UNews - Google

RAVE project virtually ready

trevor.kenney — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:20:41 +0000

For new and prospective learners and their families, one of the best ways to gain an appreciation for what sets the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge apart from other post-secondary institutions is to visit the campus in person. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's relatively small size, accessibility and quality are readily apparent to anyone who has spent even a day here, but visiting the campus isn't always an affordable option for learners from other provinces and countries. Language barriers can also make the process of selecting a university difficult for prospective international learners and their families.

In response to this challenge, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has produced an innovative multilingual online virtual campus environment that will allow anyone with web access and a free copy of Google Earth to experience the Lethbridge campus in a way that mirrors an actual campus visit.

This wide campus view is the starting point for your virtual tour.

Visitors to the RAVE (Reaching Audiences through Virtual Entryways) virtual campus site will be provided several options for exploring the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, its services and facilities.

"Instead of finding out about a club you would have liked to participate in when you might be in your final year, new students have the opportunity to know it all before they even arrive on campus," says Jeff Bingley, a RAVE production member and videographer. "It has the potential to really streamline your ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ experience."

Navigating the RAVE world can be accomplished through 3D virtual campus tours, whereby visitors can get a look at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's facilities and services, all described in a number of different languages.

Users can also access the RAVE web environment through traditional hyperlinks on the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's website. Each link on the RAVE web page will take you to specific locations – such as department offices, the Students' Union Building – in the virtual U of L environment. Another click on that office will connect the viewer to a relevant YouTube video describing the resources that the office provides.

The third method of navigating RAVE is as an unguided explorer of the 3D buildings and their contextual information links.

In summer 2013, the U of L will release the first stage of the 3D RAVE virtual campus environment.

"RAVE uses a combination of advanced video game and Google Earth technologies to produce highly-detailed, interactive 3D environments," says professor James Graham of the Faculty of Fine Arts Department of New Media, RAVE's lead designer and production manager. "These feature architecturally accurate campus building models using the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's CAD drawings, interactive video components, photographs, audio, web-interactivity and pre-programmed animated camera sequences."

The release of RAVE this summer will focus initially on student and administrative services and clubs for new learners who will be arriving at the U of L.

"The Students' Union partnership has been critical in delivering the learner interest components, and the Faculty of Fine Arts partnership has provided RAVE with a secure production lab and equipment," says Graham.

The RAVE project grew out of collaboration between Mike Spiteri (IT), Graham and Heather Mirau (director, Integrated Planning). RAVE is a Recruitment and Retention Project with one-time seed funding from the U of L Strategic Enrolment Management Committee.

A team of eight new media learners (including six undergraduates, one co-op and one master's student) worked on the project. The Department of New Media also loaned computer and camera equipment, while use of the RAVE lab is by loan from the Faculty of Fine Arts Dean's Office. Close to 90 per cent of the RAVE project costs are paid to the production team, allowing learners to offset educational expenses and continue with their studies.

"This student, faculty and staff collaboration drives the project," says Mirau. "James is masterful at building in the latest technical applications with a solid focus of growing an online community for the recruitment and retention of our learners."

RAVE has also been designed and constructed using a layered approach, allowing it to grow organically and logically moving forward. This gives the project the ability to serve multiple functions, such as showcasing our faculty research to interested audiences.

This story first appeared in the May 2013 edition of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Computer programming group off to Russia

trevor.kenney — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:14:52 +0000

The recent winners of a spot in a prestigious international computer science and mathematics challenge competition are going to have to brush up on their Russian – and quickly.

A team of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge computer science and physics students, coached by Dr. Howard Cheng, placed second of 49 teams from western Canada and the northwestern United States at the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Rocky Mountain competition at the end of October.

The team's success landed three members (Hugh Ramp, Chris Martin and Darcy Best) of the U of L group on the elite roster of competitors at the ICPC World Finals to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 30 to July 4, 2013. It is the first time the U of L has qualified students for the world finals.

Front row (l to r) Hugh Ramp, fourth-year physics, Dr. Howard Cheng, team coach; Back row (l to r) Chris Martin, third-year computer science, Darcy Best, second-year mathematics.

"The team also won a warm-up event two weeks before the regional contest (the Alberta Collegiate Programming Contest) where we took the top spot in the province, and the students have put in a tremendous amount of training into this effort," says Cheng.

