the university of british columbia | volume 56 no 02 | february, 3 2010 | www.ubc.ca What does a gold medal mean for Canada ? page 8 UBC 2010 Games www.ubc.ca/2010 2010 Media Centre www.ubc.ca/2010media courtesy Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton PHOTO: Insane Pain: Thrill of the skeleton when jeff pain describes himself as a Type A personality, he’s not kidding. by glenn drexhage page 6 UBC alum Jeff Pain (above) races to discover himself. UBC develops North America’s greenest building by glenn drexhage occupancy, inhabitant behaviour and more. People working in the facility “sustainability is about what kind will be able to follow the proceedings of world we want to live in,” says on their desktop computers and vote UBC’s John Robinson. If so, then on their usefulness. the ambitious project he’s leading – Construction began last the development of the Centre for September, and the building is set Interactive Research on Sustainability to open in the summer of 2011 (CIRS) – should provide some on Sustainability Street on UBC’s valuable inspiration. The $37-million Vancouver campus. In addition, CIRS building will be greenhouse gas- will be in the Olympic spotlight positive and a net energy producer, this month, as it’s featured at the meaning that it will help UBC reduce BC Canada Pavilion located on the the energy it uses and carbon it fourth floor of the Vancouver Art emits. All water will be sourced from Gallery. rainwater, with wastewater treatment “I think it’s going to help occurring on site. There is also more contribute to the world,” says carbon sequestered in the building’s Robinson, who speaks from wooden structure than will be experience. In January, he was emitted during its construction and named the new UBC Vancouver eventual dismantling. Sustainability Executive Director. Not only does the UBC-based He’s a professor at UBC’s Institute centre aim to be among the greenest for Resources, Environment and buildings in North America, it will Sustainability at UBC, and was one also serve as a living laboratory for of thousands who participated in the sustainability research, development Intergovernmental Panel on Climate and practice. For example, building Change, which shared the 2007 processes will be continuously Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, the courtesy Busby Perkins+Will monitored, including heating, cooling, global warming guru and former U.S. PHOTO: lighting, equipment use, water Vice President. A rendering of CIRS, due to open on Sustainability Street in 2011. harvesting and treatment, building continued on page 10 2 | UBC REPORTS | FEBRUARY 3, 2010 FEBRUARY 3, 2010 | UBC REPORTS | 3 in the news Building a podium fit for Olympians Highlights of UBC media coverage in January 2010. compiled by heather amos by heather amos every athlete dreams of standing on an Olympic podium. And a group of UBC students has been scrambling to make that dream come true. Students and staff in UBC’s Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP) were given the task of creating all 23 Olympic and Paralympic wooden medal podia and the 100 wooden medal trays for the 2010 Winter Games. “The podia are very striking,” says Iain Macdonald, managing director of CAWP. Each one 36” WIDE FORMAT B/W comes with a different story. The design is intended to symbolize the COPY,PRINT & SCAN importance of our forests to B.C. Quality Digital Printing and Copying Service The provincial Ministry of Forests and VANOC approached UBC about • Architectural & Engineering drawings • Maps and Technical Schematics • House Plans • Construction drawings • Reduce/Enlarge up to 36” wide the podium project in September. • Digitize Old Plans and Drawings save them as PDF or TIFF Format “At first we were skeptical because the time frames were so tight,” said Over 22 years of Excellence www.copiesplus.ca Macdonald. “At the time when we 1950 West Broadway 604-731-7868 started to talk to them about this Open 7 Days Mon-Fri 8am-9pm Sat-Sun 10am-6pm project, much of the wood was still PHOTO: MARTIN DEE standing trees.” Prof. Loren Rieseberg earned media attention for his research on sunflowers. Twenty-three community forests from around the province donated Your Conference Sunflower DNA Map Could Produce Olympics have no impact on real surfaces for skates, skis and the B.C.