UPEI kicked off National Co-operative Education Week today with the signing of an official proclamation by PEI's Minister of Innovation and Advanced Learning Allen Roach. National co-op week (March 18-22) is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of Canadian co-op students.

The UPEI Co-operative Education program will celebrate the national week by recognizing student work term accomplishments during its annual co-op awards ceremony on Wednesday, March 20. 'Co-op Student of the Year' awards in business, physics, and computer science as well as 'Employer Recognition' awards will be presented. Winners of the 'Co-op Student of the Year' awards demonstrate high academic achievement, a valued contribution to their employer and community, and exemplary personal and professional development.

'The UPEI co-op program motivates students and encourages them to take a positive step beyond their comfort level,' said Lisa Hoskins, UPEI's national co-op week coordinator.'It allows students to take initiative to develop a prosperous career path. It also progresses learning, maturity, and ambition while easing the transition from university to the workplace.'

UPEI is among 130 colleges and universities across Canada that are actively involved in developing their students into workplace professionals through co-operative education. UPEI's co-operative education program fosters next generation leaders and gives students the opportunity to push themselves, while at the same time giving back to the local community. Through real-life experience and guidance from employers and co-op coordinators, students gain valuable knowledge and skills that will be used throughout their career upon graduation.

For more information on UPEI's co-op program, visit upei.ca/co-op or email co-op@upei.ca. For more information on the CAFCE's National Co-op Week, visit www.cafce.ca/en/co-op-week

UPEI students will host the second annual Battle of the Jocks fundraiser on Saturday, March 23. The event showcases varsity athletes competing in hockey, basketball, and soccer games and skills competitions to raise funds for the Children's Wish Foundation (PEI Chapter) and UPEI's Passion for Life Award, an award created to honour Rene Ayangma, a member of the UPEI men's soccer team who passed away in 2008.

Beginning at 6:00 pm, athletes will compete in a 45-minute indoor soccer game at the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre, followed by a basketball-skills relay and dunk competition. The third event will take place on the ice surface at the MacLauchlan Arena where teams will compete in a fast-paced hockey game. This year's Children's Wish Foundation honorary coaches are Shendrit and Dylan, two children living with high-risk, life threatening illnesses.

Tickets can be purchased for $10 at the Mickey Place Kiosk at the W.A. Murphy Student Centre or from Carol Heartz, UPEI Athletics and Recreation, heartz@upei.ca.

For more information on the event, or to volunteer, contact Julia McKenna at jpmckenna@upei.ca

A pair of undergraduate physics students at UPEI were awarded top honours at the 2013 Science Atlantic Physics & Astronomy Conference, held recently at the Université de Moncton. Logan Montgomery won the Science Atlantic Science Communication Award, and Taylor Dunn won the ACEmat Award in Computational Modeling of Materials.

Dunn's award is for his project, titled Polymer translocation dynamics through a nanopore, which he worked on last summer as an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award-winner. Dunn used computer simulation methods to study the dynamics of a polymer as it squeezes through a tiny hole in a barrier, a process called polymer translocation. He says this type of research could lead to improvements in DNA sequencing.

'I was thrilled to receive the award from ACEmat,' said Dunn. 'Receiving the award has given me even more motivation to continue my research, and to pursue more projects in computational modeling in the future.'

Dunn's supervisor is Dr. James Polson, associate professor of physics at UPEI.

'There are various competing theories of polymer translocation dynamics, and it's not yet clear which provides the correct physical picture for the experimental context,' said Dr. Polson. 'Taylor's work will help resolve this theoretical problem, and this, in turn, will guide the development of the DNA sequencing technology.'

Logan Montgomery's winning project was titled Analyzing the effects of phaseless CT images on cancer treatment plans. It was based on his co-op work last summer at the Prince Edward Island Cancer Treatment Centre.

'The centre uses a CT simulator to develop radiation treatment programs for cancer patients on P.E.I.,' explained Montgomery. 'A small number of the images created by the simulator had errors in them, and we were having trouble understanding why. I was able to help discover that a part of the program originally designed to compensate for irregular data was, in fact, over-compensating and creating errors.'

'I'm really proud of Logan and the work he did at the cancer centre as part of his co-op work term,' said Dr. Bill Whelan, physics co-op director. 'Here is one of our top physics students making a real difference in how cancer treatments are delivered on Prince Edward Island."

Science Atlantic (formerly APICS, the Atlantic Provinces Council on the Sciences) is a charitable association of 18 post secondary and research institutes in Atlantic Canada with a mandate to advance science education and research at the undergraduate level.

A student group will screen 'Education Under Fire,' a 30-minute documentary on Monday, March 25 at 7:00 pm in the Don and Marion McDougall Hall, Room 242.

Today, thousands in Iran are denied formal university education due to their religious or ideological beliefs. This documentary is a response to that and tells the poignant and compelling story of the Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE)-the only chance for an entire minority community in Iran to receive an education. In May 2011, the BIHE was attacked and another door to a basic human right was closed.

