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Spring 2010 Issue I

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CO-OP: SO MUCH MORE THAN A FOUR MONTH JOB

The UAE Experience Going Green Yale + WaterlooChoosing the Right Career and more...

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The Inside sCo-op is a bi-monthly student e-publication released through Co-operative Education & Career Services at the University of Waterloo.

Scaling Cultural (and Co-op) Heights ... 3Two students discover work and culture halfway across the world

Editor: Matthew Mendonca

Staff Editor: Olaf Naese, Communications & Public Relations Administrator, CECS

Photos: Emily Hay, Nicholas Holroyd, Chris Hughes, Olaf Naese, Lisa Ter Woort

It’s Easy Being Green ... 5 Find out how one student is making a positive impact on

LoyaltyOne and our environment

Are you a student of the year? ... 2Want to become the next Student of the Year? Of course you do!

Find out if YOU have what it takes

Sustainability in canada ... 6A timeline of Canada’s environmental history

Tales From Yale ... 7Hear about co-op life in New Haven for two Waterloo

Science co-op students

Choosing a career ... 8It’s never easy to plan your future. Career Services helps

with a five-step action plan

INSIDE sCO-OP: CONTENTS

INSIDE sCO-OP: CREDITS

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Interested in new and different co-op and post-graduate career opportunities? Check out the Employer Information Session calendars to find out when your future employer is presenting on campus. http://cecs.uwaterloo.ca/students/sessions.php

Need to brush up on your interview skills? Or perhaps you’re interested in grad school opportunities? The Student Workshop Calendar is your guide to important sessions tak-ing place here at CECS. https://strobe.uwaterloo.ca/cecs/cs/index.php?page=Public.Workshops

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Have a suggestion for the next Inside sCo-op? Think you have a sCo-op worthy co-op experience? E-mail olaf@uwaterloo.ca now! We’d love to hear your ideas!ARE YOU THE NEXT

STUDENT OF THE YEAR?CECS Reminders

First call for any outstanding students who have completed a work term in the 2010 year. Candidates must have ...

• received an “outstanding” evaluation during the 2010 year

• maintained an average of 75% or better• contributed to an employer and co-op education• taken on leadership roles on-campus or in the

community

Visit http://cecs.uwaterloo.ca/students/SOTYaward.php for more information about the nomination process.

Hello Fellow Co-op Students!

It is around this time of year I wish my office had a window. With the sun shining bright and the rising temperature (with very little humidity, might I add), it makes me forgot all about winter. Long gone are the unrelenting snowstorms and the frigid walks to work. (Okay, per-haps I’m being overdramatic; it wasn’t that bad of a winter.) But as I say goodbye to Mother Nature’s most unforgiving season, I’m getting in my bathing suit, slopping on the SPF 30 and getting ready to hit the… books.

Yes, I am heading back to campus this summer for school – something all of you have, or soon will experience. Sure, while I’m attending a three hour lecture, the Laurier population is work-ing on their tan. But rather than complain (I’ll get my Vitamin D on weekends), I’m looking at the bigger picture – I will be graduating with a co-op degree and almost two full years of relevant work experience.

This issue is all about the “bigger picture”, and how Waterloo co-op is more than just a four or eight month job. You will read about two students who worked halfway across the world and discovered an entirely unique culture along the way. Just south of the border, Waterloo Science students are making a splash at Yale, broadening their understanding of the human brain. Back home, one Environment student is working hard while reducing her company’s carbon footprint. If you want to start looking at a bigger and better future, check out our Career Corner section on career decision-making.

So, while I may be missing out on catching some rays this summer, I know I’ll have the last laugh when I retire comfortably in Florida.

Enjoy,

Matthew

Matthew Mendonca,Media & Publications Associate, CECS2A Rhetoric andProfessional Writing

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SCAlingCultural(anD Co-op)

HEIGHTS

t has been said if you stand atop the uppermost floor of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai – the world’s tallest man-made structure – you can see the turn of the earth.

