Friday, June 8, 2012

Dalhousie University: Assistant Professor (tenure track ) - Mineral Resource Engineering

Dalhousie University
Department of Civil and Resource Engineering

Diversity Faculty Award
The Faculty of Engineering at Dalhousie University invites applications for a probationary tenure track position at the rank of Assistant Professor. This position is part of the Dalhousie Diversity Faculty Award program. The appointment will be in the general area of Mineral Resource Engineering.

Established in 1818, Dalhousie is a leading, research-intensive university offering more than 180 degree programs in 11 faculties. It is the largest university in Atlantic Canada and is located in heart of Halifax, Nova Scotia which boasts a youthful spirit, rich history and scenic waterfront. The Department of Civil and Resource Engineering at Dalhousie has research strength in the environmental and materials area. Currently the Department holds two NSERC Industrial Research Chairs and is undergoing a search for two Canada Research Chairs. It is anticipated that the successful candidate will either assist in growing these research areas or develop collaborations with other faculty in the general area of mineral resource engineering.

Applicants should have the potential to establish independent scholarly research. The successful candidate will teach both undergraduate and graduate courses, develop graduate level courses, and support the Department’s initiatives. The applicant will be expected to establish a strong externally funded research program, supervise graduate student research, and foster existing and new collaborations with government and industry as well as with members of Dalhousie’s research community. Community outreach activities to promote engineering to youth are also part of this position. Consideration will be given to individuals with outstanding communication skills and who can teach fluently in English.

The successful candidate will be a promising scholar who self-identifies in one of the groups covered by the Award: Aboriginal persons; persons of African (Black) heritage; persons with a disability. S/he will possess a PhD (or near completion) in mining, geological or civil engineering. The candidate would also be expected to be eligible for professional engineering registration in the province of Nova Scotia. The successful candidate would be expected to have research strength in mineral processing, mining economics and planning, mine water treatment, mine waste remediation, or rock mechanics/mine geotechnics. Ideally the candidate will have experience in the mining industry. It is anticipated the research in any of these areas would focus on sustainable mining practices.

Interested individuals should submit a single PDF file containing a letter of Application, a CV and a statement of teaching and research to: Chair of the Search Committee, Department of Civil and Resource Engineering – email: civil.office@dal.ca. Three letters of reference should be sent directly by referees to the same e-mail address. The review process will commence on 1 July 2012 and continue until the position is filled. For more information about the Diversity Faculty Awards program, please contact Marlo Shinyei, Academic Recruitment Advisor, by phone at (902)494-2965 or by email at Marlo.Shinyei@dal.ca
In keeping with the principles of Employment Equity, the Dalhousie Diversity Faculty Award program aims to correct historic underrepresentation. This position is restricted to candidates who self-identify in one (or more) of the following groups: Aboriginal persons; persons of African (Black) heritage; or persons with a disability. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

USW: Job Evaluation Update

HR #63, 2011-2012

June 7, 2012
To:       PDADC
Professional & Managerial Staff

Cc:      Divisional HR Offices
From:  Angela Hildyard, Vice-President, Human Resources & Equity

Re:      USW Job Evaluation Update

Background
Last year, we implemented a good portion of the USW positions in the SESU job evaluation system. Since then, we have worked hard with the Union to complete the evaluation of the remaining positions: those that have been newly-created or reclassified since August 2007 up until May 2011 (referred to as ‘Wave 7’).

On April 29, 2011 I had expressed hope that we would move towards full implementation of one compensation system this spring.

Latest News and Next Steps
On Friday, June 1, the University and the Union met about the USW Job Evaluation process. Our plan was to discuss the next steps in our commitment to complete the evaluation process. We were hopeful that we could reach an agreement that would ensure all USW positions were implemented in the SESU system this July.

Unfortunately, while progress was made in the discussions, outstanding issues remain that prevent us from being able to implement in July.

We know that supporting different processes and two compensation systems has been difficult and time-consuming for everyone including hiring managers, the HR Divisional Offices and the impacted employees.

We will continue to meet with the Union to work towards resolution of the outstanding issues. We will keep you updated on our progress and appreciate your continued support, patience and understanding.

UTFA: Joint Statement from the University of Toronto and the University of Toronto Faculty Association

June 4, 2012

Joint Statement from the University of Toronto and the University of Toronto Faculty Association


We are very pleased to report that the University and UTFA have reached a tentative agreement for the period July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2014.

The University will bring the tentative agreement forward for Governance approval in the coming weeks. UTFA’s Council will also be considering and voting on the tentative agreement later in June.

