The award was presented at the Summer Simulation Multi-Conference organized by SCS, held in Toronto.  It recognizes a variety of Wainer’s technical contributions to the modeling and simulation discipline which have been widely disseminated in technical literature.

Wainer has had more than 280 papers published and four books, two of which are in Spanish. In 2011, he was awarded the Outstanding Professional Contribution Award by the SCS. His current work focuses on methodologies and techniques for improving models and simulations by making them faster, easier to use and more useful.

Established in 1952, the SCS works to advance the use of modelling and simulation to solve real-world problems and facilitate communication among industry professionals.

The competition challenges teams from around the world to design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive. Team Ontario spent 18-months refining and building its home, then disassembled the structure and shipped it to the competition site in Irvine, California. The house will be judged on architecture, market appeal, engineering, affordability, comfort, hot water, appliances, home entertainment and energy balance. Last year’s competition homes were visited more than 350,000 times in 10 days.

Dispatches from the field

September 25

• ECHO arrived safely on Sunday (September 22) and has all been put back together now! We had two 20-hour days and will now be onto regular 12-hour shifts to get the deck, solar panels, and finishing touches done for next Monday. We feel like we are on track, despite running into a few problems with the crane the first day.
• About 16 other teams have their house up already and it’s starting to look like there will be some tough competition, but everyone is very friendly and seems to just enjoy viewing other people’s houses as much as we do.
•  Yesterday it hit 34 degrees on the asphalt, so if you are coming anytime in the next few weeks, keep that in mind! There are beautiful views of the mountains from the site, but not a hint of shade in sight.

September 26

• We have the house modules installed and connected together securely attached to the foundation.
• We have reconnected all of the services across the two modules except the fire suppression line which will be completed today. Electrical has been hooked up and we will be ready to connect to the grid when it becomes available tomorrow afternoon. The exostructure has been completely reassembled and the roof sheets have been reinstalled. We are just about to install the PV racking and the goal is to have at least all the racking and inverters up by the end of today with the PV installed tomorrow and hooked up while Andy is still here.
• South and north deck have been framed out and the deck topping will be installed by the end of today. Mech system has been unpacked, reconnected and pressure tested with all components installed–so far experiencing no leaks. We are hoping to install the solar thermal collectors and heat dump in the next day so we can pressure test those before we get water on Sunday so we can proceed with testing immediately after receiving water.

Carleton is hosting the conference, the theme of which is Making it Happen: From Intention to Action. It embraces the positive progress in creating accessible and inclusive communities and brings together a diverse leadership collective to share achievement and create action.

Proposals must fall under one or more of these topics

• Improving community access through innovative technologies
• New developments in sensor technology
• Sensor Technology: Invasive or Empowering?
• Motivation beyond the Minimum: From compliance to competitive advantage
• An Integrated Strategy for the Design of urban outdoor spaces?
• Retrofitting for accessibility: Case studies of community infrastructure retrofit projects
• Collaborating on accessible communities
• Making a Difference: governments in action to improve community accessibility
• Legislation and its impact
• Trends and opportunities in the design and construction industry
• A new world order: the evolution of impact of accessibility polices around the world
• Become a disability-smart organization: How to recruit the best candidates with and without disabilities
• Delivering your business goals by creating an inclusive environment
• The win-win: benefits of major international events on community accessibility
• Differentiation and marketing; how to showcase your accessibility to attract new consumers
• “A World of Good Practice” sessions for our themes: accessible communities, innovation and technology as well as employment. This is a fast-paced type of presentation making for dynamic sessions that will spark lively conversations. Presenters will have 8 minutes to present slides in a rapid-fire presentation

More photos will be added as they are available.

An expert jury will review and evaluate submissions. The winning team will receive a cash prize of $5,000, the first runner-up will receive $3,500 and the second runner-up $2,500.

The designs that result from this process will illustrate ways in which it’s possible to minimize the energy and water use in a typical sports facility, while providing a platform for employees, athletes, and the community to experience how sustainable building practices can enhance everyday life.