The events leading up to, and including, the St. Petersburg events are a gruelling series of problem-solving boot camps, competitions and drills designed to enhance the students' ability to work as a team under relentless pressure, the watchful eyes of the world's best judges and extremely strict working conditions.

"They trained for hours on weekends as well as a few evenings just before the regional contest. This is in addition to the years of practices they have had, including taking a course (CPSC 3200) that teaches many of the topics they had to know for this contest. Top IT employers such as IBM and Google value these contests and commonly test applicants with programming contest puzzles during interviews, so there is definitely a career-related aspect to knowing how these types of puzzles work."

St. Petersburg National Research ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO) hosts the ICPC World Finals. Only 115 of the top teams in the world make it to the final competition.

"This is an outstanding achievement for our students and their coaching and mentoring group," says Dr. Chris Nicol, Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. "Howard has done an excellent job of building up the team's strength and developing its real-world experience in mathematics and computer science through these competitions. They have been consistently successful at regional competitions, and that success is now paying off. We wish them well in their future efforts at the world finals in Russia this summer."

At the ACM Rocky Mountain Regional Contest at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta in October, U of L teams placed second, 12th, 28th, and 34th of 49 groups.

The full U of L contingent features: Darcy Best, Chris Martin, Hugh Ramp, Rio Lowry, Chris Thomas, Kim Wikkerink, Mark Hunter, Ian Stewart, Fei Wang, Camara Lerner, Jason Racine and Vince Weiler.

This story first appeared in the December 2012 issue of the Legend. For a look at the entire issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Costa realizing academic, athletic dream

trevor.kenney — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:04:25 +0000

Sometimes all the recruiting efforts in the world pale in comparison to a word-of-mouth endorsement and a Google search.

Such was the case for Brazilian international student Guilherme Costa, who showed up on the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge doorstep this past January looking first for an opportunity to study kinesiology and physical education, and secondly to play soccer.

"A few years ago my brother did an international exchange through the Rotary International program and we hosted a girl from Edmonton at our house for five months," says Costa, a 24-year-old from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

"She introduced me to Canada, and I was amazed to learn about the people, the nature and everything that was here. I decided then to come to Canada; it was my dream."
He first landed in Vancouver, B.C. and spent eight months there before finding a university that suited his interests.

"I heard about the kinesiology program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and about the chance to do research. Now that I've been here for almost a year, I just love it," says Costa. "I did an independent study when I earned my degree in Brazil and that's what I want to keep doing here, and I thought that Lethbridge would be the perfect spot."

International Brazilian student Gui Costa played a key role in the success of the Horns men's soccer team this past fall.

A third-year student in kinesiology, he comes from a family that values education and is extremely supportive of his goals. His father is an engineer, his mother a lawyer and his brother a doctor.

"My interest of study is in sport and rehabilitation," he says. "I want to work with metabolic disease in sports. We all know about the impact of physical activity in sport and metabolic disease, and I want to see how indoor sports like indoor soccer, volleyball and basketball have an impact on the body."

Coming from the world's seventh largest city in population, it is obviously a huge culture shift to arrive in a city of less than 100,000, but Costa seems at ease with the transition.

"It's a pretty calm city and I'm really enjoying that. Sao Paulo is so busy so we don't really have time for anything, and living here is pretty relaxing," he says. "I'm really looking forward to my parents coming here for Christmas. They're going to spend a month with me and we plan to travel all over Canada."

Costa grew up playing soccer and even looked at trying to play professionally in Brazil, but he prioritized education over sport, something that suits him well now as a Canada West student-athlete.

"It's been a little bit hard, because this was my first year and I've had to manage my soccer, my school and work, because I have to support myself here," he says of his job with Sodexo. He also plans to work on the Horns' game day staff team through the winter.

"I chose my classes well so that I could manage things and now that soccer season is over I plan to study and work more."

It was a banner year for the Horns men's team, which set a new team record for total points and equaled its best ever win total. That the team still fell one win shy of qualifying for the playoffs has Costa and his teammates eager for next season.

"I think we were all happy with what we did but at the same time we were frustrated because looking back, there were probably five games we should have won and didn't, and that was the difference at the end," says the first-year centre-midfielder. "So, we know we can do more next year and it makes us confident.

I think everyone wishes next season started tomorrow."

As with soccer and Costa's educational aspirations, this year is only a beginning.

"I want to finish my undergrad degree and then start a master's degree," he smiles. "I want to stay in Canada, that's my plan. Hopefully Canada will accept me."

