preen the ribbon into their feathers.”

He will also be able to accurately assess when the ducks arrive at, and depart from, the Lake St. Clair region.

Assessing the habitat use will provide area conserva-tion officials with information on how best to manage the remaining waterfowl habitat.

“Lake St. Clair is a crossroads for millions of waterfowl that travel through the area every year,” said Palumbo, whose research is part of a larger Lake St. Clair Initiative conducted by Long Point Waterfowl.

Located in Port Rowan, Ont., Long Point Waterfowl

focuses on waterfowl and wetland research, conservation and education. Its staff supervise Western undergraduate and graduate students working on a multitude of research projects on the ecology, management and conservation of wildlife and wetland habitats associated with the lower Great Lakes ecosystem.

Palumbo’s research will determine the use of different habitat types and how this use is influenced by local land management practices. He will be able to categorize different foraging strategies exhibited by the ducks to determine if these strategies influence the animal’s survival and how long they use the resources within the Lake St. Clair region.

Identifying influences to survival, he added, could be very useful for conservation managers if it’s deemed mal-lard survival during the nonbreeding season – fall and winter – needs to increase to manage the population of these ducks.

“Ideally, I would like to get 60 or 70 ducks monitored. This would give us a larger sample size and, therefore, more statistical power to confirm what the ducks are doing,” he said.

That will depend on funding. While there are initial funds available, a ‘mallard tracker’ program has been introduced for individuals or groups who, for $1,000, can sponsor a GPS-marked mallard (longpointwaterfowl.org) and receive movement and survival updates of their sponsored duck.

Palumbo hopes to pull preliminary data around this time next year.

“If we can provide more data surrounding non-breeding season survival information, those are the kind of conserva-tion questions we want to answer,” he said. “It will provide substantial information as to how these birds navigate the landscape.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF MATT PALUMBOWestern PhD student (Biology) Matt Palumbo will be equipping mallard ducks with solar-powered GPS backpacks to assess the birds’ daily habitat use and estimate their survival during the fall and winter along the eastern portion of Lake St. Clair.

sponsor a duCKTo sponsor a GPS-marked mallard duck, for $1,000, and further support Long Point Waterfowl’s Lake St. Clair Initiative, contact Greg Dunn at 519-586-3531 (ext. 147) or [email protected]. Along with recognition on the Long Point Waterfowl website, you will receive movement and survival updates of your sponsored duck. For more information, visit longpointwaterfowl.org.


Western Finance - Year End Deadlines

CASH RECEIPTSAll cheques and cash must be deposited by the central cashier on or before Wednesday April 30, 2014 in order to be processed with an April date. All deposits made after April 30 will be May dated. In order to accommodate year end processing, the cashier hours will be extended as follows: April 29 & 30 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 and 12:30 – 3:30 p.m.

PETTY CASHExpenses incurred prior to April 30, 2014 must be submitted through the central cashier no later than Thursday May 1, 2014 to be processed with an April date. It is strongly encouraged that petty cash claims be submitted prior to April 30 where possible to ensure your claim will be processed in the 2013/2014 budget year. The cashier will be accepting petty cash reimbursements up to and including May 1, 2014.

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE INVOICESAll April dated invoices for external customers must be finalized and printed by 3:00 p.m. on April 30, 2014.

INVENTORIESThe last day for submission of the physical inventory sheets is Monday, May 5, 2014.

INTERDEPARTMENTAL CHARGESInterdepartmental charges for goods received or services rendered before April 30, 2014 must be dated April 30, 2014 or prior and journaled no later than Thursday, May 1, 2014. Ensure the Accounting Date on the Journal Entry Header Panel is changed to April 30, 2014.

TRAVEL EXPENSES/TRAVEL ADVANCESTravel costs for non-Western employees incurred prior to April 30, 2014 must be submitted no later than Friday, April 25, 2014. Employees must use the on-line travel expense system. On-line expense reports must be approved by the final approver by April 30, 2014 to be included in the 2013/2014 budget year. All outstanding travel advances should be cleared by that date. Hard copies of on-line expense reports with original receipts attached must be forwarded to the Travel desk, SSB 6100 by Monday, May 12, 2014.

PAYROLL INSTRUCTIONSRegular and vacation pay for part-time employees and any overtime owed to employees should be paid in April. Financial Services will accrue amounts earned in April and paid in May.

PURCHASING INSTRUCTIONSAll goods and services received in the 2013/2014 budget year and invoiced before May 1, 2014 must be received by Procurement Services prior to April 30, 2014. Purchase orders for goods and services shipped, received and invoiced after May 1, 2014 will be committed against the 2014/2015 budget year.

Suppliers’ original invoices must be in Accounts Payable, SSB 6100, no later than May 2, 2014. Invoices received after this date will be processed in the 2014/2015 budget year.

The University’s year-end is Wednesday, April 30, 2014. All transactions occurring before year-end must be dated April 30, 2014 or earlier to be included in the 2013/2014 budget year. It is the responsibility of each department to submit its accounting records before the deadlines listed below. The transactions received before these deadlines will be included in the 2013/2014 budget year.

