Description
I am a Professor of Mathematics, and an elected member of the Board of Governors at the University of British Columbia. Much of my public service over the years revolved around trying to position Canada as a major player within the world's scientific community. Issues I care about include Canadian academic life, public policy towards R&D, Science in the developing world, and global politics.
Piece of Mind's Latest Posts
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“I understand you have been elected to serve on the Presidential Search Committee. Thank you so much for taking this important task on,” wrote the Chancellor. It is of course always nice to hear that you have once again gained … Continue reading →
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A little over a year ago, a petition for boycotting everything Elsevier was initiated following a blog post by Tim Gowers about his position on the issue. I vaguely remember talking about it with my UBC colleague, Greg Martin, who … Continue reading →
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Thousands of UBC faculty members are without a contract since July 1, 2012 even though negotiations between the Administration and the Faculty Association (FA) started back in February 2012. After several failed attempts at direct bargaining, the parties have now decided to … Continue reading →
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The Canadian twitter world has been split in the last couple of days. You have of course the Duffy-Brazeau-Harb-Wallen-Wright-Perrin saga filling the trend boxes. But then, you have the story of the Tories’ problem with science, be it defunding, muzzling, … Continue reading →
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It can get quite lonely for faculty representatives on the Board of Governors. I have written before about the latent disparity in status between the elected and the appointed. But there is also the occasional dreadful feeling: what if no … Continue reading →
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