UPEI's Faculty of Education has sponsored this event and the students hope the documentary will continue to raise awareness of the unacceptable violations of human rights in Iran.

This event is free and all are welcome to attend!

The Winter's Tales Author Reading Series will feature 13 talented new Island writers, at a public reading on Monday, March 25 at 7:00 pm in the Confederation Centre Art Gallery. The writers are participants in a UPEI Department of English creative writing masters class.

Presenting their works are Damon Ansems, Christopher Bailey, Michael Conway, Andrea Corder, George Curtis, Angela Deighan, Joan Grant, Ben Hartley, Angela MacLaren, Ruby Madigan, Lori Mayne, Ashley Prince, and Toni Timmins.

The audience will be treated to excerpts from a detective novel set in a dystopian near future which might resemble PEI; stories of growing up in Charlottetown's east end; and essays centred on a journalist's experiences. There are poems about Island tuna fishermen, a date with a woman who's taken the 'purity pledge,' a grandfather's false teeth, patient care in a hospital, the stresses of parenthood, and sexual desire and jealousy.

One writer's novel-in-progress is inspired by attending Charlottetown's Notre Dame Academy for Girls and another writer's by her parents' and grandparents' lives in rural Ontario. Another novel is set in present-day Iran about a Canadian woman married to an Iranian. One writer is working in fantasy and thriller genres, while another is crafting a coming-of-age fiction about three friends right after high school graduation. And there are memoirs about difficult childhoods, childbirth and medical care, and life in the Canadian Forces.

The reading is sponsored by the UPEI English Department in collaboration with the Confederation Centre Art Gallery. The public is welcome and admission is free.

The UPEI Wind Symphony will perform its final recital of the academic year on Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 pm at UPEI's Dr. Steel Recital Hall. This has been a particularly busy and musically rewarding year for the Wind Symphony with highly successful performances throughout the fall and winter.

This recital will feature contemporary works for the modern wind band by American, English, and Spanish composers. The acoustics of the Dr. Steel Recital Hall will be put to the test with Gustav Holst's 'Mars.' It's the first movement from Holst's orchestral suite 'The Planets.' Since its completion in 1916, it has been widely performed and frequently recorded. Each of the seven movements is named after a planet of the solar system. Subtitled 'the Bringer of War,' 'Mars,' captures the full horror of warfare. The music possesses strong thematic content and pounding rhythms, with blistering brass and percussion effects.

The UPEI Wind Symphony is known for its innovative programming which is evident with Andrew Staniland's 'Four Horsemen.' Staniland, a composition professor at MUN, borrowed the title from the 'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,' which is described in the Book of Revelation from the Bible. Staniland drew inspiration from the four corners of the earth, four horsemen and four angels, interpreting them beyond their caricature roles, echoing an ancient knowledge about astronomy and celestial movement that set his creativity alight. The resulting piece is a fierce yet inquisitive modern work that is more about the joy and inspiration of scientific knowledge than about an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world. It is a work that uses a variety of contemporary techniques including electronics and a flute cadenza that is recorded and filtered in real time. The piece includes a variety of horse-like sounds, as well as those of motorcycles-what Staniland interpreted as the modern equivalent of horses.

This recital will be the final Wind Symphony performance for seven of its graduating students-Melissa MacRae, saxophone; Will Howard, trombone; Tim Sherren, guitar; Rory O'Donnell, trumpet; Sarah Milligan, euphonium; Mathieu Hughes, trombone; and John Paul Larkin, clarinet. All seven students have made significant contributions to UPEI, and the Wind Symphony in particular, throughout their undergraduate careers.

Comprised mostly of UPEI music majors, the Wind Symphony has been critically acclaimed for its performance standard. During the past 14 years, the Wind Symphony has produced a CD annually featuring selected repertoire from each year's performances. Its 2010 CD, 'Cathedrals,' was recipient of the Music PEI Award for best classical recording. Its two most recent CDs, 'Freebirds' (2011) and 'The Lord of the Rings' (2012) have received much praise. Each year the Wind Symphony tours selected areas of the region to provide its membership with additional performance experiences and share its musicking with a wider audience. Last semester's performances in Montague and Summerside, and Saint John, NB were favourably received.

Tickets for this performance may be acquired in advance at UPEI's music department or at the door prior to the recital. All are welcome to attend.

Join the UPEI Alumni Association on Wednesday, March 27, 11:00 am-1:00 pm at W.A. Murphy Student Centre for Countdown to Convocation.

Find out more about grad week activities, alumni association benefits, post-graduate studies, scholarships, and more. Pre-order your degree frame for pick-up at convocation, by doing so, you'll receive a 10% discount! Convocation is a time for celebration, not stress-so come out and get your convocation questions answered and have the chance to win a Kobo eReader.