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Alumni

Alumnus targets health, education for girls in NairobiB Y A D E L A TA L B O T

JAdE lAi didN’t see it coming.When the 2012 Ivey Business School

grad, looking to do some charitable work, recently visited kenya, she part-nered with local not-for-profits. Soon afterward, she found herself teaching in a handful of schools in Nairobi’s slums, including Nibera, the largest slum in Africa.

There, Lai quickly noticed some-thing: A lot of girls were dropping out of school.

“That was when the principal said a lot of girls didn’t have access to sanitary napkins, and because of that, most girls miss on average 50 days of school, each year. I never saw the con-nection of how that could impact their education. My mind was boggled,” Lai said.

“The girls, who did insist on going to school, end up using very unhy-gienic alternatives; they use tissues, rags. A lot of them cut up their mat-tresses because it absorbs better. Some girls said they went through the garbage to find used sanitary napkins and they’d wash that to use,” she explained.

Lai and other volunteers imme-diately reacted, calling home, look-ing to raise money. They gathered $1,400, went to every supermarket and cleared sanitary napkin stocks to distribute to local girls.

And that’s how the Wasichana Fund was born.

Lai co-founded the organization, named for the Swahili word for ‘girl,’ in partnership with a local not-for-profit in kenya, to distribute sanitary nap-kins. She found a local manufacturer to supply them and now works with a handful of other Ivey and Western graduates to raise funds and aware-ness to maintain the charity.

Lai also has a full-time job at Price-waterhouseCoopers in Toronto.

“What we do now is we pretty much distribute sanitary napkins and conduct health classes to introduce health curriculum to a lot of girls,” Lai said of the foundation.

“Many girls mentioned they couldn’t ask their parents why their body was changing, what HIV was, if it’s Ok to have a boyfriend. A lot of the health-related topics were never taught. We focus on those two ser-vices,” she continued.

Held every two weeks, the health classes are taught by a local woman whom the foundation now employs, paying her $100 a month.

“The local not-for-profit we partner with provides storage space and we buy three-to-four months worth at a time. It’s a simple operating model,” Lai explained, adding the plan is to grow the program to include 25 local schools by 2015.

As of last month, the foundation has distributed nearly 60,000 sanitary napkins to local girls.

At home, her employer has sup-ported her efforts, awarding her

$10,000 toward the Wasichana initia-tive, Lai added.

“To put that in perspective: In kenya, when we fundraised $1,400, that lasted seven months and sup-ported about 250 girls. So, it doesn’t take that much money to support a girl,” she said.

“It costs 4 cents per pad. On aver-age, we distribute 15 pads per girl. With $10,000 alone, if I scale up to 25 schools by the end of the year, I would

still have money left. It just shows it doesn’t take a lot of money to support this initiative.”

Lai and her Wasichana colleagues are now promoting the charity by building up its marketing and look-ing for corporate sponsorships. They plan to deliver presentations in high schools as a way of reaching out for support at home.

The foundation plans, as it expands, to measure impact by looking at atten-

dance rates and academic records.“This is something I’m very pas-

sionate about. Once you start work-ing in the corporate world, you can get frustrated,” she said. “But this is something I’m building up.”

Find ouT moreDiscover more about the work of the Wasichana Fund, co-founded by Western alumnus Jade Lai, at wasichanafund.org.

SPECIAL TO WESTERN NEWSIvey Business School graduate Jade Lai, bottom left, co-founded the Wasichana Fund, a charitable organization that provides sanitary napkins and health classes to young girls in Kenya, with Emily Richard, right.

8 Western News | April 10, 2014 Western News | April 10, 2014 9

M en’s volleyball player Garrett May and women’s wrestler Bri-anne Barry were recognized

for their outstanding careers last week as the Western Mustangs held the 2013-14 Athletic Awards Gala at the London Con-vention Centre.

May finished his four years at Western by becoming the 75th winner of the Dr. Claude Brown Memorial Trophy while Barry wrapped up her five-year Mustangs career with the 58th F.W.P. Jones Trophy. Both awards are presented to an athlete judged to have made the greatest contribution to intercollegiate athletics within the uni-

versity during their time at Western.

In his four seasons with the Mustangs, May helped lead Western to four consecutive OUA Finals appearances and three trips to the CIS Men’s Volleyball Championship, including helping this year’s team win a national silver medal. A former junior world champion in beach volley-ball, May became arguably the greatest player in Mus-tangs men’s volleyball his-tory, winning numerous OUA and CIS awards during his time in purple and white. The Toronto native was a four-time OUA all-star, three-time CIS all-Canadian, OUA and CIS rookie of the year, and 2013 OUA player of the year.

Other nominees for the Dr. Claude Brown Memorial Trophy were football player Lirim Hajrullahu and badmin-ton player Martin Giuffre.

