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BY KIMBERLY FERGUSON
University of Alberta
Student Contributor
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Let’s start off with the really fun stuff, the Western
Inter-University Geological Conference. The WIUGC, Jan. 8
to 11 in Vancouver, was attended by 40 U of A geoscience
students, who endured a 14.5-hour bus ride through the mountains
at night just to get there.
The University of Alberta was represented in both the undergraduate
and graduate categories for technical talks and by undergraduates
in the posters session. This paid off rather nicely when
the U of A won recognition in three of eight categories.
Congratulations to Katie Smart, Melissa Bowerman and Ryan
Ickert for their posters and talks.
The fun side of the conference was much appreciated as well,
from the traditional “bun” fight between U of
A and U of C at dinner, to the semi-formal dance that ended
the conference. Everyone managed to get some fun stuff in.
The conference was informative and enjoyable. The technical
talks and poster session were well received and appreciated
by those in attendance.
Most importantly, WIUGC was good opportunity for students
from different universities to get to know one another and
find out what is going on in the other little corners of
the world.
Thank you to this year’s WIUGC organizer and host,
the University of British Columbia.
ATLAS Graduate
Student Symposium
The graduate student society for the Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences Department at the U of A is presenting a symposium
this spring. It will showcase graduate students and their
research projects, as well as feature a guest speaker.
Guy Carbonneau will be speaking about his studies concerning
Ediacaran fauna from Missing Point, in East Newfoundland,
which is the oldest multi-cellular fossil discovered to date.
The symposium, tentatively set for March 26 at the University
of Alberta, promises to be both informative and interesting.
Everyday Happenings
This is an update as to the sports and social activities
happening in at the U of A for the geos.
For the sports portion we have a few new ones this semester
Curling. Both co-ed and men’s teams are entered into
their respective bonspiels and we all hope they’ll
do well, or at least not fall over while sweeping or while
yelling “Sweep!”
Volleyball. Once again we have volleyball – men’s
and women’s teams but no co-ed.
Field hockey. We have a women’s team this year and
the players are trying their best. For a team made up of
girls who have never seen a field hockey stick before (they
look like candy canes!) let alone played the game, they are
doing well. They haven’t won yet – but they have
managed to keep their injuries to a minimum!
Co-ed inner tube water polo. This is a fun and we are doing
relatively well, a win and a tie so far. Go Dirty Ores!
And now for the old sports that we just can’t get escape.
Men’s hockey. This is the only holdover from last semester
and will continue until the end of February. The Dirty Ores
have only lost one game to date, and we hope that will be
the only one this season.
And now onto the social part.
Social activites this month consist of a crib tournament
and the monthly movie night, put on by the P.S. Warren Geological
Society (the undergraduate society for the Department of
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences), as well as the weekly ATLAS
talks each Friday afternoon.
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