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THE    UNIVERSITY   OF    BRITISH    COLUMBIA    |    VOLUME    56    NO    02    |    FEBRUARY,    3    2010    |    WWW.UBC.CA
What does
a gold medal
mean for
Canada ?
SH    COL
PAGE   8
UBC 2010 Games
www.ubc.ca/2010
2010 Media Centre
www.ubc.ca/201Omedia
Insane Pain:Thrill of the skeleton
when jeff pain describes himself as a Type A personality,
he's not kidding, by glenn drexhage page 6
UBC alum Jeff Pain (above) races to discover himself.
UBC develops North America's
greenest build
ing
A rendering of CIRS, due to open on Sustainability Street in 2011.
BY GLENN  DREXHAGE
"sustainability is about what kind
OF WORLD WE WANT TO LIVE IN," Says
UBC's John Robinson. If so, then
the ambitious project he's leading -
the development of the Centre for
Interactive Research on Sustainability
(CIRS) - should provide some
valuable inspiration. The $37-million
building will be greenhouse gas-
positive and a net energy producer,
meaning that it will help UBC reduce
the energy it uses and carbon it
emits. All water will be sourced from
rainwater, with wastewater treatment
occurring on site. There is also more
carbon sequestered in the building's
wooden structure than will be
emitted during its construction and
eventual dismantling.
Not only does the UBC-based
centre aim to be among the greenest
buildings in North America, it will
also serve as a living laboratory for
sustainability research, development
and practice. For example, building
processes will be continuously
monitored, including heating, cooling,
lighting, equipment use, water
harvesting and treatment, building
occupancy, inhabitant behaviour and
more. People working in the facility
will be able to follow the proceedings
on their desktop computers and vote
on their usefulness.
Construction began last
September, and the building is set
to open in the summer of 2011
on Sustainability Street on UBC's
Vancouver campus. In addition, CIRS
will be in the Olympic spotlight
this month, as it's featured at the
BC Canada Pavilion located on the
fourth floor of the Vancouver Art
Gallery.
"I think it's going to help
contribute to the world," says
Robinson, who speaks from
experience. In January, he was
named the new UBC Vancouver
Sustainability Executive Director.
He's a professor at UBC's Institute
for Resources, Environment and
Sustainability at UBC, and was one
of thousands who participated in the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, which shared the 2007
Nobel Peace Prize with AI Gore, the
global warming guru and former U.S.
Vice President.
continued on page 10 2 | UBC REPORTS | FEBRUARY 3, 20J0
FEBRUARY 3, 20J0 | UBC REPORTS | 3
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IN THE NEWS
Highlights of UBC media coverage in January 2010. compiled by heather amos
Prof. Loren Rieseberg earned media attention for his research on sunflowers.
Sunflower DNA Map Could Produce
Plants for Fuel
The Associated Press reported
that UBC botany professor Loren
Rieseberg is leading a $10.5 million
research project aimed at mapping
the DNA sequence of sunflowers.
Researchers envision
crossbreeding a standard sunflower
with the Silverleaf species to produce
a hybrid with tasty seeds and thick
stalks filled with complex sugars that
can be turned into ethanol.
United Press International, The
Vancouver Sun and Science Daily also
reported on this story.
Vancouver B.C. museums offer
world-class riches
Vancouver's Museum of
Anthropology, on UBC campus,
has undergone a $55.5-million
renovation and The Seattle Times
reports on the new exhibit and
galleries.
The Globe and Mail, the CBC, The
Vancouver Sun and The Province
wrote about the renovations and
"Border Zones: New Art Across
Cultures," a contemporary show
featuring artists from Malaysia,
England, Sri Lanka, France, Canada,
Samoa and Australia.
Olympics have no impact on real
estate
Research by Tsur Somerville, a
professor in real estate, and Jake
Wetzel, PhD candidate, found
that cities hosting the Olympics
experience neither boom nor bust
in real estate prices, United Press
International reported this month.
Toronto Star, The Vancouver Sun
and Metro were among the media
outlets that picked up on the study
that analyzed house prices and
construction employment in the
years leading up to and after the
Olympics in Australian, Canadian
and U.S. cities.
"We do not find support for the
argument of host city backers that
the Olympics delivers positive
economic benefits, nor of the
arguments made by opponents that
there is some post-Olympic bust,"
said Somerville.
Olympic secrets revealed
Maclean's, The Vancouver Sun,
GlobalTVand the CBC reported on
Savvas Hatzikiriakos' and Sheldon
Green's Own The Podium research.
Hatzikiriakos' team developed
friction-reducing metal and plastic
surfaces for skates, skis and
snowboards that are expected to
boost Canada's medal count at the
Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
"Canada in the previous Olympic
Games won a lot of fourth places,"
said Hatzikiriakos, a chemical and
biological engineering professor
at UBC. "We thought that slightly
improving the times we could push
them to the podium positions."
Light shed on fish gill mystery
Research by UBC's Clarice Fu
suggests that fish evolved gills
for the purpose of regulating the
chemicals in their bodies and not for
breathing, BBC News reported this
month.
The study found that as rainbow
trout larvae matured, fish gills
regulated the chemicals in their
blood before they took in oxygen.
"We found that ion uptake shifted
from the skin to the gills earlier
than oxygen uptake. This led us to
propose that the gills are needed for
ion regulation earlier than they are
needed for oxygen uptake," said Fu.
The Telegraph, ScienceNOW, and
Siiddeutschen reported versions of
this story. ■
UBC RE PORTS
Executive Director      SCOTT MACRAE scott.macrae@ubc.ca
Editor RANDY SCHMIDT randy.schmidt@ubc.ca
Guest Editor BASIL WAUGH basil.waugh@ubc.ca
Design Manager ARLENE COTTER arlene.cotter@ubc.ca
Designers PING Kl CHAN ping.chan@ubc.ca
ANN GONCALVES ann.goncalves@ubc.ca
Photographer MARTIN DEE martin.dee@ubc.ca
Web Designer MICHAEL KO michael.ko@ubc.ca
Contributors HEATHER AMOS heather.amos@ubc.ca
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jody Jacob jody.jacob@ubc.ca
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Building a podium fit for Olympians
BY HEATHER AMOS
EVERY ATHLETE DREAMS of standing
on an Olympic podium. And a group
of UBC students has been scrambling
to make that dream come true.
Students and staff in UBC's
Centre for Advanced Wood
Processing (CAWP) were given the
task of creating all 23 Olympic and
Paralympic wooden medal podia and
the 100 wooden medal trays for the
2010 Winter Games.
"The podia are very striking,"
says lain Macdonald, managing
director of CAWP.   Each one
comes with a different story. The
design is intended to symbolize the
importance of our forests to B.C.
The provincial Ministry of Forests
and VANOC approached UBC about
the podium project in September.
"At first we were skeptical because
the time frames were so tight," said
Macdonald. "At the time when we
started to talk to them about this
project, much of the wood was still
standing trees."
Twenty-three community forests
from around the province donated
the B.C.-grown trees for the project.