For the past five seasons, no one has dominated the OUA wrestling ranks like Barry as the London native won five straight OUA gold

medals from 2010-14. Barry was also domi-nant at the CIS level, winning three silver medals and capturing a gold medal at the 2014 national championship. Along with her success at the university level, Barry is a member of Canada’s U24 national team and has represented the country in events all across the globe.

Also nominated for the F.W.P. Jones Tro-phy were basketball’s Jenny Vaughan and badminton’s Alex Bruce.

Along with the Brown and Jones tro-phies, two Mustangs were selected as the Male and Female Athletes of the Year.

Receiving the second-ever Male Athlete of the Year Award was football player Will Finch. Finch rewrote the OUA record book in 2013, setting new milestones for comple-tion percentage (69.7 per cent) and passing yards (3,047 yards) while helping the Mus-tangs win their 30th Yates Cup title.

May and men’s hockey player Zach Harnden were also nominated for the Male Athlete of the Year Award.

Vaughan claimed the second Female Athlete of the Year Award after an out-standing final season in purple and white. The fifth-year senior was named the OUA West player of the year after setting a new OUA single-season scoring record with 506 points and becoming the first woman to eclipse the 500 point barrier in a single campaign.

Other nominees for Female Athlete of the Year were wrestler Barry and track and

field athlete Caroline Ehrhardt. Also presented on Tuesday night were

the prestigious Purple Blanket awards, which are given to student-athletes, usually in their graduating year, that are judged to have made an outstanding contribution to Western athletics.

This year 15 Purple Blankets were handed out with four going to major award nominees May, Hajrullahu, Bruce and Harnden. Other winners included women’s lacrosse’s Caitlin Mancuso, football’s Pawel Kruba, rowers Natasha Caminsky, Jennifer Martins and Derek Stedman, swimmers Robert Wise and Shannon Nell, wrestler Larissa D’Alleva, track and field’s Matthew Brisson, men’s volleyball’s Phil James, and men’s hockey player Josh Unice.

Team MVPs were honoured as well, including: • Martin Giuffre and Alex Bruce,

badminton;• Owen Boon, baseball;• Greg Morrow and Jenny

Vaughan, basketball;• Kevin B lackney and

Amanda Truelove, cross-country;

• Brett DeKoning and Caitlin Romain, curling;

• Andrew Kennel and Vivian Poon, fencing;

• Katelyn Roganowicz, field hockey;

• Carly Smith, figure skating;• Will Finch, football;• Harris Bundy and Jessie Mercer,

golf;• Zach Harnden and Katelyn

Gosling, ice hockey;• Eric Pitre and Taw-

nie Johnson / Kristen Stafford (co-MVPs), lacrosse;

• Melissa Guiller and Amanda Storie, rin-gette;

• Laura MacLachlan ( H e a v y w e i g h t ) , Derek Stedman ( L igh twe ight ) , Sydney Boyes (Heavyweight), Sara Matovic and Jacyln Halko (Light-weight), row-ing;

• Mike Penc-zak and Lori Josephson , rugby;

• Andrew Walton and Tori Edgar, soccer;

• Tricia MacKay and Kara Stirling (co-MVPs), softball;

• James Van Savaren and Deanna Hamilton, squash;

• Robert Wise and Paulina Bond, swim-ming;

• Joyce Li, table tennis;• Tomo Ono and Michelle Stanescu, ten-

nis;• Taylor Stewart and Caroline Ehrhardt,

track and field;• Garrett May / Sean Mckay (co-MVPs)

and Stephanie Kreuter, volleyball;• Daniel Abraham, water polo; and• Josh Proctor / Riley Otto (co-MVPs) and

Brianne Barry, wrestling.

Celbrating breakthrough PerforManCesMustangs honour student-athletes

Will Finch and Jenny Vaughan

Brianne Barry and Garrett May

Purple Blanket award recipients

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Research

professor explores costs of school closings to communitiesB Y A D E L A TA L B O T

thE coNtiNuAlly poSt-poNEd, yet somehow impending, closure of Lorne Avenue Public School in London’s Old East Village is just one example of an incongruence that exists between a community’s needs and policies surrounding school clo-sures in the province.

Just ask Bill Irwin.The push to close the school’s doors

seems to be an economic exercise, overlooking educational and commu-nity needs, said the Huron University College Economics and Management and Organizational Studies professor.

“Lorne Avenue Public School is a classic example. It’s in a commu-nity where we are putting significant resources into revitalizing, but looking to close a school,” Irwin said.

Together with University of Water-loo School of Planning professor Mark Seasons, Irwin has launched a web-site, env-blogs.uwaterloo.ca/school-closures/, offering a research-based platform to guide discussion about school closures.

“We believe,” the website states, “that the theory and best practices of

both urban planning and public par-ticipation are good foundations from which to ameliorate the school closure process, and ultimately lead to a more effective and equitable outcome for those involved.”

The website is one of the outcomes of a 2013-14 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant.