UPEI's Concert Choir will present their spring choral presentation 'This Shining Night' on Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 pm in UPEI's Dr. Steel Recital Hall. The audience will be treated to performances by the choir, under interim director Pamela Campbell and special guests-the Summerside Community Choir and Montague Regional High School Choir. Summerside conductor Mark Ramsay and Montague conductor Christie Beck are both alumni of the UPEI Music Department. In addition to directing their own choirs' performances, Ramsay and Beck will guest conduct the UPEI choir in Morten Lauridsen's 'Sure on This Shining Night' and Leonard Bernstein's 'Somewhere.' Also, appearing as guest conductor of 'Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day' will be alumnus Michael van der Gaag. A student conductor from the music department's choral techniques class will conduct the university choir in Eric Whitacre's 'The Seal Lullaby.' Collaborative pianist for the evening is Jeremy Gallant.

The UPEI Concert Choir's repertoire for 'This Shining Night' ranges from the boisterous French-Canadian folk song 'O-Yo-Yo' to 'In Remembrance' (Canadian composer Eleanor Daley's poignant setting of the Mary Elizabeth Frye poem 'Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep') to Aaron Copland's whimsical 'Ching-a-Ring Chaw.' The evening's finale finds the two guest choirs joining the UPEI Concert Choir for an intricate and moving arrangement of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah.'

Tickets for 'This Shining Night' are $10.00; $5.00 for seniors and students. For tickets & information contact music@upei.ca or 566-0507.

The UPEI women's basketball team is pleased to announce the commitment of top recruit Kiera Rigby for the 2013-14 season. She joins Candace Smith of Horton and Jessica Patenaude of Charlottetown Rural in what is shaping up to be a strong recruiting class.

'Kiera is one of the premier players in Atlantic Canada,' said UPEI head coach Greg Gould. 'She is very athletic, has excellent skills, a high basketball I.Q., and is a great team player. She will be able to step in right away and help take our program to the upper ranks of the Atlantic University Conference.'

Rigby has been a member of the PEI under 15 and under 17 provincial teams and has been named Basketball PEI player of the year four times. She was selected to attend the Canadian Women's Cadet team tryouts in 2010, 2011, and 2012.

'Kiera is a tremendous athlete who comes from a great basketball family,' said Gould. 'Her father Gordon was a standout at the University of New Brunswick, while her mother Eireann was a two-time UPEI Panther MVP, a three-time first team Atlantic University All-star, and a member of the 1997-98 AUS championship Panther team.

Rigby is not only accomplished on the basketball court but she also excels in the classroom where she maintains an academic average above 90%. She will be enrolling in the Bachelor of Science program and plans to major in chemistry.

'I am excited about the academic program that UPEI offers and look forward to getting a great education while pursuing my basketball goals,' she said.

Rigby has been fortunate to have had the benefit of a great high school coach in Chris Annett at Colonel Gray High School, in Charlottetown. In addition, she's been trained by UPEI assistant coach Kathy Murray who has helped develop her basketball skills and knowledge.

'I grew up watching the Panthers women's basketball team with my mom and grandfather who was a long-time Panther assistant coach,' said Rigby. 'I'm excited to be a Panther next season. The team is on a real upswing after several difficult years, and I feel fortunate to be a part of this new era of such an amazing program. I am looking forward to playing with my new teammates and working with Coach Gould and the rest of the coaching staff to improve my skills and make a positive contribution to the team.'

The Atlantic Book Awards Society released this week the shortlists for the 2013 Atlantic Book Awards. Among them, Riptides: New Island Fiction, edited by Richard Lemm, has been listed in the category for Best Atlantic-Published Book.

Dr. Lemm is a professor of English at the University of Prince Edward Island. Working with Acorn Press, Lemm issued an open call in 2011 for fiction from writers with a strong Island connection. The result was Riptides: New Island Fiction, a collection of 23 short stories, published by Acorn Press.

'This honour recognizes the emergence of talented fiction writers on PEI and that there is fictional life on the Island after L.M. Montgomery,' said Dr. Lemm. 'As well, the inclusion of UPEI faculty and graduates in the anthology is further evidence of this university as a place where excellence is nurtured and achieved.'

Among the authors in the collection are several writers from the UPEI community: Orysia Dawydiak (biomedical sciences), Malcolm Murray (philosophy), Alan Harrington (English), and a number of UPEI graduates including Melissa Carroll, Lisa-Marie Brunnen, Hannah Visser, and Dylan Riley.

'UPEI is extremely proud of Dr. Lemm and all of the UPEI writers who contributed to this excellent book,' said Dr. Robert Gilmour, Vice-President Research. 'It's exciting to see the culture of writing and creativity at UPEI being recognized in this way, which highlights the important role the university plays in the Island literary world.'

The Atlantic Book Awards are run by the Atlantic Book Awards Society: a non-profit organization with a mandate to promote and acknowledge excellence in Atlantic Canadian writing and book publishing. The 2013 Atlantic Book Award winners will be announced at a ceremony May 15 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.