February 9^th is National Sweater Day Turn down your thermostat by 2 degrees, put on your best (or funniest) sweater and you will be doing your part to save energy and combat climate change.
Win a Prize!
sustainability@york is running a competition for best sweater(s) so for a chance to win a prize.
email your photos or youtube video links to: sustainability@yorku.ca

Events on February 9^th
·        Be sure to look out for our Vari Hall table from 10am-4pm
·        Visit the Absinthe pub in the evening for a sweater-themed pub night
For more information, please visit www.yorku.ca/sustainability and http://wwf.ca/takeaction/sweater_day/

In “Battle Lines Drawn: Resisting Ableism Through Creative Intervention”, Preston will explain how to use cultural warfare – online publishing and publicity stunts such as stairbombing and chair mobbing – to put the lie to common myths and stereotypes about disability, with humour.

Right: Jeff Preston in a snowbank, in a photo on his website getmobilized.ca

Following his talk, his hosts, Access York’s Disability Education & Awareness Subcommittee, are taking his advice and staging a stairbombing on the Keele campus. They will block off a major stairwell using caution tape and place a sign stating: “Caution: These stairs are out of service. Inconvenient, eh? This is only one example of what persons with disabilities experience every day.”

Preston made headlines when he drove his electric wheelchair from London to Ottawa to raise awareness about inaccessible transportation. In 2010, Preston and Clara Madrenas created Cripz, an online comic strip about two high school boys in wheelchairs that aims to entertain through humour while satirizing myths about disability.

Left: Image from webcomic Cripz

The disability advocate gives talks in which he argues that mainstream media, from “Daredevil” to “Glee”, rarely speak to the lived experience of disabled persons. Such TV shows are based more on the skewed perspectives of nondisabled creators, who draw heavily on stereotypes infused with pity and paternalism when portraying disabled characters.

Hear Preston speak in Winters College dining hall, 001 Winter’s College, Feb. 7 from noon to 2pm. To attend, RSVP by Feb. 3 to kaley@yorku.ca.

This event was organized by Access York with assistance from the Centre for Human Rights, the Office of the Vice-President Students, and the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability.

The Student Challenge is open to all full-time students at accredited post-secondary institutions in Ontario, and is particularly well suited to students of architecture, engineering, construction, environmental technologies, design, and related fields. Success in this competition demands rigorous product specification research and technical design considerations, as well as attention to marketability and aesthetics.

Team entries are encouraged (up to four members) and may be inter-disciplanary and/or inter-institutional.  The entry fee is $50 per team.

The Challenge will remain open for a full year to engage all semesters.  The closing date is March 1, 2013, with awards the following month. At the awards function, student finalists are recognized alongside their professional counterparts in the parallel Home Sweet Home Competition, and provided with other career-networking opportunities.
 http://hsh-competition.ca  [Look for the Student Challenge section]

Thank you!

P:   Ext 224. (647) 367-2938 / (613) 366-1922 / or toll-free (877) 394-6589
E:   jill@ontariogreenspec.ca
W:  www.ontariogreenspec.ca / www.hsh-competition.ca

Click here to go to the Home Sweet Home Competition Facebook page (no login required).

Office Hours: M-F / 1-5pm or by appointment.

The following appeared in the January 30th edition of YFile.

Research Month this February will celebrate the achievements and diversity of York University’s research community.

Every Wednesday throughout the month, Vari Hall Rotunda will play host to displays and demonstrations featuring the University’s faculty and graduate researchers. Drop by to learn what they are up to. IRIS will be on display February 8th!

“Research Month provides an opportunity for the York community to share knowledge and ideas as we celebrate excellence in research and scholarship at the University,” said Robert Haché, vice-president research & innovation. “We invite students, staff and faculty to drop by Vari Hall on Wednesdays in February to explore the many research projects and to learn more about the range of research activities at York.”

The Research Month index on York’s Research website contains complete information about the researchers and research centres and institutes participating in the event.

Social sciences and humanities research – Feb. 1, from noon to 2pm.

Confirmed participants include:

• Assets Coming Together for Youth: Linking Research Policy and Action for Positive Youth Development
• Canadian Business Ethics Research Network
• The Centre for Feminist Research at York
• The City Institute at York University
• Professor Deborah Davidson, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• Faculty of Education Graduate Students
• Professor Esther Fine – Children as Peacemakers
• The Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migration of African Peoples
• Homeless Hub and the Canadian Homeless Research Network
• The Knowledge Mobilization Unit at York University
• Leslie Sanders, Department of Humanities, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
• The Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies
• The York Centre for Asian Research
• York Centre for Education and Community
• United Way York Region

Science and engineering research – Wednesday, Feb. 8, from 10am to 2pm.

Confirmed participants include:

• The Centre for Vision Research – Professor James Elder, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health
• The Faculty of Environmental Studies
• The Faculty of Science & Engineering
• The Institute for Science & Technology Studies at York University
• IRIS- the Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability
• The Knowledge Mobilization Unit at York University
• Four Grad students from Professor Sergey Krylov‘s lab, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science & Engineering
• Professor John (Jack) McConnell, Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering
• Professor Zbigniew Stachniak, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering
• Professor Gunho Sohn, Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering
• Professor John Tsotsos, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering
• York University Rover Team

Health research displays will be showcased Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 10am to 2pm, and fine and performing arts research will be featured Wednesday, Feb. 29, from 10am to 2pm. Check back often for more information by clicking here.

Want to participate?

Do you have completed works, prototypes, technology or works in progress that you could demonstrate? Do you have graduate or undergraduate students working with you who could assist and help talk about the work? If you have other ideas, VPRI would love to hear them.

Interested faculty members or research centres should contact Arielle Zomer in the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation at ext. 21069 or azomer@yorku.ca. Note that space is limited and allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.