UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

University of Alberta Edmonton www.ualberta.ca Everyone is Welcome! Please join us! MONDAY 10:00am - 10:30am   Salon 11 Where do they wander? The potential of Geographic Information Systems as an aid for locating lost people J Donald Heth Department of PsychologyUniversity of Alberta   When a person is lost in a wilderness area, it is a matter of life and death to find him or her quickly. Search managers use different types of information to try to predict where a lost person is likely to be. We have been involved with a project to collect information about search and rescue operations and to develop a province-wide database that can help provide this information quickly and in a useful way. Geographical information systems can help organize data about lost person behavior and, in the future, might help predict where a person will travel when lost. We're hopeful that such systems will eventually be able to provide another source of advice when every hour could save a life. Donald Heth is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alberta. Along with Edward Cornell, also at the University of Alberta, he has studied how children and adults find their way in novel environments. Lately, he and Dr. Cornell have worked with the RCMP and the National Search and Rescue Secretariat to collect and analyze information about lost person behavior.   MONDAY 10:45am - 11:15am   Salon 11 Earthquake Prediction - Why is it so difficult? Edo Nyland Department of Physics University of Alberta     Research into the prediction of earthquakes is a fascinating yet frustrating occupation. Dr. Nyland has spent much of his career in the pursuit of this tantalizing and elusive goal. This session will provide an enjoyable and interesting account of the technology, patience required and rewards in the search for ways to predict earthquakes. Edo Nyland has taught physics and geophysics at the University of Alberta since 1970. His doctorate was obtained at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is in Planetary and Space Physics. He has a long standing interest in the nature of earthquake generating mechanisms and would like some day to be able to predict such cataclysms.   MONDAY 11:30am - noon   Salon 11 Multi MIMSY: Primary Resources at the U of A Leslie Latta-Guthrie & Jim Whittome Museums and Collections Services, University of Alberta   Fossils, paintings and prints, zoological specimens and early 20th. Century dresses are just some of the things you'll find in the University of Alberta's museums and collections. The U of A began collecting in 1910. Now, there are over 40 collections located across campus in departments and faculties where they are used in teaching and research activities. In total, there are over 17 million artifacts, specimens, objects and works of art, making this one the largest collections in Canada. A key service provided by the Department of Museums and Collections Services is the implementation of Multi MIMSY, a leading edge database management software application built on the Oracle Developer 2000 platform that provided computerized access to many of the University's collections. This presentation will demonstrate various levels of access to natural and human history material using Multi MIMSY. Leslie Latta-Guthrie completed a Master of Library Science degree at the University of Alberta in 1985. Employed with the University of Alberta's Department of Museums and Collection Services since 1990, Leslie's current responsibilities include ensuring service delivery that provides for the computerization of, and physical and intellectual access to, the University of Alberta's object-based teaching and research collections. This includes managing the implementation and maintenance of an Oracle-based software (Multi MIMSY) and hardware environment for collections use across campus. Leslie has worked extensively with both the provincial and national museum community, and is currently Vice-President of Museums Alberta.   Jim Whittome obtained his Anthropology degree in 1987 at the University of British Columbia where he studied Northwest Coast Native cultures. Jim then moved to the rainy coastal community of Prince Rupert, BC where he began his museum career. Today Jim is working with the vast and diverse collections held by the University of Alberta. He serves as the Information Manager Advisor with the University's Museums and Collections Services Department. In this role Jim implements and supports and Oracle-based database system for the University's teaching and research collections. MONDAY 12:15am - 12:45am   Salon 11 The Digital Library Doug Poff Associate Director, Information Technology University of Alberta Library     Amidst the hype that print is dead and the digital library is waiting for you on the Web, what's REALLY happening to bring the global library to your home or office? Find out how to the University of Alberta Library is using the Internet and developing leading edge document delivery technology to bring the information resources of its collections and the Internet tot he electronic desktop. Doug Poff is the Associate Director, Information Technology at the University of Alberta Library, and a member of Planning Directorate of the University's Learning Systems responsible for campus technology planning and the redevelopment of classroom facilities for technology-enhanced instruction. He has been actively involved in the establishment of the NEOS regional library consortium, and in internet library initiatives such as the development of the Relais digital document management and delivery system     MONDAY 1:00pm - 1:30pm   Salon 11 DISCOVER€E SCIENCE CAMP Peter Poon 98 Program Director Discover€E Science Camp University of Alberta     The Discover€E team will dazzle the children with cool, hands-on presentation on science and engineering. Parents will have an opportunity to learn more about the details of this exciting program. The Discover E Science Camp program was originally created to address concerns within the Faculty of Engineering about its overall image and of gender imbalances within the faculty and profession. Over time, this program has become and extremely popular, stable and well run organization that continues to excite young Albertans about science and engineering. The rationale behind the program has always been: I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do, I understand. Peter Poon, the 1998 program director, has been involved in the camp for the last four years. An undergraduate student at the University of Alberta, he has contributed to the many changes of the camp over the years, to make it a program worthy of the ASTech Award for Science and Technology promotion in 1997.   MONDAY 1:45pm - 2:15pm   Salon 11 Web-based Instruction T. Craig Montgomerie Technology in Education University of Alberta     This presentation will answer the following questions: € What is Web-based instruction? € Why do we use Web-based instruction? € How does Web-based instruction work? € Does Web-based instruction work? € Does Web-based instruction work for every student and every subject? Craig Montgomerie is a professor with a joint appointment in Educational Psychology and Educational Policy Studies. His particular interest areas are in the application of technology to the improvement of education and the use of technology in developing countries to improve their educational systems. NOTES FOR THIS SESSION ARE AT: http://dte6.educ.ualberta.ca/infocity/   MONDAY 2:30pm - 3:00pm   Salon 11 The "WISEST" Ways of Attracting Women to Science Careers Margaret-Ann Armour Assistant Chair, Department of Chemistry University of Alberta     WISEST, Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology, based at the University of Alberta, has initiated programs with the goal of increasing the proportion of women in decision-making roles in the sciences. These range from events for grade 6 girls through arranging research jobs at the end of grade 11, to testing ideas about teaching science differently. Join Dr. Amour in learning more about this exciting program. Dr. Armour is Vice-Chair and Convenor of WISEST with a goal to take action to increase the proportion of women in decision-making roles in the sciences and engineering. In 1994 WISEST won a Michael Smith Award from Industry Canada for the promotion of science and in 1996 was awarded the Excellence in Science and Technology Public Awareness Prize by the Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Foundation. Dr. Armour has been honored with numerous distinctions from the YWCA, Edmonton Business and Professional Women's Club and the Edmonton Sun, the Science Council of the Alberta Teachers' Association. Most recently she received a 3M Teaching Fellowship from the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.   MONDAY 3:15pm - 4:00pm   Salon 11 Man Versus Machine for the World Checkers Championship Jonathan Schaeffer Dept of Computing Science University of Alberta     You've all heard about the Deep Blue chess program. But many of you may not know that the first world computer champion came from the University of Alberta. In 1994, the checkers-playing program Chinook won the World Checkers Championship. In this talk, the creator of Chinook gives the personal side of the story of man versus machine for the World Checkers Championship. Jonathan Schaeffer is a Professor in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta. He oversees all areas of development for the world champion checkers program - Chinook. In addition to his Chinook work, his research interests include parallel computing and artificial intelligence. He is also the author of the chess playing program Phoenix. Dr. Schaeffer authored the recently released One Jump Ahead - Challenging Human Supremacy in Checkers which details the development of Chinook.