-grown trees for the project. Plants for Fuel estate snowboards that are expected to Each podium is made from a unique Planning Partner at UBC The Associated Press reported Research by Tsur Somerville, a boost Canada’s medal count at the piece of wood, including one batch of that UBC botany professor Loren professor in real estate, and Jake Vancouver 2010 Olympics. lumber harvested from a submerged dee Rieseberg is leading a $10.5 million Wetzel, PhD candidate, found “Canada in the previous Olympic forest from the Cheslatta First Nation research project aimed at mapping that cities hosting the Olympics Games won a lot of fourth places,” community forest. martin the DNA sequence of sunflowers. experience neither boom nor bust said Hatzikiriakos, a chemical and “It is really interesting; it’s really Researchers envision in real estate prices, United Press biological engineering professor pushing the edge to see a new, PHOTO: crossbreeding a standard sunflower International reported this month. at UBC. “We thought that slightly interesting design out of local wood Andrew Pershin, a graduate of UBC’s Wood Products Processing program, crafts an Olympic podium made from B.C. wood. with the Silverleaf species to produce Toronto Star, The Vancouver Sun improving the times we could push species,” says Andrew Pershin, a a hybrid with tasty seeds and thick and Metro were among the media them to the podium positions.” graduate from UBC’s Wood Products stalks filled with complex sugars that outlets that picked up on the study Processing (WPP) program. presented new excitement to the something the WPP program science, engineering and business.” salaries of any UBC undergraduates. can be turned into ethanol. that analyzed house prices and Light shed on fish gill mystery Pershin, a Vernon native, was grad as he gets to see a project go prides itself on. The students learn The program started in 1995 and The degree program promotes United Press International, The construction employment in the Research by UBC’s Clarice Fu asked to come back to UBC to help from start to finish. everything from wood science to until the recent economic downturn, project-based learning. Students get Vancouver Sun and Science Daily also years leading up to and after the suggests that fish evolved gills with this project. He’s an expert “We’ve worked with the same marketing and how to set up and run 100 per cent of the students found full run of a lab packed with a couple Hosting a conference at UBC? We can make it easy. reported on this story. Olympics in Australian, Canadian for the purpose of regulating the with the Computer Numerical of million dollars worth of equipment and U.S. cities. chemicals in their bodies and not for Control (CNC) machinery needed We offer full management and registration services and have experienced and they get to experience real world Vancouver B.C. museums offer “We do not find support for the breathing, BBC News reported this to turn podium drawings into solid Each podium is made from a unique piece of wood, and knowledgeable staff. Let us help you customize a program to suit your scenarios. In one project students world-class riches argument of host city backers that month. structures. needs and budget. use the lab machines to produce a Vancouver’s Museum of the Olympics delivers positive The study found that as rainbow As a thesis project in his last including one batch of lumber harvested piece of furniture; then they develop With UBC’s unique venues and state-of-the-art facilities, your meeting Anthropology, on UBC campus, economic benefits, nor of the trout larvae matured, fish gills year at UBC, 2008-2009, Pershin a business model for it and decide at UBC will no doubt be a memorable success! has undergone a $55.5-million arguments made by opponents that regulated the chemicals in their worked with First Nations artists to from a submerged forest from the how they would run and set up a renovation and The Seattle Times there is some post-Olympic bust,” blood before they took in oxygen. see how the technology at CAWP manufacturing facility. reports on the new exhibit and said Somerville. “We found that ion uptake shifted could be used in the northwest coast Cheslatta First Nation community forest. “The podium project is a great T 604 822 1060 galleries. from the skin to the gills earlier sculpture market. He developed E [email protected] example of authentic learning because The Globe and Mail, the CBC, The Olympic secrets revealed than oxygen uptake. This led us to computer programs to produce machinery in the lab that we used for a manufacturing facility. jobs straight after graduation. In a our students are making something Vancouver Sun and The Province Maclean’s, The Vancouver Sun, propose that the gills are needed for sculptures that now hang in the halls school, and we’ve seen it utilized for “It really is a true interdisciplinary 2005 UBC survey, grads two years www.ubcconferences.com that they’ll see on the world stage this wrote about the renovations and GlobalTV and the CBC reported on ion regulation earlier than they are of the CAWP building. the full industrial process,” he says. program,” says Simon Ellis, program out of the WPP undergraduate month,” says Macdonald.