Registration opens in September. http://www.evolvecompetition.ca.

Girls@VV Club (girls Grades 4-8):  The girls@VV club gives girls hands on experience with engineering and technology. The club will be doing both computer related activities – such as designing websites, and animation or graphic design– and engaging engineering projects. The Club meets from 1 – 4 pm on select Saturdays starting Sept 21.

Lego Robotics Club Junior (Grades 3-6): The Lego Club at VV gives all Lego enthusiasts a chance to learn about Lego robotics. At VV we have LEGO NXT, Mindstorms for club participants to use to learn about gears, engineering design and robotics while building their own Lego robots. The Lego Robotics Junior Club meets 9:30am – 12:00pm on select Saturdays starting Sept 21.

Game Design Junior (for Beginners in Grades 4-8) and Senior (Intermediate level for Grades 5-10): The Game Design club covers topics on how to design a computer game – from game planning, to character design and programming. It gives participants the opportunity to design their own computer games from scratch. The junior club is for participants who are new to game design. The senior club (Intermediate) is for participants with some knowledge of game development.

• The Game Design Junior (Beginners level) Club meets from: 9:30am – 12:00pm on select Saturdays starting Sept 14
• The Game Design Senior (Intermediate level) Club meets from: 1:00pm – 4:00pm on select Saturdays starting Sept 14

This year’s Teron Scholars were presented with their awards by William Teron, founder of the Teron Group of Companies and the “father of Kanata.” Mark Madera, Ming Fu, Benoit Maranda and Mateusz Nowacki were awarded prizes with  Matthew McKenna, Nilakshi Roy and Andrew Bako receiving honorary mentions.

To kick off a new academic year in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, provide inspiration to future Scholars, and recognize the achievements of this year’s winners, the awards were presented at the Director’s All-School Welcome.

Since the Teron Scholar program began in 2007, the annual awards have challenging students in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism to hone the skills needed to become multidisciplinary lead architects.

Students in any year of study can tailor a studio project identified by a professor as a Teron contender, and submit it for critical review by distinguished members of the Ottawa architecture community. The winners, judged on five critical disciplines (physical, social, environmental and economic dimensions and imagineering), display a holistic approach to architecture.

Ming Fu’s Dugout: The Art Centre for the Discriminated

In this position, Gilchrist conducts research that will hopefully improve the outcomes of patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where the sickest newborns are treated.

He works with an interdisciplinary team that is responsible for the development of a Clinical Data Repository (CDR) that can efficiently collect and store clinical data from multiple systems, located in different departments of the hospital, in real-time, while maintaining patient privacy. As well, the team is using more accurate models, developed from the CDR data, to estimate the risk of certain kinds of medical conditions of newborn babies.

Says Gilchrist:  “I love the fact that I get to work on research that gains valuable insight from patients who are actually there in the hospital that I can see and get feedback from in real-time. This research should lead to a practical system that can be put in place where patients can benefit from the results in real-time while there are being treated and monitored in the NICU.”

Gilchrist points out that the research he conducted at Carleton for his PhD thesis was the foundation for his future research career at CHEO. “The years I spent at CHEO working on my PhD allowed me to build working relationships with many people at the hospital which made it much easier to continue after I graduated.”

The alumnus says he chose to do his PhD at Carleton because of the opportunities to work directly with medical professionals on real problems through the research group of his PhD supervisor Dr. Monique Frize.

Gilchrist emphasizes the importance of networking for graduate students when they are looking for a job. “Many opportunities are not posted, so keep in touch with your friends and colleagues, and try to network as much as possible. Your next opportunity may be only a conversation away.  Don’t be afraid to approach organizations and let them know what you are able to offer.”

Today, Gilchrist is also an Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton, where he co-supervises two graduate students with Dr. Frize. The students are also involved in doing research at CHEO. He has also created a professional photography business.

In 2008, Gilchrist made international news as part of a team that discovered the then largest known prime number.  In January 2013, the same team discovered an even larger prime number that is currently the new record. It has 17.4 million digits.