Each podium is made from a unique
piece of wood, including one batch of
lumber harvested from a submerged
forest from the Cheslatta First Nation
community forest.
"It is really interesting; it's really
pushing the edge to see a new,
interesting design out of local wood
species," says Andrew Pershin, a
graduate from UBC's Wood Products
Processing (WPP) program.
Pershin, a Vernon native, was
asked to come back to UBC to help
with this project.  He's an expert
with the Computer Numerical
Control (CNC) machinery needed
to turn podium drawings into solid
structures.
As a thesis project in his last
year at UBC, 2008-2009, Pershin
worked with First Nations artists to
see how the technology at CAWP
could be used in the northwest coast
sculpture market.  He developed
computer programs to produce
sculptures that now hang in the halls
ofthe CAWP building.
But the Olympic podia project has
Andrew Pershin, a graduate of UBC's Wood Products Processing program, crafts an Olympic podium made from B.C. wood.
presented new excitement to the
grad as he gets to see a project go
from start to finish.
"We've worked with the same
something the WPP program
prides itself on. The students learn
everything from wood science to
marketing and how to set up and run
science, engineering and business."
The program started in 1995 and
until the recent economic downturn,
100 per cent of the students found
Each podium is made from a unique piece of wood,
including one batch of lumber harvested
from a submerged forest from the
Cheslatta First Nation community forest.
machinery in the lab that we used for
school, and we've seen it utilized for
the full industrial process," he says.
The full industrial process is
a manufacturing facility.
"It really is a true interdisciplinary
program," says Simon Ellis, program
director for WPP. "It's a fusion of
jobs straight after graduation.  In a
2005 UBC survey, grads two years
out of the WPP undergraduate
program had some of the highest
salaries of any UBC undergraduates.
The degree program promotes
project-based learning. Students get
full run of a lab packed with a couple
of million dollars worth of equipment
and they get to experience real world
scenarios.  In one project students
use the lab machines to produce a
piece of furniture; then they develop
a business model for it and decide
how they would run and set up a
manufacturing facility.
"The podium project is a great
example of authentic learning because
our students are making something
that they'll see on the world stage this
month," says Macdonald. ■
Coca-Cola challenge:
Build the perfect chair
to sip fair trade coffee
BY HEATHER AMOS
coca-cola enlisted the help of UBC's Wood
Products Processing program to help create a
lounge environment for its new drink - coffee.
To promote its new hot beverage line,
Far Coast, Coca-Cola is setting up outdoor
lounges in Whistler and Vancouver at the
2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The wooden furniture for these outdoor
"warming zones" was designed and created by
a team of UBC and Emily Carr students.
Pine wood from B.C.'s mountain pine
beetle-ravaged forests was used for the
project. A little plaque on the armrest of
each chair tells the story of climate change
and the resulting mountain pine beetle
infestation in B.C.
"They've had to go through the whole
process of designing what the furniture
would look like and then actually transferring
that to something that could be built
efficiently," said lain Macdonald, managing
director of the Centre for Advanced Wood
Processing at UBC.
About 70 tables and 80 chairs were
produced to capture the lounge feel and the
sustainability image Coca-Cola is presenting
with its Far Coast drinks, which are all fair trade.
"There was a real world design brief
presented to the students by Coca-Cola. The
students went through the design process
and a jury came in from Coca-Cola and
selected one ofthe designs," says Macdonald.
"Now this furniture is built and going to the
Games." ■
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IN   MEMORIAM
DR.   PATRICIA  MARCHAK
Friend and Author
McGILL
QUEEN'S
UNIVERSITY
PRESS
Happiness under a microscope:
UBC helps lead a new scholarly
focus on wellbeing
BY LORRAINE CHAN
WITH THE WORLD GATHERED to admire
those faster, better and stronger,
many of us would assume that
"richer" tops that list of desired traits.
New evidence from leading
UBC happiness scholars, however,
cautions against equating more
money with more happiness. If
anything, the truth may be closer to
the sentiments ofthe late Notorious
BIG in his hit rap song "Mo Money
Mo Problems."
WEALTH CAN LIMIT
ABILITY TO SAVOUR LIFE
In the first study of its kind, UBC
psychology researcher Elizabeth
Dunn discovered that wealth and
even thinking about wealth robs a
person of the ability to stay in the
moment and reap enjoyment from
life's daily pleasures. The paper,
"Money Giveth, Money Taketh Away:
The Dual Effect of Wealth," will
appear in a forthcoming issue of the
journal Psychological Science.
"While wealth opens doors to great
experiences, it appears to undercut
people's ability to savour," says Dunn,
an assistant professor in the UBC
Dept. of Psychology.
"We found that wealthier
individuals reported lower ability
to savour," says lead author Jordi
Quoidbach, a visiting PhD student
from Belgium's University of Liege
working in Dunn's lab. In addition
to Dunn, study co-investigators are
Dino Petrides, University College
London, England, and Moira
Mikolajczak, with the Catholic
University of Louvain, Belgium
The researchers recruited more
than 350 working adults to answer
questions about their ability to
savour life in six different situations,
among them finishing an important
task or spending a romantic weekend
away. Respondents were also asked
about their level of happiness, desire
for future wealth and current wealth.
The study primed a number of
participants' thoughts toward money
by displaying a photo of a large
stack of bills in the questionnaire.
Participants in the control group
received a questionnaire with the
same photo of money, but blurred
beyond recognition.
In a related experiment on money
and people's savouring ability,
the researchers timed how long
respondents took to enjoy a piece
of chocolate. Participants were told
they were part of a taste test and
given a questionnaire in a binder
that primed their thoughts with a
photo of money. Participants who
received these binders with the
money photo spent less time eating
the chocolate. They showed lower
levels of enjoyment than the control
group whose binder contained no
such photo.
MONEY MISLEADS
A joint UBC and Harvard Business
School study further illustrates how
people overestimate the impact
of income on life satisfaction. The
researchers looked at nationally
representative data from Americans
across the income spectrum.
UBC assistant professor Elizabeth Dunn explores the dynamics of money.
Economics emeritus professor John Helliwell's work measures the effect of trust on well-being.
Participants were asked to report
their own happiness and to
predict the happiness of others
and themselves at 10 different
income levels, from US$5,000 to
US$1 million. They reported their
predictions using a 0-10 scale
where 0 equals the worst possible
life overall and 10 equals the best
possible life overall. The researchers
then compared the participants'
predictions to existing data on
happiness and income levels.
The study shows that participants
accurately predicted happiness
levels - approaching 7 and 8 - for
people with household incomes of
US$90,000 and above. However,
participants were wide off the mark
when it came to lower-income
households. For example, they
predicted a happiness rating of 4
for people with household incomes
of US$25,000 when existing data
suggest it is closer 6.
"There is a real but modest
relationship between money and
happiness," says lead author Lara
Aknin, a UBC PhD student working
with Dunn, whose findings were
published in the November 2009
issueoftheJournalof Positive
Psychology. "But our studies show
that adult Americans erroneously
believe that earning less than
the median household income is
associated with severely diminished
happiness."