“We’re looking at the whole issue surrounding school closures, in terms of several touchstones – as a public policy issue, and how policy is devel-oped and delivered; as a public par-ticipation issue and the relationship between institutions and communi-ties; and the implications of closures in terms of impacts on financial, social and human capital,” Irwin explained.

“When I started my research – my thesis (in 2012) was on school clo-sures – no one else had looked at this issue since the policy had come forward in 2005,” he continued, add-ing if the province was closing smaller community schools as a fiscal savings measure, there existed no tracking thereof.

More importantly, there was no review of community costs.

“How does a closure impact stu-dents as learners? We don’t know if this is impacting students’ ability to learn, their marks, etc. This happens in young people’s lives at the same time they’re going through emotional, physical changes. There are so many unanswered questions in this,” Irwin continued.

A policy pushing for the closures of smaller community schools shows there is a great disconnect at the pro-vincial level, he added.

“The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is spending resources on rebuilding houses, while the Ministry of Education is supporting closures of community schools. We want to rebuild our inner cities, yet we want to shut down schools in their communi-ties,” Irwin said.

“We’re taking schools from poor neighbourhoods and putting them in affluent neighbourhoods. It’s a reverse Robin Hood situation.”

What’s more, current policies sur-rounding school closures ignore previous research that shows smaller schools have a great impact within their communities.

“In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, robust

research literature was done on the benefits of small schools as learning environments, as having long term benefits to students. That literature has been totally ignored in this whole process,” Irwin said.

In the case of Lorne Avenue, three groups have expressed interest in possibly leasing some of its vacant space, which could save the school from being closed next year. This would allow the Thames Valley Dis-trict School Board to drop the school’s student capacity to 320, saving money and keeping the school open. The school can accommodate 880 but has only 270 students.

April 30 is the deadline to find a solution for the school, otherwise it will close in June 2015.

Irwin believes the above solution is a good one for Lorne Avenue.

“In terms of the building itself – it’s full of things like ESL, child care, a community resource centre. Why does a building have to be for educa-tion? Maybe a solution for this is that the building is owned by the commu-nity and the service (of education) is owned by the school board,” he said.

The interest in this topic is consider-

able, he added, noting more research is sure to follow the launch of the website.

“All of us realize there will be a pro-vincial election this year. This should be part of the discussion. How we treat our schools has a tremendous impact long-term on the social fabric of our communities,” Irwin said.

R E A D W E S T E R N N E W S

PLACE AN AD TODAY

Call 519.661.2045 or email [email protected]

“We’re taking

schools from poor

neighbourhoods

and putting

them in affluent

neighbourhoods. It’s

a reverse Robin hood

situation.”

- Bill Irwin

The lies We Tell // ConTinued From page 3


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Say ‘cello’ to construction season

PAUL MAYNE // WESTERN NEWSEven the lonely cellos are eagerly watching over the $25-million renovation and construction project at the Don Wright Faculty of Music. By Winter 2015, the campus will see a new, five-storey tower constructed in the courtyard space between the east wing of the Music Building and Talbot College; major renovations to the east wing of the Music Building, rebuilding the main recital hall plus some classroom space; and a three-storey structure housing added performance space. As soon as that work’s complete, the faculty has plans to begin work on the Music Library.

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FROZEN

For example, the value of assets presented as collat-eral on an application form is hard to pin down, Chong added, and even income, for some people, is hard to verify because they could have an undeclared source of income that isn’t documented.

For the bank to check every variable, it would have to invest significant time and money.

So, in theory, you could have poor credit and no money but could claim your house is worth a great deal and put it up as collateral on your loan application. Banks don’t necessarily spend time and money on sending out an appraiser to make sure you’re not lying, and just like that, you’ve got your loan.

You’re a risk to the bank, but as it stands, the bank doesn’t know it.

This approach works only if the applicant doesn’t lie too much, but just enough for the lie to be unsuspicious on an application, said Davison, who teaches in Applied Mathematics, Statistical and Actuarial Sciences and Busi-ness at Western.

“For people who are asking for a credit card, a mortgage or a loan, the same data is required (on an application). What the bank is doing right now, because they have a large amount of applicants, they build a model based on historical applicants. As long as they put a customer’s infor-mation into the model, it automatically gives the results on whether the borrower is a good or bad customer,” Chong continued.

The current model separates people by an imaginary axis into two groups. The ‘good’ group is comprised of customers predicted to repay their loan; the ‘bad’ group is seen as too high risk and likely to default on the loan.

Applicants near the middle of the axis, those who fall on the ‘bad’ side, would be the ones most likely to profit from small lies on their application, using them to bump themselves to the ‘good’ side.

“Right now, with the model the bank is using, they haven’t really verified all the information on the applica-tion. They don’t do that because it’s expensive to do. I’m showing that if they put some effort and money on verifying the characteristics of customers, they would increase their profit,” Chong said.

“The model cannot detect small lies. If the borrowers are intelligent enough to lie in the correct way, they can actually escape the credit checks, cheat the system and get their money. I’m just telling the bank to update the model.”

Chong’s suggestion is for banks to hire independent auditors, as well as invest time and employee efforts to investigate application variables on which individuals could lie.