In many ways, the country already has.

GET THE FACTS

· Horns men's soccer posted a 4-5-6 record on the year and finished three points behind the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Saskatchewan for the final Canada West playoff spot

· Costa played last summer with the Lethbridge Football Club in the Alberta Major Soccer League

· Many of the Horns will play together throughout the indoor soccer season, an opportunity to further develop their skill set for next fall

· Costa says he has no issue with the snow and cold he encounters in Canada but he could do without Lethbridge's winds. "It shocks me a little," he says

This story first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Rasmussen's contributions earn Ingrid Speaker Medal

trevor.kenney — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:40:30 +0000

Professor of biological sciences Dr. Joseph Rasmussen has made outstanding contributions in fisheries and aquatic biology for three decades.

For his distinguished record of achievement and enduring contributions to these areas of study, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has named Rasmussen as the recipient of the 2012 Ingrid Speaker Medal for Distinguished Research, Scholarship, or Performance.

Dr. Joseph Rasmussen continues to earn accolades for his aquatic research projects.

A Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, Rasmussen is the director of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Water Institute for Sustainable Environments (WISE). His research papers have been published in several elite science journals, including Nature, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ecology Letters, Ecological Monographs and the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, the latter of which is the leading international journal for aquatic sciences.

Some of Rasmussen's work has resulted in crucial research advances. He is a pioneer in using stable isotopes to characterize food web systems, and his work has had major impacts on biomagnification, toxic substances and studies of the invasion by exotic species. His expertise in aquatic ecology led to his appointment to Environment Canada's National Oilsands Review Panel. In 2010, the Society of Canadian Limnologists awarded him the Frank H. Rigler Memorial Award, the society's highest honour.

"It was very gratifying to receive an award that has been given to many excellent scientists over the years, and to have my name associated with that of professor Rigler, who had such a profound impact on limnology and aquatic science in general," says Rasmussen of the honour.

His work has had significant scholarly impact as well. Rasmussen's cumulative citation record is impressive, with over 7,000 citations on the Web of Science, and over 9,000 on Google Scholar, showing that his research papers are very influential in advancing the field of ecology.

This story first appeared in the May issue of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Encore system creates more user-friendly searches

trevor.kenney — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:24:14 +0000

By NICOLE EVA-RICE

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Library has acquired a new library catalogue that promises to open a whole new world to users.

Encore is a new search interface that brings together results from books, articles and local digital collections in one location. Previously, the library catalogue searched only for books, while journal articles needed to be searched in the databases. This one-stop search box makes the process much more user-friendly.

While not every database can be searched through Encore, it does bring up many relevant articles based on the keywords used from the main interdisciplinary databases held by the library. This 'one box' way of searching reflects the preferences of many of today's users, who are used to the simplicity of sites like Google and Amazon.

A nice feature of Encore is the many refinement options (such as year and subject) provided to the searcher, based on their initial results, that narrow down their search field. Users can also add their own tags to create meaningful categorizations, allowing people to denote items appropriate for projects, classes or otherwise. These tags are then also searchable. For example, an instructor can label certain books with a specific class name and then tell students to search by that class name to bring up the relevant list of assigned books.

"We are excited to present this innovative new feature to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge community," says Wendy Merkley, associate ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ librarian, Information Systems & Technical Services. "Many libraries are moving toward these next-generation catalogues and most patrons find them much more user-friendly and intuitive than the old-style library catalogues."

Those who prefer the old system need not fear; a link to it can be found on the Encore results page, entitled classic catalogue.

The library welcomes comments and suggestions about the new system. To provide feedback, contact library staff via the Comments and Replies link from the self-serve menu on the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library home page (www.uleth.ca/lib).

This story first appeared in the September issue of the Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Internet speeds get Cybera boost

trevor.kenney — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:12:03 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students and staff are enjoying a faster delivery of Internet content on campus, thanks to Cybera's transit exchange service.

The transit exchange provides a connection to the Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX), which links to major Internet sites like Google, Microsoft and YouTube.

"This new connection to the SIX gives the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ better route diversity, so if a disruption occurs with its regular Internet connection, traffic will continue to be directed to our transit exchange service for connection to major sites like Google," says Jean-Francois Amiot, Technical Operations Manager at Cybera. "This ensures a more consistent level of service for all students, staff and faculty."