Aknin says such a false belief
may lead many people to chase
opportunities for increased wealth
or forgo a reduction in income
for increased free time to spend
on themselves, family or other
worthwhile endeavours.
On occasion money does buy
happiness - when you share your
wealth with others. In a study that
appeared in Science last year, Dunn
and her colleagues gave people $5 or
$20 in the morning and asked them
to spend it on themselves or other
people by the end ofthe day. People
who were asked to spend the money
on others were happier at the end of
the day.
THE TRUST FACTOR
For UBC economist John Helliwell,
trust is a vital support for better lives.
"If employees are higher by one
point on a 10-point scale in their
assessment of the trustworthiness
of their managers, the effect on
their life satisfaction is equal to a
pay increase of more than 30 per
cent," says Helliwell, who carried out
the groundbreaking work with UBC
graduate student Haifang Huang,
now teaching at the University of
Alberta.
Trust in multiple domains
increases a person's sense of well
being even further, says Helliwell
who is also the co-director of the
Social Interactions, Identity and
Well-Being program at the Canadian
Institute for Advanced Research.
In a paper for the October
2009 Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development World
Forum in Busan, Korea, Helliwell and
UBC economics graduate student
Shun Wang used well-being data
from the Gallup World Poll and the
Canadian General Social Survey.
Both of these surveys also asked
respondents whether their wallets,
if lost, would be returned to them if
found by different individuals such as
neighbours, police and strangers.
"Those who think their lost wallet
would be returned if found by a
neighbour or the police report an
increase in subjective well-being
similar to that associated with an
increase of household income of
about two-thirds," says Helliwell. ■
The UBC museum has completed a $55.5 million renewal, unveiled in January. (Above) A canoe by Haida artist Bill Reid in the Museum of Anthropology's Great Hall.
(Below) Visible storage galleries open up the collection by another 10,000 objects.
The MOA launches a massive digital collection
BY LORRAINE CHAN WITH
FILES  FROM  FRONTIER
MAGAZINE
next month, UBC's Museum
of Anthropology (MOA), the
Musqueam Indian Band, the Sto:lo
Nation, Sto:lo Tribal Council and the
U'mista Cultural Society will launch
the first-ever digital network of more
than 300,000 Northwest Coast
objects.
Called the Reciprocal Research
Network, this Web-based resource
links collections of 12 partner
organizations, including the
Smithsonian Institution in the
U.S., and Oxford and Cambridge in
England.
Designed to foster the exchange
of knowledge, the RNN invites
geographically dispersed users and
institutions - including originating
communities - to carry out individual
or collaborative cultural heritage
research projects.
"This technology makes it possible
to research our cultural heritage held
at museums around the world from
our home communities," says Terry
Point, a Musqueam associate arts
researcher who has been providing
community feedback on the RNN's
design and direction since 2004.
For many Aboriginal communities,
this is the first time they will see
materials and objects that were
previously scattered in museums
across Canada and the world,
rendering them unknown and
inaccessible to the communities that
of Peoples.
The RNN represents a major
cornerstone of MOA's renewal
project, which was unveiled in
January. Other renewal features
include 5,800 square feet of new,
state-of-the-art exhibit space along
with recording studios and sound
booths that will provide a resource
the building, electronic versions can
be created that provide an active
resource in the RNN's database.
"This will create, over time, a
different arena in which researchers
and people in the originating
communities interact."
Such exchanges are already
underway. Recently during the RNN's
For many Aboriginal communities, this is the first
time they will see materials and objects that were
previously scattered in museums across Canada and
the world, rendering them unknown and inaccessible
to the communities that created them.
created them.
"Unlike other museums, we
have always tried to democratize
our practice, and work directly
with communities to represent
communities and let communities
represent themselves," says
Anthony Shelton, Director of MOA,
who for more than five years has
overseen a $55.5-million renewal of
the Museum entitled A Partnership
for preserving Indigenous languages.
These innovations consolidate and
strengthen MOA's place as Canada's
largest teaching museum and a
premier exhibitor of global arts, says
Shelton.
"The RRN provides a mechanism
to digitally repatriate Indigenous
collections and archives," says
Shelton, who notes that instead of
physically removing material from
pilot phase, a Musqueam elder came
across a rattle he recognized as one
used by his family for a cleansing
ceremony. He notified the Cambridge
University curator that such objects
are sacred and are not suitable for
public display.
"It provides an equal playing field
for sharing knowledge," says Point.
"Aboriginal people can bring their
expertise to the table whether it's
cultural specificity or language."
The decolonization of knowledge
is something Shelton hopes the
Museum will start to achieve
as it becomes a resource for
Indigenous communities. To this
end, a new hybrid space within the
Museum houses the visible storage
"multiversity" galleries. More than
10,000 objects in the collection that
were previously difficult to view,
along with their interpretations, are
now presented for the public. The
interpretations are a product of the
Museum's collaboration between
curators and communities, which
Shelton says has generated a new
thesaurus of criteria based on
community preference rather than
museological dictates.
The MOA Partnership of Peoples
Renewal Project is funded by
Canada Foundation for Innovation,
the Province of British Columbia,
the Koerner Foundation, Stewart
and Marilyn Blusson, the Audain
Foundation for the Visual Arts,
Department of Canadian Heritage
through the Canada Cultural Spaces
Fund. 6 | UBC REPORTS | FEBRUARY 3, 20J0
FEBRUARY 3, 20J0 | UBC REPORTS | 7
UBC Olympic legend: GM of first national hockey
team predicts women will lead medal count
BY HEATHER AMOS
BOB HINDMARCH LIKES THE LOOK of
the 2010 Canadian hockey teams.
"I think the characters of the
people they've selected for 2010
are not just individuals, they're very
team-oriented," he says of players
like Scott Niedermayer, Sidney
Crosby and Hayley Wickenheiser.
For Hindmarch, a former athletics
director at UBC, teamwork is the
single most important quality of
an Olympic hockey team - and he
should know.  Hindmarch was the
general manager and assistant coach
for the first national hockey team
that went to the 1964 Olympics in
Innsbruck, Austria.
Canada had returned home from
the 1960 Olympics medal-less in
hockey, a sport Canadians typically
excel in. At the time there was no
national team and the NHL didn't
share its players, "so our best senior
team Canadian champion, the Alan
Cup winner, would usually represent
the country at the Games," he said.
Canada was no match for teams
like Russia, which were filled with
professional players.
In 1963, Hindmarch and the
late Rev. Father David Bauer, who
coached the UBC hockey team and
taught at the university, established
Canada's first national Olympic
hockey team at UBC. The team was
built around a core of UBC students
and the top junior and senior players
in the country. Canada tied for third
at the 1964 Games.
"With their team, they set the
values and goals we still have
for our game - not just for the
national program, but for all hockey
in Canada," says Bob Nicholson,
President and CEO of Hockey
Canada.
Hindmarch, a UBC professor
emeritus in human kinetics, has
attended every Olympics from 1960
to 1998 and served as the Chef
de Mission for the 1984 Sarajevo
Olympics. But the UBC Hall of Famer
never imagined the Olympics would
come to him.  Now that they're in his
own backyard, he says, Vancouver is
going to be hit with excitement.
