California Calling

February 13-20 I was in California meeting alumni of the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Science. It was a fabulous trip packed with engaging meetings every day. Our alumni have fascinating stories of success and failure, some of which include:

• A computer scientist who was the Chief Technology Officer at a company that recently sold for over $1 billion.
• A biologist who went on to develop fundamental technology that is widely deployed around the world today. For this work he has received numerous international accolades.
• A general science graduate who reinvented himself designing consumer products. The first creation under his newly created brand name launches in a few months.
• A computer scientist who became a highly sought after legal consultant. His job is to understand intricate computer technology and explain it in easily understood terms to the lawyers. For that, he is handsomely paid.
• A science graduate who created a philanthropic research organization that is having global impact.
• A mathematician who has lived the start-up company rollercoaster, winning and losing vast fortunes several times. He says his next fortune is just around the corner.
• A chemist who made major research contributions that led to the development and commercialization of drugs to treat well-known diseases.
• A computer scientist who has been laid off “maybe six times”, the result of joining unsuccessful startup companies. He is still waiting for his home run.
• A physicist who, well, won the Nobel Prize.
• A mathematician who reinvented herself several times and now is the president of a well-known organization.
• A computer scientist who had a successful technology career, but then decided to create a company to parlay his vision of the future into a commercial product. He sold the company last year and now is a “single digit millionaire”. He is already looking forward to his next startup company.
• Recent graduates who are starting their Silicon Valley adventure in high-tech companies such as Google and Yahoo.

All of them spoke fondly of their time at the University of Alberta. Some of their warmest memories include the collegial atmosphere at the University, their graduate supervisor, and – go figure – snowy winters. Many of them are back in Edmonton occasionally to visit family and friends. For alumni abroad who plan to visit Edmonton, please let me know – we would be delighted to give you a tour of the new Science building, the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences (CCIS).

A word of warning: Although some might think that spending a week in California in February is a junket, guess again. Each day involved numerous meetings with alumni, usually separated by long drives. I found the schedule to be quite tiring, often starting with an early breakfast meeting and going to a late dinner engagement. And while the food was excellent, it was rich and not my normal fare. I gained almost five pounds and am still battling to lose it.

Booked Up

I love books and I love to read them.

To many readers the sentence above may seem odd; the first half could be redundant. Most people would simply write, “I love to read books” and leave it at that. But I actually love books – not the modern print-a-million-copies editions; the original antiquarian volumes. I can appreciate the beauty and artistry that went in to creating a, say, pre-1850 book. I love to look at the fine leather bindings, feel the texture of the paper, be inspired by the artistry of the drawings (this is the pre-camera era), admire the large fold-out maps, and wallow in the scent that is unique to old tomes. I can appreciate the craftsmanship that went in to creating a fine book, such as the leather tooling and the hand colored plates (making each copy of the book unique).

As a young boy, I voraciously devoured all the books I could find at my school library on the subject of geographic exploration. As I grew older, I became fixated on reading about discovery of the Polar Regions. Until 1985, I did not do much about my interest other than visiting the library and buying the occasional book. For my birthday that year, my parents gave me a book on exploration in the Canadian Arctic that was published in the 1860s. I was intoxicated with the look, feel, and smell of this relic from a bygone era. I had in my hands a piece of history that “lived” through an important era of polar history, including the mapping of the Canadian Arctic, the first traversal of the North-west Passage, and the discovery of the North (and South) Pole(s). This book was a witness to an era that I knew so much about. It deserved my respect.

I was hooked, and quickly discovered that there were antiquarian bookstores in Edmonton. I started buying old books to do with polar exploration. I could now read (and admire) the original source, not a modern copy/interpretation. And as I did so, I began to fall in love with old books in general. It did not matter what the subject matter was. If it was old, then it had a story to tell.

On every trip that I make, I do my research to find all the antiquarian bookstores in the area, and carefully map out a travel route to reach as many of them as is possible. I troll the web daily looking for new items coming available for sale. Annually I make trips to Toronto in October and California in February for antiquarian book fairs. London has a superb show in June (only made it once) and New York in April (never been, alas).