Jeff Oliver, senior network analyst and member of the Communications and Infrastructure team at the U of L, manages the addition of the new Cybera transit exchange service.

When the service is operating normally, the Cybera transit exchange connection will also allow ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ users to bypass the regular queues en route to the SIX-connected sites.

This has already been demonstrated at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, which has been using Cybera to connect to the SIX since early January and, as a result, has seen a balance of its network traffic loads, as well as cost savings.

"This service is greatly enhancing the performance and delivery of classroom content and activities, as now we are able to offload a significant amount of traffic to Cybera," says Clark Ferguson, chief information officer at the U of L. "Teaching and learning are the biggest beneficiaries. Professors can quickly link to speeches and lectures offered on sites such as YouTube with virtually no delay."

"Cybera is now carrying approximately 35 to 40 per cent of Internet traffic, which will have a long-term impact on reducing our costs," adds Ferguson. "This is a substantial improvement to our service and a huge step forward."

Looking ahead, Cybera is preparing to partner with CANARIE (a consortium of universities participating in Internet delivery) to establish a peering connection with the Toronto Internet Exchange.

Cybera's connection to the SIX is enabled by a partnership with BCNET – the advanced network in British Columbia. To use Cybera's transit exchange service, a connection to CyberaNet – the advanced network operated by Cybera – or to the Alberta SuperNet is required.

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Cybera deal gives U of L Internet service a boost

trevor.kenney — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:36:48 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students and staff are enjoying a faster delivery of Internet content on campus, thanks to a new connection to Cybera's transit exchange service.

The transit exchange provides a connection to the Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX), which links to major Internet sites like Google, Microsoft and YouTube.

"This new connection to the SIX gives the university better route diversity, so if a disruption occurs with its regular Internet connection, traffic will continue to be directed to our transit exchange service for connection to major sites like Google," says Jean-Francois Amiot, Technical Operations Manager at Cybera. "This ensures a more consistent level of service for all students, staff and faculty."

When the service is operating normally, the Cybera transit exchange connection will also allow ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ users to bypass the regular queues en route to the SIX-connected sites.

This has already been demonstrated at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, which has been using Cybera to connect to the SIX since early January and, as a result, has seen a balance of its network traffic loads, as well as cost savings.

"This service is greatly enhancing the performance and delivery of classroom content and activities, as now we are able to offload a significant amount of traffic to Cybera," says Clark Ferguson, chief information officer at the U of L.

"Teaching and learning are the biggest beneficiaries. Professors can quickly link to speeches and lectures offered on sites such as YouTube with virtually no delay."

"Cybera is now carrying approximately 35-40 per cent of Internet traffic, which will have a long-term impact on reducing our costs," adds Ferguson. "This is a substantial improvement to our service and a huge step forward."

Looking ahead, Cybera is preparing to partner with CANARIE to establish a peering connection with the Toronto Internet Exchange.

Cybera's connection to the SIX is enabled by a partnership with BCNET - the advanced network in British Columbia. To use Cybera's transit exchange service, a connection to CyberaNet - the advanced network operated by Cybera - or to the Alberta SuperNet is required.

Answering complex questions

trevor.kenney — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:20:54 +0000

Although Google has become a verb for most of us, the search engine has its limitations: ask it for the impacts of the current global financial crisis in different parts of the world for example, and you can expect to sift through thousands of results for the answer.

Under the guidance of his supervisor, Dr. Yllias Chali, Sadid Hasan, a U of L Master of Science (Computer Science) student, is assisting in the development of a more intelligent way of searching the Internet – or any large collection of documents. Complex question answering, as it's called, creates summaries of large volumes of information as answers to complex questions, rather than simply offering a listing of sources.

"We are researching a kind of search where we can ask questions and the answer will be available right away to the user," explains Hasan, who came to the U of L from Bangladesh to work with Chali.

His master's research project involves developing and testing software that applies complex question answering techniques to a collection of newspaper articles.

"I'm using machine learning techniques to generate summarization models."

Chali has been working in this area for nearly a decade. Hasan, like all of Chali's graduate students, was assigned a specific project related to his research program and carefully guided through the process.

"I try to give the students as much direction as possible to allow them to gain research skills quickly."

Hasan is one year into his program but has already published a couple of papers and earned one of four $15,000 School of Graduate Studies Fellowships. His success is the product of talent, but also tenacity, says Chali.

"Sadid has great research potential; he's very hard-working."

UNews - Google

RAVE project virtually ready

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