"People don't really understand the
fun and enjoyment that's going to
happen," says Hindmarch. "The big
UBC Hall of Famer and professor emeritus Bob Hindmarch says teamwork is the top quality for an Olympic hockey team.
thing to do is just to get downtown
and to meet the people and have
some fun."
He knows this Olympics will be a
success and that everyone will get
into the spirit.  He says you just have
to look at the sale of red Olympic
mittens to see that the international
demonstrated over and over again."
But, for the athletes, the Games
are a completely different experience.
"One great, positive item of the
Olympic Games is that it brings
young people together, and they all
get along."
Dances are held in the athlete's
caught up in the idea that they have
to win a medal.
"When I was Chef de Mission
in Sarajevo, I couldn't believe
the pressure," says the Canadian
Olympic Hall of Fame inductee,
who - wait for it - lives on Olympic
Street in the Dunbar neighbourhood.
'With their team, they set the values and goals we
still have for our game - not just for the national
program, but for all hockey in Canada."
competition is a unifier. "Look at the
torch relay, it touched every little
community."
Hindmarch says the games will
highlight every part ofthe country
and people around the world will find
out who Canadians are and what we
are all about.
"Canada will be represented as a very
stable, friendly country and that will be
village and Hindmarch says there's
no other time where a person can
dance with people from so many
different countries around the world
in one night.  He wishes all young
people could have the opportunity to
experience the Games.
But he also understands how
important the Olympics are for the
athletes - they can't help but get
He remembers telling the athletes:
"Don't win a medal for Canada. Go
out and win a medal for you."
To this day Hindmarch remembers
the disappointment of figure
skaters Barbara Underhill and Paul
Martini. The pair were supposed to
win a medal in Sarajevo, but early
in the competition they missed a
compulsory skill and were out of the
running for the podium.
Hindmarch remembers comforting
Underhill and watching the tears
roll down her cheeks.  Later that
year, the skaters won the World
Championships and Hindmarch sent
Underhill flowers with the card: "The
tears of a world champion are still on
my jacket."
In the 2006 Torino Olympics,
Canada came third in medal
standings with seven gold medals.
After a $110 million Own the Podium
initiative, Canada hopes to haul in
a record number of medals in 2010
and win its first gold at an Olympic
Games at home.
The Olympic legend isn't worried
about Canada's 2010 medal count.
"We'll win medals where we don't
think we will," says Hindmarch. And
because ofthe development of
female athletics in Canada relative
to other countries, Hindmarch thinks
"women will win more medals than
men."
Richmond, B.C., native and UBC grad Alexa Loo will compete in front of a hometown crowd.
Hooked on racing: Grad's grace under pressure
BY GLENN  DREXHAGE
ALEXA LOO PREFERS TO PERFORM when
the heat is on. "I kind of work best
with a little pressure and a deadline,"
says the 37-year-old snowboarding
Olympian and UBC grad. "I was never
one ofthose students who had my
projects done ahead of time."
This approach should serve her
well, given the hectic schedule and
Olympic expectations that Loo
faces. In January, the Richmond
native had her best-ever World Cup
results, nabbing the silver in the
parallel giant slalom in Kreischberg,
Austria. Shortly after, Loo was one of
18 athletes named to the Canadian
Olympic snowboarding squad.
She'll be looking to avenge her
performance in the 2006 Torino
Winter Olympics. Expectations were
high, but a fall in the qualifying round
Loo first tried snowboarding when
she was 15 and fell in love with the
sport. In 1995, she joined a racing
club, and the stage was set.
Along the way, she attended
abroad and caroused on Wednesday
nights at the Pit Pub. "I made the
most of my university experience
and I loved it," she said.
Since leaving school, she's been
Since leaving school, she's been able to speak
French and German on the World Cup circuit,
a skill honed by her studies at UBC.
meant that Loo finished in 20th place
and narrowly missed the finals. "I
was devastated," she recalls. But Loo
was also resilient - indeed, she quit
her job and kept racing. "Now I get to
compete for a home crowd!" she says.
UBC, where she earned a Bachelor
of Commerce degree in 1994
(followed by a chartered accountant
designation four years later). She
also rowed and swam on varsity
teams, joined the ski club, studied
able to speak French and German on
the World Cup circuit, a skill honed
by her studies at UBC. And recently,
she used her math and stats training
to keep track of the Canadian
Olympic Team rankings.
In addition to the upcoming
Winter Olympics, another life-
changing event will soon come
Loo's way: a 2010 wedding. Loo
got engaged shortly before her
silver-medal run in Austria. "I
got a new board and a shiny new
engagement ring - the confidence in
my equipment and my personal life
allowed me to ride to my abilities
and get on the podium," she says.
Despite all the big events on the
horizon, she's managed to adopt
a balanced outlook. "I am trying
to keep everything in perspective.
Marriage is the rest of my life, but
the Olympics is one race."
For more, visit www.alexaloo.com. ■
UBC and the Olympics/Paralympics
insane pain continued from cover
when jeff pain describes himself as
a Type A personality, he's not kidding.
After all, the Canadian Olympian
and UBC alumnus specializes in the
skeleton - a heart-stopping event
where racers hurtle face down on
ice-coated tracks and reach mind-
boggling velocities on specialized
sleds that don't have brakes. Speeds
typically range between 110 and 120
After a silver in Torino, Jeff Pain is going for gold in 2010.
kilometres per hour, although Pain
notes that the track in Whistler can
reach up to a fearsome 145 km-h.
The 39-year-old Pain, who
will compete in his third Winter
Olympics at Whistler in February,
recalls the first skeleton ride he took
in November 1994.
"It was exciting for me," he says,
likely with a bit of understatement.
"I only know of two reactions. You
absolutely hate it and never want
to try it again - or you want to do it
every day of your life."
Pain falls into the latter camp,
and he's obviously chosen the right
calling. He finished sixth at the Salt
Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002
(when skeleton was added as a
permanent event) and had a brilliant
silver-medal performance at the
Torino Games in 2006.
Now, he's going for gold in
2010 - something that he attributes
on his website (www.jeffpain.ca)
to "an insane desire to be the best."
"Whatever I try, I want to try and do
my best," he explains, whether that
includes being a top Olympic athlete,
father, husband - or landscapes
which ties into Pain's UBC past.
He was born in Alaska while his
father was there on a job assignment.
Shortly after, the family returned
to his hometown of Calgary. Pain
earned his degree in landscape
architecture at UBC in 1994; during
that time he also trained in track and
field (specializing in high jump) and
served on the executive of a social
ski club for a few years.
During his track training, Pain
considered returning to Calgary
to try the bobsleigh once he was
finished with school. However,
he says he didn't have the right
mentality or body for the event
(bobsleigh features teams of
participants that huddle together in a
large sled). So he opted for the solo
sport of skeleton.