Additional information will be forthcoming later this week from both parties.

The University and UTFA wish to thank the External Mediator, Bill Kaplan, for his role in assisting us in reaching an agreement.




Angela Hildyard                                                                                           Scott Prudham

On behalf of the University                                                                        On behalf of UTFA

Appointments: 2011-12 University Professors

PDAD&C#65, 2011-12

To:        PDAD&C

From:    Cheryl Misak, Vice-President and Provost

Date:    June 1, 2012

RE:       Appointment of 2011-12 University Professors

The University of Toronto recognizes exceptional scholarly achievement through the designation of 'University Professor'.  I am pleased to announce that at its meeting yesterday the Academic Board approved the 2011-12 University Professors.  These new members of this august group are as follows:

*     Professor Lewis Kay, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine

*     Professor Mark Lautens, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Arts & Science

I would like to thank the members of the selection committee for their work in reviewing the many excellent candidates.  I also thank all of the nominators who prepared dossiers for submission.

Please join me in congratulating the 2011-12 University Professors on their outstanding accomplishments. 

The biographies of the 2011-12 University Professors are available below.


Professor Lewis Kay

Professor Lewis Kay is a grandmaster of physics, chemistry and biochemistry who is a world leader in the development and application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods for the study of protein structure and dynamics.

A Canadian who grew up in Edmonton, Lewis Kay graduated with a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Alberta in 1983 and won the Lieutenant Governor's Gold Medal for Highest Achievement in the Graduating Class in the Faculty of Science. Professor Kay went on to obtain his Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics from Yale University in 1988, followed by post-doctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health. Professor Kay's early work revolutionized the NMR field that had been limited to the study of small proteins at the time and these early papers are now citation classics. For the past twenty years Lewis Kay has continued to make major contributions to the development of NMR methods and numerous times he has broken the "size barrier". An editorial published in Current Science in 2002 concluded: "Wuthrich's Nobel Prize recognizes his seminal contributions to NMR spectroscopy and Lewis Kay's record work demonstrates that molecular size limit, as far as NMR is concerned, are a thing of the past."

The University of Toronto was very fortunate to recruit Professor Kay and to provide him with the resources to carry out his ground-breaking research. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Molecular Genetics (the, Medial genetics) and Biochemistry in 1992, and promoted to a Full Professor with tenure just three years later, skipping the Associate Professor level entirely. Professor Kay was awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in 2000 and in 2010 he obtained a $10M Canada Foundation for Innovation grant to purchase a leading-edge NMR suite to allow his lab to compete at the highest international levels.

Having a publication list of over 300 papers, Professor Kay is listed by ISI as a "Highly Cited" author in the assigned category "Chemistry". Indeed, many of the papers are cited hundreds of times each. These citations include methodological papers with wide applicability, review articles, as well as papers dealing with the structures of important biological proteins such as those involved in cancer. With almost 300 invitations Professor Kay has been invited to every major university and NMR conference in the world, not only for his excellent research but also because he is a compelling speaker.

The research carried out by Professor Kay has been recognized in Canada and internationally with a number of prestigious awards, of which a few are highlighted here. He was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and an International Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In 1996, he won the Merck Frosst Award for the top biochemist in Canada within ten years of a first faculty appointment. In 1998, he was recognized as one of Canada's "Top 40 Under 40". More prestigious prizes followed: the Steacie Prize from the National Research Council of Canada in 1999, the Favelle Medal from the Royal Society of Canada, the Founders Medal from the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems in 2002 and the Gunther Laukien Prize in 2004. In 2006 Professor Kay was elected to the Royal Society of Canada and in 2010 to the Royal Society (London).

Professor Mark Lautens

Mark Lautens was born in Hamilton, Ontario on July 9, 1959.  He attended the University of Guelph where he graduated with Distinction in 1981.  He conducted his doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the direction of Barry M. Trost where he was supported by an NSERC PGS.  His doctoral thesis reported on the discovery of the molybdenum catalyzed C-C allylic alkylation and the Pd Enyne Cycloisomerization.  In 1985 he moved to Harvard University where he conducted his NSERC PDF with David A. Evans on studies directed toward the synthesis of bryostatin, a potent anti-cancer agent.  He joined the University of Toronto in 1987 as an NSERC University Research Fellow and Assistant Professor.  He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1992 and Professor in 1995.  Since 1998 he has held an Endowed Chair, the AstraZeneca Professor of Organic Synthesis, and in 2003 he was named an NSERC/Merck Frosst Industrial Research Chair in New Medicinal Agents via Catalytic Reactions. 

