Nov 10, 11, and 12; 9am-4pm
Need to carve out dedicated time to stay on track with your dissertation? Struggling with writing blocks? Think you might benefit from consults with writing tutors, librarians and others to help you reflect on and strengthen your work? Apply now for a 3-day dissertation writing retreat. Limited spaces available!
We had a lot of fun this morning at Schulich launching our new Raspberry Pi and Arduino lending programme! These devices are two types of credit-card sized computer which are developing a rapidly growing following due to the ways they can be incorporated into a wide range of projects.
Schulich will start lending these items out later this week, for a loan period of two weeks, and will be monitoring the service over the next few weeks – the kits will be available on a first-come, first-served basis like all other library materials. We’ll also be lending out a robotics unit and a wearable computing device. Please come to the Schulich loans desk if you’d like to borrow a kit.
We’d love to hear about the creative ways these are used by the McGill community! If you take out a kit, please spare us two minutes to give us your feedback using this form, and consider sending pictures of your project.
Feeling stressed? Now you can stitch away your cares at Schulich Library. The Schulich Knit Knacks bin of knitting supplies is located by the Wendy Patrick Collection on the main floor. Take yarn, leave yarn. Bring your own needles, donate old needles, or borrow ours.
Happy knitting!
At Schulich Library we ♥ science and we have created an amazing lineup of events to share our love of science with you. This year we are participating in Science Literacy Week and it is only one week away: September 21st – 27th.
I invite you to visit our guide to Science Literacy Week @ McGill, where you will find info on exhibits and events organized by the Library and the Redpath Museum.
There are so many events scheduled that I will let the list speak for itself:
Register today!
The McGill Library Sprint is a new interactive game and self-guided tour. Choose between the Schulich Library and the Humanities and Social Sciences Library and answer some challenging questions.
Prizes include a Fitbit Flex and McGill Bookstore gift certificates.
We had a lot of fun putting together the questions for Schulich Library and we hope that you have as much fun playing!
Want to take a scheduled tour around Schulich Library? We have those too! Take a look at the list of upcoming tours and MyLibrary introductory workshops. Tours and workshops are also being offered in Mandarin Chinese and Persian.
With the new academic year comes new projects, new papers, and the need for new distractions! Sometimes you just need to procrastinate and you might as well make it educational and fun! I myself have spent many an hour, okay maybe two, on Youtube watching an endless rotation of mischievous kitten videos. When those get old I like to turn to some more informative content. If you’re like me then check out the list below. These channels offer great information in succinct clips, perfect for marathoning when you have that paper due in a couple hours!
Happy Watching!
https://www.youtube.com/user/scishow
https://www.youtube.com/user/thebrainscoop
https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse
https://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics
https://www.youtube.com/user/periodicvideos
Thank you to everyone involved in completing our first-ever Puzzle Corner puzzle at Schulich Library!
A special congratulations to the Materials Engineers who completed the 500-piece puppy puzzler – and left a note to prove it.
Check out a new puzzle next week at Puzzle Corner, behind the Wendy Patrick collection at the Schulich Library of Science and Engineering.
Most visitors to the Schulich Library are probably unaware that there are two thriving beehives on the roof of our building, maintained by the Urban Beekeeping Collective at Santropol Roulant of which I am a member.
Santropol Roulant is a local charity whose aim is to “…use food as a vehicle to break social and economic isolation between generations and cultures”. The Beekeeping Collective works towards this goal by promoting and fostering urban beekeeping, and by educating Montrealers about the importance of pollinators to the source of our food.
Collective members make regular visits to the hives to check on their health (these pictures are from last Sunday’s visit) – as well as to prevent uncontrolled swarming! The good news is that both hives are doing very well and we’re quietly hopeful for a bumper crop of urban honey as Summer progresses.
I could not be more excited to be a member of the CCOM 206: Communication in Engineering Writing Recognition Committee, alongside some of the fantastic course lecturers. One of the assignments in CCOM 206 is to write a research paper and the committee had the difficult task of awarding the best paper to one student in the fall term. There were 337 students enrolled in the course and 12 papers were shortlisted for the award by instructors. We carefully considered the originality and practicality of the research question and proposed solutions in each paper, along with the depth of research and academic sources referenced, argument coherency and consistency, and overall clarity and quality of the writing.
The best paper among all those excellent research papers chosen for consideration is “Recycling Carbon Fibre Reinforced Composites: A Market and Environmental Assessment” by Maxime Lauzé.
McGill Library is hosting the winning paper in eScholarship, a digital repository which stores and showcases the publications and theses of McGill University faculty and students. Maxime will also receive a formal certificate from the McGill Writing Centre and a $50 gift certificate for the McGill Bookstore.
Here is the abstract of the winning paper:
Both environmental and economic factors have driven the development of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) waste recycling processes. This paper will present the causes of increased use of carbon fibre composites as well as the consequences of such growth. As well, the advantages and disadvantages of three current recycling technologies available are discussed, focusing on fibre quality, commercial flexibility, and environmental impact. Chemical recycling produces best quality fibre with negative environmental impact while mechanical recycling produces bad quality fibre with good environmental impact. As a result, this paper argues that the best recycling method available today is a thermal process called conventional pyrolysis, because it produces good quality recyclate while being very energy efficient, tolerant to contamination and therefore also the best commercial candidate.
On behalf of the Writing Recognition Committee, congratulations to all those who were shortlisted for the award!
I recently had the pleasure of traveling down to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ to watch my brother’s graduation.
While I am extremely proud of all his accomplishments another draw was that Bill Nye was slated to be the 2015 commencement speaker. As a childhood fan I certainly wasn’t going to miss this opportunity!
Nye imparted some excellent words of wisdom on the audience, while also tying in his views on climate change and racism. He urged the graduates to take climate change seriously, and expressed his hope that they would rise to the challenge of solving this crucial issue. Along with this wish, Nye also pointed out that in order to solve the problem of climate change the class of 2015 would have to put aside preconceived notions of race. We are all members of the human species, worthy of respect, and capable of making world changing discoveries said Nye.
Nye’s speech was inspiring as well as educational, and an excellent reminder that we are all responsible for building one another up for the good of the world.
To read Nye’s remarks in full click on the link below!
http://time.com/3882613/bill-nye-graduation-speech-rutgers-university/