It was a wise move. In addition to
his Olympic achievements, Pain has
won the World Championships twice
and the World Cup title twice. For the
past year and a half, he's put aside his
landscaping work in Calgary to focus
solely on training, his racing schedule
and the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Despite his skeleton success, Pain
maintains that his involvement in
the sport is inspired by more than
accolades and attention. "I do what
I do not to win or have great results,
but instead to discover myself," he
writes on his website. "It does not
matter what arena we choose to play
in, it only matters what we learn
about ourselves along the way." ■
MEDAL WON BY UBC (Ned Pratt, bronze
in doubles rowing, 1932, Los Angeles)
MOST CAREER MEDALS WON BY A
UBC ATHLETE (Kathleen Heddle, rowing,
three gold and one bronze)
MOST MEDALS WON BY UBC ATHLETES
AT A SINGLE OLYMPIC GAMES
(Melbourne, 1956)
MOST MEDALS WON BY A UBC
PARALYMPIC ATHLETE
(Walter Wu, eight gold, swimming)
THE NUMBER OF OLYMPIC ICE HOCKEY
GAMES THAT WILL BE PLAYED AT THE
UBC THUNDERBIRD ARENA
(also known as the Doug Mitchell
Thunderbird Sports Centre) as part of the
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games
ETil
THE NUMBER OF PARALYMPIC ICE
SLEDGE HOCKEY GAMES, including the
gold medal match, that will be played at
UBC Thunderbird Arena as part of the
Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games
THE LARGEST UBC THUNDERBIRD
CONTINGENT TO ATTEND AN
OLYMPIC GAMES (Montreal, 1976)
ALL-TIME MEDALS WON BY UBC
ATHLETES (18 gold, 21 silver, 24 bronze)
HIGHEST ALL-TIME REPRESENTATION
OF UBC ATHLETES IN ONE SPORT
(ROWING) OVER THE GAMES LIFETIME
THE NUMBER OF UBC-AFFILIATED
VOLUNTEERS THAT ARE PART OF THE
UBC WINTER GAMES VOLUNTEER
PROGRAM (accessibility volunteers,
library ambassadors, torch relay
volunteers, volunteer centre volunteers).
These people fill volunteer positions
created and run by the University. I UBC REPORTS | FEBRUARY 3, 20J0
FEBRUARY 3, 20J0 | UBC REPORTS |
Canada dreams of gold
BY GLENN  DREXHAGE
Montreal, 1976: Team Canada wins five silver medals, six bronze - and not a single
gold at the Summer Olympic Games. Next up is Calgary, 1988; this time the tally is
two silver medals, three bronzes . . . and no gold at the Winter Olympics.
Fast forward more than two decades. Once again, the Winter Olympics are on
Canadian soil. And once again, the expectations for gold medals are reaching a
feverish pitch.
But what exactly is the significance of the top-notch prize - for athletes, for
Canada, for sponsors? Is it, shall we say, worth its weight in gold? To find out, we
talked to a few UBC experts about the true value of Olympian ducat for those
Canadians who, hopefully, bring an end to the glitter drought.
What a gold medal means for the winning athlete(s)
Jessica Tracy, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
w
THE UNIVERSITY OK BRITISH COLUMBIA
2010 PRESIDENT'S SERVICE AWARD
FOR EXCELLENCE NOMINATIONS
The committee is seeking nominations
of outstanding staff who have made
distingusihed service to the university.
For a nomination form, please go to
www. ceremonies, ubc. ca
Please mail nominations to:
president's service award for excellence committee
c/o ceremonies office
2nd floor, ponderosa b
campus zone 2
Deadline for nominations is March 5, 2010
my research involves looking at
two different kinds of pride. There's
authentic pride, which is pride that
you feel in your accomplishments,
and which is very genuine. Then
there's hubristic pride, which is more
grandiose and narcissistic. Hubristic
pride can be more defensive; it's the
pride that people feel when they're
a bit insecure underneath it all. And
it has negative outcomes; people
with hubristic pride tend to have
relationship problems, they tend to
be aggressive and hostile.
Certainly, a gold medal win is
going to be a major pride-eliciting
event. For any professional
athlete, there's not much higher an
accomplishment than winning a gold
medal. So of course they will feel
pride on a personal level - whether
it's one type of pride or another
depends on their personality.
The athlete could also feel that
I, as a Canadian, just did something
amazing for my country - and
that's a group identity. If that's the
focus, then they would start to feel
a collective sort of pride - "Look
at what I've done for Canada; as a
Canadian I'm proud of my national
identity."
What a gold medal means to Canadians
Michael Byers, Professor, Canadian Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law.
Also the best-selling author of Intent for a Nation and Who Owns the Arctic?
Canadian athletes will win many
gold medals at the Vancouver Winter
Olympics. This is an easy prediction
to make given that Canada won 24
medals at the 2006 Torino Winter
Olympics, seven of which were gold.
At the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter
Olympics, Canada won 17 medals.
Seven, again, were gold - including all-
important victories in both men's and
women's hockey.
Thevalueof gold
for sponsors
Paul Cubbon, Marketing Instructor,
Sauder School of Business and
Robert H. Lee Graduate School
AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL provides
great opportunity for an athlete's
sponsors. In many ways, it is the
marketing dream, but the investment
in an athlete can also be a risky and
uncertain one for sponsors. Athletes
can lose form, get injured, or just
be unlucky. And there are many
outstanding athletes, but only one gold
medal winner for each event.
For many Canadians, a win in the
gold medal men's hockey game would
be the ultimate medal for Canada to
win. Yet it is unclear whether any one
sponsor can align with the team as a
whole, and so it might be a "Games
Sponsor" rather than an athlete
sponsor that is able to take advantage
of aligning themselves with such a win
in a team sport - and this might be
more a case of reflecting in the glow of
success by association, rather than any
measurable benefit.
An example of a brand that was
very successful in associating with an
athlete - before, during and after a
gold medal win - was Roots with Ross
Rebagliati in 1998 with the famous
In some winter-sport obsessed
countries like Austria, Germany, Italy,
Norway and Switzerland, Canadian
victories will be clearly noted. A win
in men's hockey would reverberate
across Russia, the Czech Republic,
Finland and Sweden (which won in
2006).
But the impact of all our medals will
be felt most at home, in terms of how
Canadians feel about their country.
I remember flying into Vancouver
Airport on February 24, 2002, just
minutes after the Canadian men's
hockey team had soundly defeated
the United States. My taxi driver, an
elderly Sikh man with a heavy accent,
long beard and turban, was absolutely
ecstatic about Canada's victory.
"It's a great moment for our country,"
he said. "I'm so proud to be Canadian."
And I was proud that he was proud.
"poor boy" hat. It is somewhat easier to
leverage a gold medal win to sell more
of an item of clothing than it is, for
example, to sign up banking customers.
A last and separate point concerns
the murky and controversial arena
of "ambush marketing" that has never
been far from these Games. The official
Games sponsors are not necessarily
the same as the sponsors of individual
athletes, or even organizations like
Hockey Canada. But at its extreme,
efforts to prevent ambush marketing
represent an appropriation of
patriotism and winning for select
commercial sponsors.