“Our model is a game model; it says the borrower and the lender are playing a game with each other, an adver-sarial game, and the borrower can sometimes make a very small lie to change the lender’s behaviour,” Davison said.

“The research is about applying this game theory aspect to the lending decision.”

The lies We Tell // ConTinued From page 3


Congratulations to Western’s best2014 Distinguished University Professor Awards

2014 Faculty Scholar Awards

This award is Western’s highest recognition of a faculty member and acknowledges sustained excellence in scholarship over a substantial career at Western.

This award recognizes the significant achievements of faculty members in teaching and/or research. Recipients are considered all-around scholars.

Western University is pleased to honour and congratulate our award-winning faculty members for their excellence in research, exceptional teaching and commitment to service.

Campus community members are invited to the public lectures being presented by this year’s recipients of the Distinguished University Professorship Award. Plan to attend and help recognize the scholarly contributions of these outstanding Western faculty.

Lecture session will be followed by a reception. [email protected]

Cheryl ForchukFaculty of Health SciencesLecture: Why are so many people with mental illness homeless and what can we do about it?

Chris RoulstonFrench Studies and Women’s Studies and Feminist Research

Desmond MoserEarth Sciences

Rob KlassenIvey Business School

Mandar JogClinical Neurological Science

Stefan KohlerPsychology

Ashraf El DamattyCivil and Environmental Engineering

Marc JoanissePsychology

Nadine WathenFaculty of Information and Media Studies

John HessMusic Performance Studies

John NassichukFrench Studies

Masoud KhalkhaliMathematics

Simon ParkerIvey Business School

Anita KothariHealth Studies

Paul WiegertPhysics and Astronomy

Kibret MequanintChemical and Biochemical Engineering

Michael RiederSchulich School of Medicine & DentistryLecture: Drug Therapy for Children - The Undiscovered Country

Jeremy McNeilFaculty of ScienceLecture: A serendipitous journey, with an awful lot of help from my friends

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR AWARDS AND BEST WISHES FOR CONTINUED SUCCESS.

Public lectures:Wednesday, April 23Lectures at 4 p.m., room 224Conron Hall, University College


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Student nabs chance at a sustainable IMPACT! on the worldB Y PA U L M AY N E

hoW do you address apathy and youth disengagement when it comes to sustainability? How do you convince them they are uniquely posi-tioned to shift governments toward a stronger sustainability-based agenda?

Count on kevin Vuong to have an IMPACT! on those issues – and more.

Vuong is one of 175 university and college students from across Canada invited to IMPACT!, a youth confer-ence for sustainability leadership, scheduled for May in Guelph. The students will team up with experts to develop sustainability solutions to take back to their campuses, com-munities and current, or future, work-places.

“Youth apathy is an issue of promi-nence now, and has been for quite awhile, and we believe, as the younger generation, we are a lot more familiar with the conversation and if we are engaged more politically as well, we are able to drive that conversation toward sustainability,” Vuong said.

A graduate of Western’s Bachelor of Management and Organizational Studies (BMOS) program and currently working on a master’s degree in Geog-raphy, Vuong is already a veteran when it comes to ‘travel missions.’

In 2010, he was part of the G8 and G20 Canadian youth delegations in Toronto. That same year, he travelled on an economic trade mission to Hong kong and Malaysia. And earlier this past year, Vuong spent a week-and-a-half as one of five Canadian stu-dents to be part of the Y20 conference in Russia, part of the larger G20 event.

“It was a great opportunity to bring back what I learned abroad and apply it here,” said Vuong, a 2014 Western Green Award winner for his participa-

tion in rePurpose for Change. “There are a lot of global best practices we don’t necessarily know about here.”

For Vuong, it all comes down to aligning benefits in order to convince people about the importance of sus-tainability.

“It’s not an instant win or an easy process,” he said. “It’s going to be an ongoing, evolving process that has an educational aspect. We need to be engaging people, getting their feedback and finding out what they truly care about, and show them how that relates to sustainability.

“It’s all about how does it affect you.”

In advance of the event, Vuong will complete an online sustainability course, connect online with fellow conference delegates and learn about certain sustainability challenges. Dur-ing the conference, he will apply this knowledge and work with various experts from academia, industry and government.

Following the conference, grants will be available to the students for them lead community initiatives in their city.

“This conference brings people from across the country, from different backgrounds and different cities, so that we can get a unique perspective from everyone,” said Vuong, adding sustainability wasn’t always his main focus in life.

“I wanted to be the ‘meanest banker in the world’ and make as much money as possible,” he admit-ted with a laugh. “But travelling abroad, I came to realize how fortu-nate I was to be born and raised in Canada. I saw how some of our civil liberties we take for granted weren’t universally practiced, and that was my ‘a-ha’ moment.

“I came back and didn’t want to make a whole bunch of money. I wanted to do something that would have more of an impact on society and began working with a lot of com-munity organizations.”