He has published 285 communications, full papers, book chapters and he has edited two books including Volume 1 of the 48 volume series, Science of Synthesis. He has written high impact reviews on some of the most intensely studies reactions in organic chemistry including metal catalyzed cycloadditions, C-H activation and halide effects in controlling selectivity.  He has lectured >300 times as a Keynote, Plenary and Invited speaker at conferences, universities and to industry in >20 countries.

More than 150 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows have studied in his laboratory in addition to hundreds of undergraduates and visiting students from Denmark, Japan, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany and the UK.  His former students hold academic positions in Canada, the US, France, Japan and the UK and many have taken positions in the pharmaceutical industry in countries around the world.

Among his awards are the A.P. Sloan Fellowship, E.W.R. Steacie Fellowship, A.C. Cope Scholar from the ACS, Eli Lilly Grantee, Pedler Award of the RSC (UK), A. Bader, R. Lemieux, Merck Frosst Awards all from the CSC.  He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK).  He has held visiting professorships in Geneva, Paris, Max Planck Institute in Mulheim, Marburg, ICIQ Tarragona, Santiago de Compostela, Tokyo Institute of Technology and at the Corbella School in Italy.  He was selected for an Alexander von Humboldt Award and his host institutions are Frei University of Berlin, Aachen and Goettingen.

His scientific contributions are focused on finding new ways to prepare medicinally important molecules in an efficient and environmentally sustainable manner and to seek new reactivity patterns that expand on the chemist's toolbox in organic synthesis.  He has developed many metal catalyzed reactions that create "chiral molecules" that are needed for drug discovery and found new strategies to the synthesis of heterocyclic molecules that are scaffolds for medicinal chemistry.  His work is characterized by the discovery of reactions that simplify the way complex molecules can be made and innovative new strategies and tactics to prepare medicinally important compounds.  These reactions and strategies have influenced others in the field who have built on his contributions and his work has been adopted by industry.  Solvias AG of Switzerland created a Lautens Chiral Scaffold Kit based on his new reactions.

Friday, June 1, 2012

University of Waterloo: Assistant/Associate (tenure-track) Position

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo invites applications from outstanding individuals for tenure-track positions at the assistant or associate professor rank.  Preference will be given to candidates who will combine excellence in teaching with a demonstrated capacity to conduct novel, interdisciplinary research that will expand and complement our current departmental research strengths.  While we encourage outstanding candidates in all the areas of civil, environmental and geological engineering to apply, applicants whose research falls into the following inter-disciplinary areas will be given priority:

·      Energy – conservation, conversion, building envelopes, carbon sequestration, geothermal
·      Geomatics - hazard and emergency assessment, construction support, spatial analysis
·      Infrastructure – policy and management, urban air quality, sensors and instrumentation
·      Materials – nano-functionalized or bio-inspired construction materials

Applicants must have potential or proven ability to develop an internationally recognized research program, must have excellent communication skills, and must have a strong commitment to teaching at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels.  In particular, the successful applicant must have a strong interest in innovative teaching methods and curriculum development to support our undergraduate civil, environmental and geological engineering programs.  The ideal applicant should expect to work with industrial partners and generate collaborative research funding to lead a successful research program.

The successful applicant is expected to have an engineering license for practice in Canada or to apply for an engineering license with the Professional Engineers of Ontario within 5 years.  Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.  All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.  The University of Waterloo encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including women, members of visible minorities, native peoples, and persons with disabilities.

Interested applicants are invited to submit their full curriculum vitae, along with a teaching vision statement.  They are also requested to submit a research vision statement, specifically indicating how their innovative research directions will complement the ongoing research in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.  Each of the vision statements should be no more than two pages in length.  The curriculum vitae, vision statements and the names and full contact information of at least three references should be sent to:

Professor Don H. Burn,
Acting Chair, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1
Email: dhburn@uwaterloo.ca

Applications will be considered until the position is filled.

Collective Agreement between U of T and CUPE 3902, Unit 1

HR #61, 2011 – 12
May 29, 2012
To:        PDAD&C
Professional & Managerial Staff
Confidential Staff
CUPE 3902, Unit 1 members
From: Angela Hildyard, Vice-President, Human Resources & Equity
Re:     Collective Agreement between U of T and CUPE 3902, Unit 1
The Collective Agreement between U of T and CUPE 3902, Unit 1 (May 1, 2011 – April 30, 2014), is now available online.
Should you have any questions, please contact the Labour Relations team at labour.relations@utoronto.ca.