I spent five hours at the California Book Fair (San Francisco) last week. There were almost 200 vendors selling an impressive array of old books and ephemera. Some dealers had items for sale from the late 1400s – volumes that were printed a scant few years after the invention of the printing press. (At the London fair two years ago, you could purchase pages from a Gutenberg bible; a single page was too rich for me.) Others had more recent stock, such as mint condition, first edition copies of books by John Steinbeck, Ian Fleming, J.R.R. Tolkien, and a host of other 20th century authors. (Of interest that although a book may be rare, a mint condition dust jacket may be even rarer.)

A view of the California Antiquarian Book Fair exhibits.

There were relatively few books available at the fair that matched my narrow field of collecting interest. But if you had come with me, perhaps I might have been able to interest you in buying… First editions of Captain James Cook’s three voyages in matching leather binding? George Vancouver’s monumental mapping expedition to the west coast of Canada? John Franklin’s two land expeditions to the northern coast of Canada? A signed copy of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s first trip to the Antarctic? All were available for purchase, with four and five digit price tags. Here’s a quiz for you: which one had a price tag that was almost six digits?

A typical booth at the book fair.

Although I did not buy anything this year at this year’s fair, I still enjoyed the time I spent looking for treasures, talking with book dealers, and admiring the incredible books on display. My hunt was not in vain. At a bookstore in Oakland I found two polar exploration books from the early 1900s: both in excellent condition, one with a rare dust jacket, both were signed by the authors, and both were at a bargain price. That was a very good day!

Spectacular hand-coloured illustrations.

Bragging Rights

I have a great job. I get to brag about the Faculty of Science.

The Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta is one of the best in Canada. By some metrics we might be number two, but by all meaningful metrics we are in the top five. Our strong reputation nationally translates into international recognition.  It is a privilege to be part of a team whose reach extends literally around the world.

In December, I participated in the annual review of performance for all the professors in Science. Reading through the annual reports of 293 faculty members was the highlight of my first six months as Dean. I had anecdotal evidence of many exciting research initiatives but to read all the details was eye-opening. The Faculty of Science is delivering outstanding research and teaching. I know. I have the data.

On the research side, some of the interesting points include:

• Professors averaged roughly five refereed papers per person (no double counting of papers with multiple authors).
• Over 27% of the journal papers produced are considered to be in the top 10% of the publication venues in that area (as measured by impact factor).
• We had one researcher with 101 refereed journal papers. Okay, so that number is a bit misleading since he is a member of a consortium and all members get their name on the papers. Still 101 entries on your CV for one year is impressive!
• Science researchers brought in over $260,000 of research funding per person; roughly $50,000 per person more than our counterparts at the University of British Columbia.
• Our faculty won numerous international, national, and provincial awards. For example, we had two new Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada. Don Page (black holes) and John England (Arctic) were deservingly recognized. As another example, Phil Currie’s work on paleontology landed him the prestigious Explorer’s Club Medal.

Our faculty members also teach (we are, after all, a research AND teaching institution). One of the questions asked of students is to rate the excellence of teaching in a course on a scale of 1.0 (poor) to 5.0 (outstanding). The average rating over all instructors in the Faculty of Science was 4.5. 4.5??? That number is unbelievably high, especially when you consider that there are always some outliers. The scary thing is that over the last five years this number has been slowly going up. It’s hard to believe that it could go much higher!

The above is a snippet of data that demonstrates how strong the Faculty of Science is. I am delighted to be working with colleagues who are recognized around the world for their leading-edge research. My job is to steer us in a direction that allows us to be even better than we are today. I am confident that we are on the move.

I have a right to brag. I am the Dean of an outstanding team of professors, research associates, research assistants, graduate students, undergraduate students, instructors, and support staff that are making their mark on the world. Thank you for your commitment to excellence.

Puzzles, Piotr, and Pussy Cats

Ever since I was young, I loved playing games of skill and solving puzzles. The former was manifested by becoming a serious chess player (master level) and competing in bridge and backgammon tournaments. I still play games today, but mostly for social reasons (i.e., non competitive).

I greatly enjoy solving puzzles. I never was interested in Rubik’s Cube, except as a challenge for a computer program. Today I love to try my hand at crossword puzzles (I suck at the weekend New York Times puzzles), Sudoko (I can usually solve the most difficult level, if I am careful), and Ken-Ken (not as popular but still entertaining). I have a collection of physical puzzles that I like to use to challenge myself. A couple of them I have not yet solved, something that really irks me.