While it continues to be a battle to

sell sustainability, Vuong is one who won’t back down.

“We’re never going to be able to affect any sort of positive, impactful change, if we don’t try. We have to take ownership” he said. “With this generation, it’s always been media

overload, so it’s trying to simplify it and say it in a way where it’s successful and people understand. So it goes back to getting to know what they really care about and speaking within those terms.”

Honours

PAUL MAYNE // WESTERN NEWSGeography graduate student Kevin Vuong will be one of a handful of Canadian students participating in IMPACT!, a youth conference for sustainability leadership this May in Guelph. he will be tackling the issue of apathy and youth disengagement.


// aCademe

phd lectures

kelly Evans, Psychology, Sexual Dif-ferentiation of the Prefrontal Cortex in Humans: Examining Behavioural Sex Differences and the Modulatory Role of Androgens, 1 p.m. April 10, SSC 9420. Shenwei Zhang, Civil and Environmen-tal Engineering, Development of Proba-bilistic Corrosion Growth Models with Applications in Integrity Management of Pipelines, 9:30 a.m. April 10, SEB 2009B. xiulan lai, Applied Mathematics, Study of Virus Dynamics by Mathematical Models, 1:30 p.m. April 10, MC 204. peter Miller, Classics, Athletes in Song and Stone: Victory and Identity in Epini-cian and Epigram, 1 p.m. April 11, UC 286.

Abdel rahman lawendy, Medical Bio-physics, Pathophysiology of Compart-ment Syndrome, 1 p.m. April 11, MSB 384. king Sun Siu, Pathology, Development of Non-Covalent Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes for siRNA Delivery, 9 a.m. April 11, DSB 2016. kanstantsin tsedryk, French Studies, Les interactions morphosyntaxiques dans l’interlangue des apprenants: le cas de l’acquisition des pronoms clitiques en français L2, April 14, N/A.

charlotte usselman, kinesiology, Sex Hormones and Sympathetic Nerve Activity, 1 p.m. April 14, SH 2316. christine di cresce, Microbiology and Immunology, siRNA Targeting of Thy-midylate Synthase, Thymidine Kinase 1 and Thymidine Kinase 2 as an Anti-cancer Therapy: A Combinatorial RNAi Approach, 1 p.m. April 15, MSB 384. Seyed reza Mousavi, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Biomechanical Modeling and Inverse Problem Based Elasticity Imaging for Prostate Cancer Diagnosis, 9 a.m. April 16, TEB 234. kristyn leitch, Biomedical Engineering. Biomechanical Investigations of Medial Opening Wedge High Tibial Osteoto-my: Gait Analysis, Materials Testing and Dynamic Radiography, 12:30 p.m. April 16, SEB 2009B.

Scott Swarbreck, Pharmacology, Effect of Ascorbate on Coagulation and Fibri-nolytic Factors in the Septic Microvascu-lature, 1 p.m. April 16, DSB 2016.

Faculty & Staff

Sociology professor Ingrid Arnet Con-nidis was invited to give the annual Bar-bara Pittard Payne Lectureship in Ger-ontology at Georgia State University on March 13 in Atlanta. Her lecture, Part of the Family: The Long-Term Ties of Gay and Lesbian Adults, examined ongoing relationships with siblings and parents over the life course. During her visit, she met with faculty and graduate students in the Gerontology Institute for a two-hour open discussion of related research interests. Funding for some of the work reported in the lecture was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

// ClassiFied

Editing / proofreading

professional proofreading and copy Editing - Extensive experience with PhD theses, reports and proposals. See hughesassociates.ca for further informa-tion. Member of the Professional Writer’s Association and the Editors’ Association of Canada. Telephone 519-432-1129. Email [email protected].

Employment

caregiver / Man Friday - Western grad-uate class of ’78 seeks live-in position as a part-time or full-time caregiver/Man Friday for senior couple or individual. Excellent references, gourmet cook, non-smoker, non-drinker. Available April 1. Call 905-434-1435, leave message.

For rent

Bachelor loft apartment on country horse estate. Marble counters, walnut floors, cathedral ceilings. Twelve stairs up to private entrance. Lots of parking, no bus route. All included except phone and Internet. Professional, non-smoker, no pets. 15 minutes from Western. Call 519-666-1531. Available April 1.

Sublet – 1 bedroom in Westmount. $750, includes utilities. 4th floor, large balcony. Bus right to Western from front door. Very large, furnished, queen bed (Simmons). Available minimum 3 months. Call 519-851-8942.

cottage for rent

lakefront family cottage for rent - north of Grand Bend. Week of July 11-18. Plenty of amenities. Sleeps 10-12. Great beach. For photos and details, contact Jill at 519-872-7176 or email [email protected].

Furnished 3 bdrm, 2 bath lakefront home on Manitoulin Island for rent July and August. $2,200/month, $4,000/

season. Solar power. 10 acre nature paradise with paths through swamp and forest, numerous birds, mammals and frogs. Contact 519-672-8164.