Appointment of Vice-Dean Research: Professor Edward H. Sargent

MEMORANDUM                                                                            2011/12 - 09     
                                                                       
To:      Members of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering

From:  Cristina Amon, Dean and Yu-Ling Cheng, Acting Dean

Date:   May 29, 2012

Re     Appointment of Vice-Dean Research


We are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Edward H. Sargent as Vice-Dean Research for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2012.

Ted joined the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1998, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002 and to Full Professor in 2005.  He currently holds a Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology and is a fellow of the IEEE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  His research has been cited well over 5000 times and has been disseminated in Nature, Science, Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, and Nature Photonics.  He has also served as Associate Chair, Research in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering since 2009. 

Please join us in congratulating Ted on his appointment and wishing him all the best in this endeavour. 

We extend our thanks to the following members of the Advisory Committee in this search for their time and thoughtful input:

     Professor Chris Damaren, Vice-Dean Graduate and Institute for Aerospace Studies
     Professor Ramin Farnood, Associate Chair, Research, Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry
     Professor Alberto Leon-Garcia, Electrical and Computer Engineering
     Professor Paul Santerre, Director, Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering
     Professor Molly Shoichet, Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry/Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering
     Professor Brent Sleep, Associate Chair, Research, Civil Engineering
     Professor Jean Zu, Chair, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

We also take this opportunity to recognize and extend deepest appreciation on behalf of the Faculty to Professor Stewart Aitchison for his committed leadership as Vice-Dean Research since 2007.  Please join us in thanking Professor Aitchison for his outstanding contributions to the Faculty.

SGS: Graduate Honors

M E M O R A N D U M

To:       Graduate Chairs, Directors, Graduate Co-ordinators
C.C.:    SGS Council of Graduate Deans, School of Graduate Studies
From:   Brian Corman, Dean of Graduate Studies and Vice-Provost Graduate Education
Date:    May 31,2012
Re:       Graduate Honors

At the School of Graduate Studies Awards and Fellowships Reception, held Wednesday, May 31 at the Faculty Club, I welcomed over 130 guests. In my remarks, I highlighted the achievements of this year's winners of the Governor General's Gold Medal, as well as over 500 newly named recipients of the NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council), SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council), and CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) graduate fellowships.


·        NSERC (including Canada Graduate Scholarships): The University of Toronto was allowed to submit 334 applications for the 2012-2013 NSERC PGS Competition and received 174 awards (97 Doctoral awards and 77 Master's awards).


·        SSHRC (including Canada Graduate Scholarships): The University of Toronto was allowed to submit 360 applications for the 2012-2013 SSHRC Competition and received 105 Doctoral awards.  The Master's awards results are not yet officially released.

·        CIHR Graduate Awards: U of T submitted 256 doctoral award applications.  We have received 33 Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship-Doctoral Awards.  Most awards have yet to be announced.


GOVERNOR GENERAL'S GOLD MEDALS

The Governor General's Gold Medal was first awarded in 1873 by the Earl of Dufferin. This award has since become one of the most prestigious that a student at a Canadian educational institution may receive.  The Gold Medal is awarded to three students who achieve the highest academic standing at the graduate level.  This year SGS received 21 nominations.

The three gold medalists:


  *   Dr. Tonya Callaghan completed her doctoral work in the Department of Currriculum, Teaching & Learning in October 2011.  Her thesis is entitled "Holy Homophobia: Doctrinal Disciplining of Non-heterosexuals in Canadian Catholic Schools".  Dr. Callaghan also completed the Collaborative Program in Women and Gender Studies.


·        Dr. Faiyaz Notta completed his doctoral work in the Department of Molecular Genetics in May 2011 (convocated November 2011) under the supervision of Professor John E. Dick.  His thesis is entitled "Clonal Analysis of Normal and Malignant Human Hematopoietic Hierarchies".



·        Dr. Walter Swardfager completed his doctoral work in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in November 2011 (conferred March 2012) under the supervision of Professor Krista Lanctôt.  His thesis is entitled "Cardiopulmonary Fitness, Depressive Symptoms and Cognitive Performance in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease: Phenomenology and Biomarkers".

Congratulations to everyone on their achievements!

Welcome to the CIV-MIN Blog

This is where we compile all the announcements, postings and non-urgent alerts that used to clog up your email inbox. Feel free to scroll through the latest postings organized by date below, or check our categorized listings on the right for the information you want.