While it is logical that VANOC
would attempt this to mollify high-
paying official sponsors, it seems to
be an almost impossible line to hold,
as sponsors of athletes and other
companies look to take advantage
of areas that they feel they can
legitimately associate with. These
"non-sponsors" of the Games have
learnt to be more careful about what
they say and how they say it. However,
you can be sure that if an athlete
sponsored by a "non-Games sponsor"
wins a gold medal, then this will be
celebrated, advertised and marketed
aggressively. This might include
national team uniform sponsors (such
as Burton for the U.S. snowboard
team - Burton is not an official Games
sponsor) through to any of a myriad
of other brands that can hope to link
to gold medal success. ■
Rethinking drug development:
A new commitment to global access
BY BRIAN  LIN
UBC RECENTLY BECAME the first
Canadian university to join
Yale, Harvard, the US National
Institutes of Health and other
major institutions as a signatory
to the Statement of Principles
and Strategies for the Equitable
Dissemination of Medical
Technologies. To date, 14 institutions
have pleged to provide developing
countries with better access to drugs
and therapies that originated from
university discoveries.
Angus Livingstone, managing
director of UBC's Industry Liaison
Office, helped craft the principles
with colleagues from US universities
and the Association of University
Technology Managers (AUTM),
offering UBC's experience with
its own Global Access initiative,
launched in 2007.
"The American institutions
were responding to calls from
the student-driven organization,
Universities Allied for Essential
Medicines (UAEM), to leverage
their intellectual property to address
neglected diseases in disadvantaged
regions - much like we did when we
first put together our Global Access
"Biotechnology was the most
apparent use, but in developing our
Global Assess principles we sought
to apply them in the broadest sense
possible, as UBC research has a
stellar track record of addressing
research affordable to people
living in low- and middle-income
countries," says Mike Gretes, a first-
year medical student and chair of the
UBC Chapter of UAEM.
While the AUTM principles
"In encouraging our industry partners to rethink their
practices and the potential positive impact this approach
may have, we're bringing the essence of innovation and
discovery one step further as global citizens."
principles," says Livingstone.
While the AUTM-endorsed
principles focus on drugs and
medical technologies, UBC's
initiative - the first in a Canadian
university - was designed to also
envelop discoveries that could
address some of today's biggest
challenges.
real-world problems, including those
experienced by both developing and
developed nations - food security,
sustainability and the environment,"
says Livingstone.
"We applaud UBC for endorsing
the AUTM Statement of Principles
and for its continued efforts to make
technologies based on university
Pharmaceutical Sciences Prof. Kishor Wasan is halping tackle viseral Leishmaniasis, which affects 12 million people worldwide.
Discovery tackles
neglected disease
BY BRIAN  LIN
THE FIRST APPLICATION of UBC's
Global Access principles tackles
Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL), a
debilitating disease that affects 12
million people worldwide. According
to the World Health Organization, 1.5
million new cases of VL are reported
and close to 60,000 die annually.
In 2000, UBC pharmaceutical
sciences professor Kishor Wasan
discovered that when added to fat,
Amphotericin B (Amp B), a powerful
anti-fungal and anti-parasitic agent,
high levels of the drug can be
delivered to the bloodstream with
no renal toxicity. In use for more
than 50 years to treat VL, Amp B
currently can only be administered
intravenously - a considerable
challenge in cost and delivery.
"As any pharmacist would tell
you, compliance greatly increases
when the drug can be taken orally.
This is especially pertinent when
we consider the population and
regions most affected by VL," says
Wasan, a Distinguished University
Scholar. "Now that we've got a
formulation of a drug that can be
easily administered and is effective
in treating the disease, the next
challenge is getting it to people who
need it the most."
"This oral formulation of Amp B
was a perfect candidate for Global
Access," says Angus Livingstone,
managing director of UBC's Industry
of Liaison Office. "Both Prof. Wasan
and the licensee of this technology,
Vancouver-based iCo Therapeutics,
were enthusiastic about the
opportunity." In addition to agreeing
to provide the drug at subsidized
costs to developing countries, iCo
Therapeutics, is co-funding Wasan's
Research Chair in Drug Delivery
for Neglected Global Diseases with
the Canadian Institutes of Health
Research (CIHR).
The collaboration has since
received support by the Consortium
for Parasitic Drug Development
(CPDD), a Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation grantee, to the tune of
US$180,000. ■
include ambitious elements, such as
ensuringthe production of generic
versions of patented drugs for the
poor, and developing metrics to
gauge the success of access licensing
programs, says Gretes, UBC could
play a leadership role in further
advocating for wider consultation
ofthe principles among university
communities, expansion ofthe
principles to include all medical
technologies and inclusion of more
than a billion of the world's poor
living in middle income countries
such as India, China and Brazil.
"It is gratifying that UBC's
leadership in both technology
transfer and global access principles
are recognized by other institutions
and agencies such as the Gates
Foundation-funded Consortium for
Parasitic Drug Development," says
Livingstone.
"This is especially poignant in
today's dire economic times," he
adds. "But in encouraging our
industry partners to rethink their
practices and the potential positive
impact this approach may have,
we're bringing the essence of
innovation and discovery one step
further as global citizens." ■
The Next
Next Thing.
From Here.
• UBC was ranked best in Canada
and eighth in North America for its
commercialization activities in the Milken
Institute's Mind to Market Report in 2006
• More than 140 spin-off companies have
been created around UBC discoveries
• UBC has more than 250 active licensing
deals for its technologies with companies
around the world
•UBC discoveries have been the basis of
products that have generated more than
$5 billion in sales
• In 2006/07 UBC became the first Canadian
university to receive more than $100 million
in cumulative licensing revenue
• In 2007, UBC became the first Canadian
university to formally adopt Global
Access principles
• Industry spends more than $40 million
each year in research partnerships with
UBC researchers 10 I UBC REPORTS | FEBRUARY 3, 2010
FEBRUARY 3, 2010 | UBC REPORTS | 11
UBC Okanagan's forensic psych group
tackles tough community issues
Entrepreneurship project takes aim at
unemployment in Kenya
BY JODY JACOB
GRADUATE STUDENTS AND FACULTY at
UBC Okanagan have joined forces
to form a Forensic Psychology
Scholar Group that aims to deliver
high-quality, practical education and
research to the community.
The Forensic Psychology Scholar
Group deals with issues at the
intersection of psychology and the
law, delving into topics such as
psychopathy, deception detection,
sex offending, juvenile offending,
eyewitness memory, jury decisionmaking, factors leading to recidivism
(offenders who reoffend), offender
treatment, and the psychological
effects of crime on victims.
"The group provides a network for
research collaboration and aims to
distribute knowledge to the community
that helps the public form evidence-
based opinions about crime and the
justice system," says Julia Shaw, a
PhD student working with faculty on
forensic psychology research.
Shaw, who has a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Simon Fraser University
and a master's degree from the
University of Maastricht, Netherlands,
chose to pursue her PhD at UBC
Okanagan under the guidance of
psychology professor Stephen Porter,
because ofthe university's increasing
reputation for its psychology and law
research.