// sTudenT bulleTin

Student central in-person hours

9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday.Follow Student Central on Twitter for updates @westernuReg.

April 2014 Exam Schedule

The final April exam schedule is avail-able. Visit registrar.uwo.ca/examinations for information, or log into studentser-vices.uwo.ca.

tax receipt information t2202As and t4As

T2202As (tuition tax receipts) for the 2013 tax year are available online. T4As issued by the Office of the Registrar are available online for those who have consented. All other T4As issued by the Office of the Registrar have been mailed. See registrar.uwo.ca for infor-mation on the NEW online T4A service.

Spring convocation (June 10-13, 16-18)

Graduates and guests, please check con-vocation.uwo.ca for convocation details. Tickets for the June convocation will be available online beginning May 27.

Web registration

Web Registration for Summer Evening, Distance Studies, Summer Day and Intersession is now open.

Western Student Services twitter contest

Do you use Twitter? Western Student Services is giving away great prizes throughout the year to our followers, including an unlocked iPhone on April 8th. Follow @Western_WSS for contest

details and your chance to win!

Study day open house: Student Success centre

Celebrate the end of classes and to have a study break. Pick up an Exam Survival kit and enjoy some free food on April 9, from 12:30-2 p.m. in UCC 210. Please register on westerncareercentral.ca by April 7, at 4 p.m.

hired for Summer twitter contest

Follow Western’s Student Success Cen-tre @Success_Centre to be connected to advice and resources about summer job searching and summer job postings. Report when you get hired for your summer job and who your employer is and you will be entered into a contest to win a Visa gift card. Let us know by tweeting to @Success_Centre or using the hashtag #HiredForSummer.

undergraduate Sessional dates

April 11-30: Final examination period.April 18: Good FridayApril 20: Easter SundayApril 30: Second term ends for all Fac-ulties except Dentistry, Education, Law, and Medicine.For more information, please visit us on the web at studentservices.uwo.ca and follow us on Twitter @Western_WSS.

// Careers

The university has a central website displaying advertisements for all vacant academic positions, uwo.ca/facultyrela-tions/faculty/academic_positions.html. Please review the website for complete details, including application require-ments, or contact the faculty, school, program or department directly.

Full-time Academic Appointments

Schulich School of Medicine & den-tistry - department of MedicineSeeking to recruit a tenure-stream indi-vidual at the rank of assistant professor in the field of Educational Assessment to

begin July 1. The successful candidate will hold a PhD or equivalent degree with advanced training in measurement and psychometrics and will have a prov-en ability to think creatively to explore complex assessment issues in a range of clinical training settings, including naturalistic environments. The successful candidate will hold a cross-appointment in the Faculty of Education. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Review of applications will begin after April 20.

All positions are subject to budgetary approval. Applicants should have fluent written and oral communication skills in English. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents will be given priority. Western is committed to employment equity and welcomes appli-cations from all qualified women and men, including visible minorities, Aborigi-nal people and persons with disabilities.

Place an Ad Today

For Classifieds, call 519-661-2045 or email [email protected]. Rates: Faculty, staff and students – $15; others and ser-vices/commercial ads – $20. Beyond 35 words, add 50 cents per word. Payment must accompany ads. Submit by 9 a.m. Thursdays to Western News, Suite 360, Westminster Hall. No refunds.

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Compliments go to the Western community for all of the creative

input in naming Western’s new electronic procurement system. The competition had many

inspired submissions and this meant that the selection committee had their work cut out for them. After much

deliberation; the SciQuest e-Procurement system has become:

Mustang MarketFinancial Services first announced the introduction of this e-Procurement system to the Western community in the fall of 2013.

Mustang Market will transform the purchasing process on campus with the introduction of a one-stop shopping solution, showcasing Western vendors.

Please tour our website for information on the key features and functionality. Stay tuned for additional communications about the rollout of Mustang Market to the campus community.

We are proud to be among the first of Canadian universities to launch an e-Procurement solution.

Thank you for your participation and congratulations to our winners:

1st Place: Sarah Denomy, Financial Services2nd Place: Matthew Ward, FIMS3rd Place: Trevor Semple, Facilities Management

Western’s “You Name It” Competition

uwo.ca/finance/

ANNOUNCES THE WINNER

Playing under a watchful eye

PAUL MAYNE // WESTERN NEWSWith seven Juno Awards, as well as a Grammy to his name, Canadian-born violinist James Enhes, right, drew a rapt audience to his masterclass this past week at the Don Wright Faculty of Music. having played in more than 30 countries, across five continents, Enhes spent time with a group of Music students, including Jason Lee, offering advice and guidance on the performance of specific works. Ehnes is the youngest person ever elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada. In 2010, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada and, this past year, was named an honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, limited to a select group of 300 living distinguished musicians.

president, five alumni among competition finalistsWEStErN prESidENt AMit

Chakma, along with five Western alumni, have been named finalist for the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award for 2014.

The annual awards, given out by Canadian Immigrant Magazine, in partnership with RBC Royal Bank, since 2009, is the first Canadian national award program that recog-nizes immigrants’ achievements from all walks of life.

