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Lasers, fish, online books
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May 14, 2010
Firing up the world’s first laser – photo op on Saturday May 15
Participants at a May 15-16 symposium at SFU’s Wosk Centre for Dialogue marking the 50th anniversary of the world’s first laser will see the original device fired up in a demonstration on Saturday, May 15 at 2:30 p.m. The laser, created by the late Theodore Maiman, will be taken out of a Vancouver bank vault and demonstrated (media are welcome) after a talk by Maiman’s wife, Kathleen. The device was originally tested on May 16, 1960 in California. The Maimans later moved to Vancouver and Theodore became an adjunct prof at SFU. Engineering science professor Andrew Rawicz is currently writing a book on the inventor.
See: http://fas.sfu.ca/MaimanLaserSymposium/index.html
Andrew Rawicz, 778.782.3819; andrew_rawicz@sfu.ca
Studying fish behaviour
Close to 100 people from private industry, academe, environmental groups and government will discuss how we’re impacting fish behaviour, ecology and evolution at a symposium, May 16-20, at Saywell Hall, Burnaby campus. Felix Breden, chair of SFU’s biology department and a co-organizer of the 2010 Ecological and Evolutionary Ethology of Fishes Biennial Conference, can elaborate on the event’s key objectives. Presenters will discuss how environmental stressors are changing fish behaviour and how that behaviour can be used as a barometer of our planet’s health.
Felix Breden, 604.721.1913 (cell), 778.782.5467 (w); breden@sfu.ca
Reading books online
Peter Chow-White, an assistant professor of communication who studies new media’s impact on public consumption of information, believes the B.C. public and school library systems’ latest E-experiment will make books more accessible to everyone. With 12 libraries participating initially, public and school libraries began making books available to read online earlier this week on a trial basis for a year. “One won’t have to recall a book and wait for it,” says Chow-White. “This simply allows for the type of access to books that global companies such as Google have been working on for the past decade.”
Richard Smith, another communication professor and expert on new media, says, "It will bring material to students who would otherwise neglect it simply because it isn't online; it won't be long before term papers will be written based on e-sources entirely."
Mass communication professor Rowland Lorimer is also available to comment.
Rowland Lorimer, 778.782.5240; lorimer@sfu.ca
Peter Chow-White, 778.782.7289; petercw@sfu.ca
Richard Smith, 604.947.9287, smith@sfu.ca
Participants at a May 15-16 symposium at SFU’s Wosk Centre for Dialogue marking the 50th anniversary of the world’s first laser will see the original device fired up in a demonstration on Saturday, May 15 at 2:30 p.m. The laser, created by the late Theodore Maiman, will be taken out of a Vancouver bank vault and demonstrated (media are welcome) after a talk by Maiman’s wife, Kathleen. The device was originally tested on May 16, 1960 in California. The Maimans later moved to Vancouver and Theodore became an adjunct prof at SFU. Engineering science professor Andrew Rawicz is currently writing a book on the inventor.
See: http://fas.sfu.ca/MaimanLaserSymposium/index.html
Andrew Rawicz, 778.782.3819; andrew_rawicz@sfu.ca
Studying fish behaviour
Close to 100 people from private industry, academe, environmental groups and government will discuss how we’re impacting fish behaviour, ecology and evolution at a symposium, May 16-20, at Saywell Hall, Burnaby campus. Felix Breden, chair of SFU’s biology department and a co-organizer of the 2010 Ecological and Evolutionary Ethology of Fishes Biennial Conference, can elaborate on the event’s key objectives. Presenters will discuss how environmental stressors are changing fish behaviour and how that behaviour can be used as a barometer of our planet’s health.
Felix Breden, 604.721.1913 (cell), 778.782.5467 (w); breden@sfu.ca
Reading books online
Peter Chow-White, an assistant professor of communication who studies new media’s impact on public consumption of information, believes the B.C. public and school library systems’ latest E-experiment will make books more accessible to everyone. With 12 libraries participating initially, public and school libraries began making books available to read online earlier this week on a trial basis for a year. “One won’t have to recall a book and wait for it,” says Chow-White. “This simply allows for the type of access to books that global companies such as Google have been working on for the past decade.”
Richard Smith, another communication professor and expert on new media, says, "It will bring material to students who would otherwise neglect it simply because it isn't online; it won't be long before term papers will be written based on e-sources entirely."
Mass communication professor Rowland Lorimer is also available to comment.
Rowland Lorimer, 778.782.5240; lorimer@sfu.ca
Peter Chow-White, 778.782.7289; petercw@sfu.ca
Richard Smith, 604.947.9287, smith@sfu.ca