Month: February 2010

Dear all,

On your behalf I would like to express our appreciation to the following wonderful undergraduates who spent several hours on the phone calling everyone who applied to the School of Computing for 2010-2011, answering questions, and promoting our programs:

Daniel Basilio
Eril Berkok
Charlotte Blinston
Michelle Brown
Shanee Honig
Mike Ounsworth
Eric Rapos
Thomas Vaughan

Thank you Daniel, Eril, Charlotte, Michelle, Shanee, Mike, Eric and Thomas; the School could not hope for better ambassadors.

Selim

The ICT Branch has recently updated the Canadian ICT Statistical Overview
(ICTSO) web-site with new 2009 annual data on R&D expenditures in ICT. Below are the highlights of the Canadian performance:

* In 2009 ICT sector R&D expenditures were $6.2 billion, which represents an increase of 2.5% from the year before.

* The software industry led the growth with an increase in R&D expenditures of over $224 million (+28%) from the previous year. However, at the same time, R&D expenditures contracted in a number of industries including the electronic components industry which posted the largest decline in 2009, a
$103 million drop (-11%).

* ICT sector R&D as a share of total Canadian private sector R&D spending has remained fairly constant over the years, accounting for 38.5% of 2009 total. The sector still remains the largest private sector R&D performer in Canada.

More information in the “What’s New” section of the IC website.

We would like to tell you about a major competition on computer security which will be taking place in April 2010. The HackUS competition, to be held at Université de Sherbrooke, will give over 200 computer enthusiasts a 48-hour opportunity to test their abilities against a series of technical challenges in the area of computer security. The event is open to everyone, and will bring together competitors from academic and professional circles and the lay public. For more information, we invite you to consult the competition web site : http://www.hackus.org/en/.

We are therefore writing to request your help to convey the information about this competition to all the students and peoples who are interested in computer security. Could you please distribute this email to all interested students. You can also distribute the event official poster which are available on our web site (http://www.hackus.org/public/pub_hackus_ecoles_fr.pdf and http://www.hackus.org/public/pub_hackus_ecoles_en.pdf)

You can also use printed version of the poster as advertisement.

Thank you for your help,

Gabriel Girard
Head
Computer science department
Université de Sherbrooke

Did you know…?
We are celebrating the launch of the 2010 Campus Community Appeal on Wednesday, February 3 between 7:30 and 9:30 am in Grant Hall with our Annual Kick-Off Breakfast. Please drop in and join us for a casual and complimentary pancake breakfast featuring live music, demonstrations, “celebrity servers”, and much more!

We will be entertained by a multitude of Queen’s talent, including the Queen’s Bands, the Queen’s Jazz Combo, The Caledonias, and more. Principal Woolf will be addressing the audience at 8 am.

There are also great door prizes to be won! Is your unit in need of a retreat? Come as a group and fill a table of eight to qualify to win a deluxe meeting package courtesy of The Ambassador Conference Resort.

The Appeal seeks to create awareness and raise funds to support the outstanding work taking place on campus – all staff, faculty and retirees are invited to attend regardless of whether or not they plan to make a donation. Special transportation arrangements have been made for West Campus and City Place faculty and staff to attend.

For more information on the Appeal, Kick-Off Breakfast and volunteer opportunities, please visit www.queensu.ca/communityappeal.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Chris Coupland (Student Awards), David McConomy (School of Business), Peter Taylor (Math & Statistics) and Jennifer Smith (Libraries)
Co-Chairs, Queen’s Campus Community Appeal 2010