Many years ago I read an article that competitive game players (and presumably the same for puzzle solvers) had a much lower rate of mind diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The argument that was made, roughly speaking, was that games (and puzzles) were like exercise for the mind. Just like the body, exercise was a useful way of keeping in fit form and building strength against disease. Today, the jury is still out but there is evidence that mental activity can be beneficial for your long-term health (for example, the American Academy of Neurology). So, I go on long runs to strengthen my body and solve puzzles to sharpen my mind.

In November, members of the University of Alberta community were saddened by the unexpected passing of Professor Piotr Rudnicki. I knew Piotr for over 25 years. Although we had not interacted much in recent years, we had worked together on courses (CMPUT 415: Compiler Construction), served on committees together, and pushed each other at squash (Piotr was the much better player).

Piotr Rudnicki (from his home page)

In 1996, I was invited to MIT to give a talk. Afterwards, I was walking on a street nearby and found a games store. Inside I was intrigued by a puzzle that I had not seen before. It was a bottle with a ball in it: the ball was on the bottom of the bottle and the challenge was to get the ball to the top, touching the cork. In between was an obstacle that prevented all the obvious solutions. I solved the puzzle later that day, but was not happy with how long it took me to find what was, with hindsight, an “obvious” solution.

About a year later, I had this puzzle in my office when Piotr came by. He latched on to it and tried all the instinctive ways to solve it. Nothing worked, so he asked to borrow it. The next day he returned the puzzle with a story.

Piotr was able to solve it only after his cat solved it.

Piotr told me he had been working on the puzzle, got frustrated, left the puzzle on a table, went off to make dinner, returned some time later, and discovered that the puzzle had been solved! Since the only other living entity in the house during this time was his cat, Piotr surmised that he had been out-smarted by a cat. I won’t give the solution here, but all you have to do is imagine what a cat might do with a bottle.

Piotr often challenged people by asking them: “Are you as smart as a cat?”

Visiting Tokyo (part 2)

I wrote about my impressions of Tokyo in an October 4 posting. Last month my wife, Steph, went to visit our daughter, Rebecca, a full-time student at Waseda University in Tokyo. Steph brought back many stories of her travels, but three seemed to fit in nicely with my earlier post.

Automation (part 2) 

The following picture shows automation gone amok. The toilet seat, installed in a lady’s rest room, has numerous push-button controls, including a bidet/spray setting, water pressure adjustment, water temperature customization, heated seats, deodorizer, music controls, and so on. I never saw such “convenience” in the men’s bathrooms that I visited. Possibly a case of sex discrimination.

The deluxe toilet seat

Think of the business opportunity! The Edmonton clientele eagerly awaiting this marvel of human ingenuity.

Of course, if the above was not to your liking (is that even possible?), then some places gave you a choice. You could squat over a hole in the ground. At least these facilities had an automatic flush and toilet paper (unlike such bathrooms in India).

Cat Café

Need a break from the hustle and bustle that is Tokyo? Need some relief from the stress of your job? Or, in Steph’s case, need a cat fix because you miss your pets from home? The answer is to go to one of the numerous cat cafés in the city. Here you get to spend quality time with friendly felines. Can you spot the five cats in the following picture? 

Five furry friends for fun

The cost of the café that Steph visited was 600 yen (roughly $8) for one entry. You could stay for as long as you liked, but the lack of food, drink, or bathrooms effectively imposed a limit.

Air Canada (part 2)

Steph flew from Edmonton to Chicago (Air Canada) and from Chicago to Tokyo (United, Air Canada's major partner). The flight to Chicago departed and then the economy passengers discovered that the toilets weren’t working. The crew told passengers that if someone was desperate then access to the first-class bathroom could be arranged. Two choices were presented to the travelers: set down the plane to fix the problem or speedup and get to Chicago sooner. The plane arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule.

The flight to Tokyo is very long: over 13 hours. Once the flight was well under way, the cabin lights were dimmed allowing passengers to sleep (if so desired). Steph (and others) wanted to read, and so they attempted to turn on their reading light. Surprise! A light turned on, but it was random. Steph could control the reading light of the passenger two rows behind, but never did find out whose switch controlled her light. She did all of her reading to the glow of her iPad.