"UBC Okanagan is establishing
Members of the Forensic Psychology Scholar Group at UBC Okanagan include Tara Carpenter, Erin Hutton, Julia Shaw, Andrea Bennett and Leanne ten Brinke.
a hub for forensic psychology and
there are some really good people
here who are very well-known and
respected in the field," says Shaw.
"This group will further enhance the
learning experience for students, as it
encourages research collaboration and
practical application."
This summer, Shaw will be working
with the John Howard Society of
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the Central and South Okanagan - a
non-profit organization that focuses
on crime prevention, rehabilitation,
reintegration and social justice -
to evaluate their new offender
reintegration program.
"I'll be spending about six months
looking at the reintegration program
trying to answer the question: is the
program working the way the John
Howard Society intends it to work in
preventing re-offence?"
Master's students Tara Carpenter
and Erin Hutton have partnered on
multiple research initiatives with
Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services,
a specialized mental health service
within the Ministry of Children and
Family Development, and are currently
assisting the organization with an
evaluation of their Violent Offender
Treatment Program.
Other graduate student members
ofthe Forensic Psychology Group are
Andrea Bennett, in her second year of
graduate studies focusing on the roles
that pedophilia and psychopathy play
in developing distorted beliefs and
attitudes in sex offenders, and PhD
student Leanne ten Brinke, whose main
area of interest is deception detection
and how facial expressions can be
analyzed to reveal false emotions.
Upcoming planned activities for the
group include a website and monthly
newsletter to distribute throughout the
local legal community highlighting new
research findings and events relating
to forensic psychology.
Faculty members ofthe Forensic
Psychology Group include psychology
professors Stephen Porter, Michael
Woodworth, Jan Cioe, Paul Davies,
Brian O'Connor and Zach Walsh. ■
GREENEST  BUILDING  continued from cover
Robinson also chaired the university's Sustainability
Academic Strategy, which delivered its final report in
October 2009. One of that report's recommendations,
which is moving forward, proposed that CIRS should
serve as the home to the overarching University
Sustainability Initiative (USI). "This will create a single
home for UBC's sustainable activities," Robinson says.
"It's particularly appropriate to take a highly innovative,
new approach and put it in the most sustainable
building in North America."
In addition, this move means that the academic and
operational sides of the sustainability equation will be
represented in a single setting - a rarity at other North
American universities. "It's proven hard to do," notes
Robinson. "They're very different worlds." Indeed,
sustainability is serious to UBC - so much so that it's
listed as one ofthe nine key commitments in Place and
Promise, the University's new strategic plan.
Other research partners at CIRS include Simon Fraser
University, the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design, and
the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Meanwhile,
commercialization opportunities will be explored with
UBC sustainability facts
In 1997, UBC became Canada's first university to adopt a sustainable development policy.
One year later, it was the first Canadian university to open a campus sustainability office.
William Rees, a professor at UBC's School of Community and Regional Planning,
originated the "eco-footprint" concept and continues to develop the method with his graduate students.
As a result of ECOtrek, UBC reduced greenhouse gas emissions in its 277 core buildings
by nearly 6% compared to 1990 levels, despite a 14% increase in floor space.
UBC offers more than 300 sustainability-related courses.
In 2003, 2005 and 2006, UBC was Canada's first and only university to receive
Green Campus Recognition from the U.S.-based National Wildlife Federation.
Carbon Offsetters, a company co-founded by President, CEO and UBC Associate Professor James Tansey,
is the official supplier of carbon offsets for the 2010 Winter Games - a first for the Olympics.
John Robinson
partners such as BC Hydro, Haworth and Honeywell.
CIRS will also encourage public involvement, a move
that Robinson says is crucial. "Community engagement
isn't just desirable in principle...it's actually necessary to
achieve a sustainable future," he notes. "Politicians can't
act to change things without a constituency for that
change. Business can't deliver sustainable products and
services if there isn't a market."
For more information, please visit
www.cirs.ubc.ca ■
BY DEREK MOSCATO
WHEN NANCY LANGTON, associate
professor at UBC's Sauder School of
Business, discusses the economic
environment of the slums of Kibera, in
Nairobi she relays a telling anecdote
about the area's small-business
make-up: Too many hair salons, not
enough of anything else.
That lack of economic diversity -
and the devastating unemployment
picture that goes with is - is one of
the motivators for the UBC business
education program she leads, Social
Entrepreneurship 101: Africa.
Langton annually brings a team of
graduate and undergraduate business
students to Africa to teach aspiring
small-business owners and young
entrepreneurs the fundamentals
of accounting, marketing, human
resources and more, to ultimately
lay down the groundwork of a more
robust economic landscape, and the
jobs that go with it.
The program was originally based
on one designed by Sauder faculty
and delivered to residents in the
Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, the
poorest postal code in Canada. That
program, Entrepreneurship 101, was
first delivered in 2002. Sauder faculty
and students helped residents from
the Downtown Eastside to formulate
business plans, while learning basic
business skills. Entrepreneurship 101
operated out of UBC's Robson Square
site, and provided dinners, childcare,
and bus fare to participants on class
ultimately be used to present to
business partners, banks, or micro-
financing institutions. Since 2006,
more than 225 Nairobi youth have
come through the program.
The program is rooted in the
philosophy that social entrepreneurs
are agents of positive change for
society, and can provide innovative
sustainable solutions to an array of
social problems.
According to Langton, where a
traditional business entrepreneur
seeks to generate profit, a social
entrepreneur is motivated to
generate social value. Aspiring social
entrepreneurs in the UBC program
in Nairobi have been focused on
everything from garbage recycling to
community AIDS education.
The program also engages
traditional small business start-ups.
The kind of enterprises that have
participated in the program include
restaurants, graphic arts firms,
business plan consultants, and sound
system vendors.
"We are looking for businesses that
are unique and that start out with a
competitive advantage," said Langton.
"Our applicants should be innovative
and realistic."
Last year's Social Entrepreneurship
101 team included a mix of UBC
students from wide-ranging
backgrounds, including graduate
student Jonathan Kaida, then
completing his MBA with a
specialization in sustainability. Kaida's
parents are originally from Kenya and
The program was originally based
on one designed by Sauder faculty
and delivered to residents in the
Downtown Eastside of Vancouver,
the poorest postal code in Canada.
nights. Participants were mentored
by undergraduate and MBA students,
and several businesses were started
as a result. The program was funded
through a grant provided by HSBC
and was loosely affiliated with the
UBC Learning Exchange.
When two undergraduate students
approached Langton in the fall of
2005 about doing volunteer work
in Africa, Langton thought that
Entrepreneurship 101 might be a
good model to replicate there. The
UBC initiative in Africa started with
the delivery of business plan training
to youth living in Kibera, the largest
slum in East Africa, in the summer of
2006. The workshops, now entering
their fifth year, educate and enable
Kenyan youth living in Nairobi to start
their own businesses. They are part
of an intense, three-week program
that combines entrepreneurship with
social impact. At the conclusion of
classes, participants have developed
a business plan draft, which can
Tanzania, and after traveling to Africa
in 2008 to help his grandmother build
a house, he applied to be part of the
UBC project. Other students, who
themselves teach in the program,
come from academic backgrounds
such as finance, marketing, and
education.
