President’s Report to

McMaster University’s Board of Governors

October 21, 2010

New Auto Research for MIP

Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement was at the McMaster Innovation Park this past Friday to

announce a $16.6-million national research network to develop advanced software in vehicles.

McMaster researchers will be the leads in the partnership which includes Industry Canada,

General Motors of Canada, IBM and six other Canadian universities.

The Network on Engineering Complex Software Intensive Systems for Automotive Systems

(NECSIS) is being supported through Automotive Partnership Canada, of which the Natural

Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) is the lead agency. It is

providing $10.5 million in funding to the network over five years. Industry and academic

partners are contributing $6.1 million.

Burlington Campus Open for Business

More than four hundred MBA students are enjoying their first term in the new Ron Joyce Centre

in Burlington. A donor preview and an official opening event were held over the past month to

showcase the new building to partners and the community. The building was made possible by

support from the City of Burlington, Halton Region, and a successful fundraising campaign

anchored by a $10 million donation from Ron Joyce, land from Michael H. DeGroote of

Westbury International, and a significant number of other gifts from donors in the Burlington

community.

Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute Unveiled

A reception and ribbon cutting were held Oct. 14 to officially open the Farncombe Family

Digestive Health Research Institute’s unique atrium, new offices and laboratories on the third

floor of the Health Sciences Centre.

The Farncombe Institute is ranked No. 1 in Canada in digestive disease research and its research

group has been ranked one of the top 10 gastrointestinal research teams in the world for more

than 20 years.

At present, the Institute has 15 faculty members, 14 associate members and more than 76

students, research fellows and staff. It was established with a $15-million gift in 2008.

Engineering Celebrates Largest Gift in Faculty History

A class of engineering graduates from 1962 has banded together to give more than $3-million to

support entrepreneurs developing sustainable technologies.

The gift, from Walter Booth, Julius Brokloff, Irvine Hollis, David Male, George Menzies and

Del Smith, will establish the Class of '62 Mechanical Engineering Chair in Eco-Entrepreneurship

and a fund for sustainable entrepreneurship. The Chair will reside in the Walter G. Booth School

of Engineering Practice, with funds available to support students in developing innovations.

The Chair in Eco-Entrepreneurship will investigate how public policy can be developed and

implemented to encourage entrepreneurship in sustainable technologies.

Planned Giving Brings New Opportunities to McMaster

Planned giving is becoming an increasingly important part of McMaster’s ability to strengthen

areas of expertise.

The John D. Cameron Chair in Genetic Determinants of Chronic Diseases was established by the

$2.5 million estate of Marjorie Cameron Foucar in tribute to her father.

The inaugural chairholder is Joseph Beyene, associate professor in the Department of Clinical

Epidemiology and Biostatistics. A native of Ethiopia, he came to McMaster from the University

of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children and has unique expertise in the mining statistical

data for information that can be used to prevent, diagnose and treat complex diseases.

McMaster has also received $2-million bequest from philanthropist Mona Campbell, to enhance

and build an elite track and field program which will attract student athletes from across the

country.

The gift will be used to fund coaching, training programs, scholarships for athletes, tutoring,

recruiting and travel to special competitions. As a direct result of this gift McMaster has been

able to hire Paula Schnurr as the new head coach of the University’s track and field team.

Schnurr, a McMaster graduate and two-time Olympian, was the assistant coach of the team for

the last three years and brings a wealth of experience to the program. She competed in the 1500-

metre run in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, and won a silver medal in the 1994 Commonwealth

Games.

The Lyons New Media Centre Officially Opened

Students studying multi-media, communications and other disciplines now have access to the hi-

tech facilities they need. The Lyons News Media Centre, located on the fourth floor of Mills

Library, creates space that includes video and audio editing workstations, group viewing rooms,

video-gaming rooms and a media technology centre. A variety of equipment will be available for

student and faculty use including portable audio recorders, high-definition camcorders and a

green screen.

New Senator William McMaster Chairs

John Connolly and Lorraine York have been named Senator William McMaster Chairs in

Humanities. The Chairs are awarded to individuals whose scholarship has put them in the upper

echelon of academic achievement.

John Connolly, professor and chair of the Department of Linguistics & Languages, will be the

Senator William McMaster Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Language. Connolly joined the

University in 2008 as director of the Cognitive Science of Language program. His major area of

investigation is the cognitive neuroscience of language with particular emphasis on the use of

brain imaging techniques in the study of phonology, orthography and semantics in healthy and

communication-impaired people.

Lorraine York, professor in English & cultural studies, will be the Senator William McMaster

Chair in Canadian Literature & Culture. A specialist in contemporary Canadian literature, she is

a leading authority on Timothy Findley and Margaret Atwood. Her current SSHRC-funded

project The Atwood Industry offers a case-study of how Atwood became an international literary

star.

Teaching Awards

The McMaster Students Union (MSU) handed out its annual teaching awards for outstanding

commitment to teaching. The award winners are selected by student voting and are recognized

for their ability to challenge, motivate and connect with students.