Chakma, who was born in Bangla-desh and arrived in Canada in 1983, was chosen as one of 75 finalists from more than 630 nominees by a panel of judges, consisting of Canadian Immi-grant Magazine editorial staff as well as immigrant and ethnic community leaders.

Among the Western alumni nomi-nated are Farah Mohamed, MA’96; Towhid Noman, BSc’90; Alan Diner, BA ‘90; Dunstan Peter, BESc’05; and Dr. Surinder khurana, DDS’06.

“The inspired stories of my fellow finalists are what make up the fabric of this great country and I am truly humbled to be honoured alongside them,” Chakma said. “We are all proud Canadians who are grateful for the opportunities we’ve had to make our lives in a society that celebrates diversity.”

Past RBC Top 25 Canadian Immi-grant award winners include former Governor Generals Adrienne Clarkson and Michaelle Jean; filmmaker Deepa Mehta; CBC’s Ian Hanomansing; and NBA All-Star and philanthropist Steve

Nash.The Top 25 will be determined

through online voting until May 15. Winners will be announced in June.

Vote at canadianimmigrant.ca/can-adas-top-25-immigrants/vote.

NEWS AND NOTES Western graduate students Peter Szabo, Ankur Goswami and Courtney Meilleur, all of Micro-biology & Immunology professor Mansour Haeryfar’s lab, scored success during the 2014 Cana-dian Society for Immunology (CSI) annual scientific meeting March 6-9 in Quebec City.

CSI meetings lets graduate stu-dents from all across Canada to present scientific findings arising from their thesis research, either in the form of a podium talk or a poster that is judged for prizes by several independent immunolo-gists from various universities.

Goswami and Meilleur won two of 12 awards in the poster com-petition, which featured more than 90 nationwide entries. Gos-wami won second place; Meilleur secured another poster award. The Western masters students were competing among a com-petitive field of mostly upper-year PhD students.

Szabo, a Ph.D. student, was selected to give a podium talk on

his research.

“These students have brought pride to our university and depart-ment as well as my laboratory,” Haeryfar said.

Effective June 1, Western will switch from BFI to the City of Lon-don’s Materials Recycling Facil-ity – meaning we will be able to accept all plastics from 1-7 for recycling. Currently, Western only recycle plastics 1, 2, 4 and 5 on campus because that is all BFI can handle at their facility. Lon-don’s Materials Recycling Facility can sort through all plastics, with the exception of styrofoam and plastic bags. A couple examples of common items thrown away on campus that couldn’t be recycled, but will now be able to, are coffee cup lids and yogurt cups.

Former Western alumni and Board of Governors chair, Don McDougall, has been installed as chancellor at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI).

McDougall, MBA’61, will be responsible for conferring all cer-tificates, diplomas, and degrees, and is also a member of the university’s Board of Governors. He was a member of the West-ern’s Board of Governors in 1998, assuming the role of chair from 2004-05.

Western medical students kevin

Dueck, Julian Surujballi and Dan-iela kwiatkowski earned third place honours for the team’s Vitals Student Wellness Initiative in the Council of Ontario Universities’ Mental Health 2.0 Student Com-petition. The competition encour-aged undergraduate students to address mental health challenges through social media tools in the following categories: changing attitudes; awareness of signs and symptoms of mental illness; self-care and management; and com-munity building.

Vitals is a student-run initiative to promote wellness in all years of undergraduate medical training by centralizing campus and com-munity resources, hosting work-shops and raising awareness to support students in all the dimen-sions of wellness.

Visit the site at westernvitals.ca.

Western Neuroscience gradu-ate students and Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry medical students recently hosted the 6th annual London Brain Bee for the best and brightest high school stu-dents from London and surround-ing areas. The event featured neu-roscience skill-testing questions, hands-on demonstrations and a neuroanatomy scavenger hunt.

A highlight of the event was a trivia contest won by Brittany Smale, who will represent London in the National Brain Bee compe-tition May 31 in Hamilton.

The Brain Bee is part of an inter-national neuroscience initiative which aims to motivate students to learn about the brain and pur-sue neuroscience careers in order to help treat and find cures for neurological and psychological disorders.

Campus Digest

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Your future?It’s down to science.Thinking about pursuing graduate studies?Already applied? Come and explore yourprogram of interest and meet a potentialthesis supervisor. Travel grants available.

www.discoveruOttawa.ca under “Meet with us”

Students engineer solutions for accessibility

PAUL MAYNE // WESTERN NEWSWestern Engineering’s annual design showcase for first-year students brought out some interesting ideas in reducing barriers to accessibility, including RoboCare, which uses the tongue to control daily activities for individuals with total paralysis. Mouth Abuaysha, seen here using the device to play a video game and control a lamp, said the device could be adapted to operate an electric wheelchair and multiple household activities such as lights, TV and phone. Assisting him with the project were Brandon Baksh, Mitchell Morrison and Tareq Tayeh.

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