Increasingly, Langton and her
team have been drawn into assessing
business plans for the purpose of
micro-financing opportunities, a
burgeoning financial trend in Kenya
and other African countries.
She has made many presentations
to Kenyan church parishioners about
the virtues of various business
ventures that have come through
the UBC program, and their micro-
financing-worthiness. Langton
notes that church parishioners also
have been participating in the post-
program, which provides mentorship
and support for the small-business
participants in Nairobi after the
conclusion of classes.
Professor Nancy Langston takes business students to Africa to teach a spring small-business owners program.
"It's a way of helping the community
help their own youth," she says.
But her program pitch isn't just
being extended to the churches of
Nairobi. Back in Canada, she's also
encouraging engagement from the
UBC community.
"There are so many ways to be
involved with this project," she said.
"We can use people who can help
us with writing grants, marketing,
curriculum development, with
mentorship, with micro-financing
ideas. There are lots of ways to be
involved."
Follow the Social Entrepreneurship
101 Africa program at:
http://www.africa.sauder.ubc.ca
Twitter: SEIOIAfrica ■
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accommodation
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www.vst.edu
604-322-6398 12    |    UBC    REPORTS    |    FEBRUARY   3,    2010
Fit for the Games:
Athletes aren't the
only ones training
BY GLENN  DREXHAGE
A HUSBAND-AND-WIFE TEAM at
UBC is helping ensure that Games
volunteers are in tip-top shape.
Darren Warburton and Shannon
Bredin have developed Getting
Games Fit - a 12-week interactive
program designed to boost the
health ofthe 25,000 Games
volunteers. "It is our aim to reduce
the risks for common Games-related
injuries such as sprains, strains and
fractures, and heart attacks," says
Warburton. "To our knowledge, this
is the first-ever program of this
nature for the Winter Olympic and
Paralympic Games."
Warburton is an associate
professor and director of UBC's
Cardiovascular Physiology and
Rehabilitation Laboratory, while
Bredin is an assistant professor
and director of the Cognitive and
Functional Learning Laboratory.
Their preventative Games
program anticipates the volunteer
injuries that can occur. At the
2006 Winter Games in Torino, for
example, more than 55 per cent of
medical incidents originated with the
volunteer workforce. Common issues
include injuries to shoulders, the
lower back, knees and ankles - plus
"cardiovascular events," such as heart
ailments.
The duo's inspiration for Getting
Games Fit came from Jack Taunton,
the Chief Medical Officer for
Vancouver 2010 and a professor in
UBC's Division of Sports Medicine.
Previous winter games have
experienced high injury rates in
volunteers, due to factors such as
fatigue, lack of sleep and fitness, the
repetitive nature of some tasks, and
trips and falls that can be caused
by snow, ice, errant cables and
other hazards. "It was the vision of
Dr. Taunton to reduce the risk for
adverse events in our volunteers,"
Warburton says.
As preparation, Warburton and
Bredin travelled to Whistler to
evaluate the demands of the various
snow-based volunteer activities.
These could include shovelling snow
with shovels ranging in weight from
seven to 44 kilograms; walking up
ski hills; dyeing snow on skis with a
16-litre backpack pressure sprayer;
raking and packing snow; and other
strenuous tasks.
Thousands are making use of the
voluntary program, which began in
November and continues throughout
the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Here's how it works: volunteers are
asked to assess their fitness levels
and answer a series of questions
regarding their lifestyle behaviours.
Based on the outcome, they are
UBC's Darren Warburton and his wife Shannon Bredin are helping Games volunteers get healthy.
assigned one of three tailored
program levels and put in contact
with qualified exercise physiologists
(recent graduates of UBC who
have received specialized training).
Exercise guidelines are provided
online or in-person, and participants
can access more than 100
documents and videos to assist with
training. Common workouts include
running, swimming, brisk walking
and strengthening exercises. Experts
also offer motivational tips, answer
questions and assist with referrals to
others, such as registered dietitians.
So far, Warburton says the
program has been a big success,
with the general fitness levels of
participants increasing by about 30
per cent. And if all goes well, this
is just the beginning. "The Getting
Games Fit program is an important
legacy of the 2010 Games," says
Warburton. "I am extremely proud of
what we are doing, and envision that
this will serve as the model for future
Games." ■
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA PRESENTS
SPORTandSOCIETY
Provocative dialogues with Olympic & Paralympic athletes
who have used their celebrity to make a difference in the world.
SPORT, ETHICS AND TECHNOLOGY
Is High Performance Sport inconsistent with Ideals
and Ethics?
RICHARD POUND - former Olympic athlete, McGill
Chancellor and former president of the World Anti-Doping
Agency.
DR. JIM RUPERT - Associate Professor, School of Human
Kinetics at UBC.
BECKIE SCOTT - former Olympic athlete and current
member ofthe IOC.
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SPORT, PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT
How Can Sport Contribute to Positive Social Change?
Presented by Merck and Right to Play
JOHANN OLAV KOSS - President and CEO of Right To
Play and 4-time Olympic Gold Medalist. STEPHEN LEWIS
- Chair of the Board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
WILFRIED LEMKE - Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-
General on Sport for Development and Peace.
BENJAMIN NZOBONANKIRA -former child refugee
from Burundi and current Coach Trainer with Right To Play.
PROFESSOR STEPHEN TOOPE - 12th President and
Vice-Chancellor of UBC.
8PM
SPORT AND INCLUSION
Are Major Sporting Events Inclusive of First Nations
and Other Groups?
WANEEK HORN-MILLER - former Olympic athlete,
activist, speaker and television personality. SHIRLEY &
SHARON FIRTH - the first aboriginal women to represent
Canada at the Olympic Games.
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8PM
SPORT AND CHALLENGE
Is Anything Possible?
RICK HANSEN - CC, O.B.C, President and CEO of
the Rick Hansen Foundation. DR. BRUCE MCMANUS
- Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory
Medicine at UBC. PAT JARVIS - former Paralympic athlete
and member of the International Paralympic Committee.
MARCH 10 at 1PM Afternoon Academic Session
PEAK PERFORMANCE
The Path to Exceptional Athletic Achievement
Join leading experts for an afternoon focused on the
hottest issues in science and sport and the implications
8PM
V.;
SPORT, LEGACY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Is it Worth It?
DR. BRUCE KIDD - former Olympic athlete and
Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education at
the University of Toronto.
DEREK WYATT - elected Member of Parliament in
the U.K. and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary London
2012 Olympic and Paralympic Group.
ALL EVENTS TAKE PLACE AT THE CHAN CENTRE
FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS.
TICKETS are available through Ticketmaster
www.ticketmaster.ca
Sport, Peace and Development:
$25 general admission, $15 seniors/students
Peak Performance is a free ticketed event.
All other events: $10.
TWITTER @UBCComAff #UBCSpSo
More information: www.communityaffairs.ubc.ca
or www.chancentre.com
|UBC|      a place of mind
7&;CHAN CENTRE
FOR THE PERFOMAINS ARTS