This year's winners were:

Arts & Science: Jean Wilson

Commerce: Peter Vilks

Engineering: Nicola Nicolici

Humanities: Keith Kinder

Kinesiology: Krista Howarth

Nursing: Kirsten Culver

Science: Kim Dej

Social Sciences: Greg Flynn

Staff Recognition

Nearly 200 employees, all with more than 15 years of service at McMaster, were honoured at the

University's annual Years of Service luncheon in October. Eight employees were recognized for

celebrating 40 years of service:

Frances Allen: Engineering Physics

Pearl Dodd: Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences

Christine Feaver: Economics

Antoinette Finelli: Health Sciences Library

Rosita Jordan: Anthropology

Elizabeth Moore: Faculty of Social Sciences

Angela Paolozza: University Libraries

Jacqueline Tucker: Sociology

In total the 2010 recipients represent more than 4000 years of service to the University.

Students Helping the Community

Helping students help their communities and understand the importance of good citizenship is

the goal of the annual Mac Serve day. About 200 students participated in this year’s event which

is organized by the Student Success Centre. Students volunteered their time to help 14

community agencies including, Living Rock, the Bay Area Restoration Council, March Of

Dimes, Food Share and Wesley Urban Ministries. This year, a project was developed with the

Newcomer Centre of Peel in Mississauga to encourage commuting students to participate.

Royal Society Honours

The Royal Society is the country's oldest and most prestigious scholarly organization and this

year’s list of new inductees includes three McMaster professors. Richard Harris, Bruce Gaulin

and Paul O'Byrne will be officially inducted as Fellows on the RSC in November.

Harris’s research involves urban history and suburbanization. Gaulin is director of the

Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research and internationally recognized as an expert in the

field of neutron scattering. As a world-leading asthma expert, Paul O'Byrne is internationally

recognized for his seminal contributions into understanding the causes and treatment of asthma.

In addition to the RSC Fellows, two physics & astronomy professors - Kari Dalnoki-Veress and

Doug Welch - also received prestigious awards from the Society.

Dalnoki-Veress received the Rutherford Memorial Medal in Physics as an inspiring scientist and

research supervisor. Doug Welch received the McNeil Medal for his outreach work in

communicating astronomy to the general public through numerous and varied science outreach

activities, including podcasting about astronomy, and creating an art exhibition on supernovae.

Canadian Medical Hall of Fame

A former dean and vice-president in the Faculty of Health Sciences has been named a 2011

laureate to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Dr. John Bienenstock led the development of an

understanding of how the immune system impacts the whole body.

Bienenstock pioneered the concept of the common mucosal system - the means by which the

body's different mucosal surfaces, such as the gut, the respiratory tract and the reproductive

system, share information to fight infection. His landmark studies have led to new approaches in

immunization, and also to a better understanding of the structural and physiological links

between the brain, nervous and immune systems in health and disease.

He currently holds a position as a distinguished University Professor at McMaster and is also

director of the University's Brain- Body Institute at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Appointments

Three professors in the Faculty of Health Sciences have been honoured for their significant

contributions to health services research in Canada with appointments to the Canadian Academy

of Health Sciences. Membership is considered one of the highest honours for members of the

Canadian health sciences community.

Stephanie Atkinson is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the associate chair,

research, for the Department of Pediatrics.

Deborah Cook, a professor of medicine and clinical epidemiology and biostatistics, holds the

Canada Research Chair of Research Transfer in Intensive Care and the McMaster University/St.

Joseph's Healthcare Regional Academic Chair in Critical Care Medicine.

Alba DiCenso, a professor in the School of Nursing, holds the CHSRF/CIHR Chair in Advanced

Practice Nursing. She is also the director of the CHSRF/CIHR Ontario Training Centre in Health

Services and Policy Research.

Early Researcher Awards

The Ontario Government has given 10 Early Researcher Awards to McMaster University. The

awards, totaling $1.4-million, are given to recently appointed researchers to help them build their

teams of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and research associates. Each award is

matched with $50,000 from the University.

McMaster University's 10 ERA awards are almost double the provincial average. Six of the

recipients are from the Faculty of Engineering; three from the Faculty of Health Sciences, and

one from the Faculty of Science.

In addition, to the ERA awards, the Government of Ontario also announced its Ontario Research

Funding-Research Infrastructure (ORF-RI) awards. McMaster University was awarded $2.3

million in funding for 11 projects.

Linking PhDs with Ontario Companies

Six McMaster postdoctoral fellows are among more than 80 of Ontario's top PhDs who will

share a pool of $9.95 million to carry out complex research on real-life projects. The new

program, dubbed Elevate, provides PhD holders with fellowships to partner with Ontario

companies.

Peter Basl will join Rafik Loutfy in the Xerox Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship &

Innovation on a project for Bombardier Transportation Canada Inc.; Li Liu will team with

Natalia Nikolova in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Sinclair

Technologies Inc.; Oleksandr Romanko will work along with Antoine Deza in the Department of

Computing & Software on a project with Algorithmics Inc., Peter Bevan comes from

Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre to collaborate with Mike Noseworthy

on a biomedical engineering assignment with Sentinelle Medical Inc.

Two Elevate Strategic Fellowship recipients will complement their postdoctoral research with

programs teaching them how to connect their areas of interest with private sector partners: Eva

Szabo has been a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Mick Bhatia in the Stem Cell & Cancer

Research Institute since 2008; Wei Zhao arrived at McMaster in August from the University of

Alberta to collaborate with Dmitry Pelinovsky in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics.

Cheers!

Patrick