This, along with dazzling skyscrapers and artificial islands (yes, that’s correct), make the United Arab Emirates a visual wonder of the world.

It’s hard to believe this country of almost seven million people, hosting one of the largest oil reserves in the world, was once economically dependent on the declining fish-ing and pearling industry. Ever since the 1960s, when Abu Dhabi (one of the seven emirates) began exporting oil, the major metropolises – like the cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi – began a radical process of urbanization. The end result was almost unrecognizable.

Now a manmade oasis, the UAE has transformed into a mecca for tourists with expensive taste. A significant part of their economy is dependent upon tourism revenue, but the Emirates have attracted a large influx of workers in the oil and manufacturing industries in recent years. However, just like the rest of the world, the UAE was hit hard by the recession.

Once again, proving the tenacity and resilience of Water-loo’s co-op students, over a dozen students found jobs in the UAE despite the bleak economic forecast.

Meet two exceptional students who just finished their work terms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Emily Hay worked at the Waterloo campus in Dubai promoting co-op to local employers and helping the school’s first class prepare for their first work terms. Meanwhile, Nicholas Holroyd found his own employment at one of the largest civil engineering firms in the world. Both students share their work, cultural and life experiences with the sCo-op.

By Matthew Mendonca

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mily Hay had never travelled to the Middle East. Always wanting to experience in-

ternational travel, the prospect of working in the UAE for four months was both exciting and unfamiliar. Working as the Co-op Assistant and Recruitment Specialist for the Waterloo campus in Dubai, Emily spread the “good word” about Wa-terloo co-op in the UAE.

Working on-site, Emily, 3B Social Development Studies, took on an advisor role to the co-op students on campus – many of whom have little or no prior work experience. With the vanguard class of 21 stu-dents fascinated about co-op (and life) in Canada, Emily answered any and all questions they had. She assisted the students with writing résumés and cover letters, as well as coordinating job interviews.

However, Emily faced bigger chal-

lenges than just educating the stu-dents about the Canadian socio-cul-tural milieu. Because “co-op” is such a foreign concept in the UAE, her recruitment team faced difficulties educating Dubai employers about the benefits of hiring from Waterloo. This process involved cultivating relationships in particular industries (oil and energy) and communicating why it is beneficial to hire a co-op student.

Through both her work and her downtime, Emily discovered a culture completely different from her own. “It’s interesting,” she says, “because while very westernized, Dubai is full of traditions and Arabic cultural customs.”

According to Emily, Dubai is very multicultural. “Every day you are able to hear so many different languages spoken and cultures represented,” she says. “It’s so in-

teresting to be on the beach and see women dressed in full, wearing Abayas, and then others in typical beachwear. Such a contrast, yet all the norm.”

Emily even got the chance to tour neighbouring countries, and de-scribes the experience as “breath-taking and unforgettable”.

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EAST MEETS WEST

Emily Hay (right) with Rocco Fondacaro, CECS, in Dubai

icholas Holroyd may not have faced quite the culture shock that our friend Emily

did upon arriving in the UAE for his first work term. Having family in the city of Abu Dhabi (the second larg-est city in the UAE), not to mention attending high school there, helped this 1A Chemical Engineering stu-dent feel right at home. Literally.

Nicholas worked at Bechtel, a major

civil engineering firm in the Khalifa Port & Industrial Zone (KPIZ) – a massive 420 square kilometer con-struction site just outside Abu Dha-bi. Bechtel has numerous contracts running on the KPIZ, but Nicholas worked on a project involving the construction of a seawater intake and return system for a large alumi-num smelter.

“When I got here, I didn’t have a firm set of duties like most positions on JobMine come with,” Nicholas says. As an intern, he assisted with office work and was tasked with a job most first year co-op students (no matter where you are in the world) know all too well – data entry.

Upon arriving, there was eight months worth of pipe installation information that needed to be categorized electronically. Bechtel created internal software that sped up the graphing and forwarding of

information. Problem was, no one on site had learned how to use it.

Teaching himself the software and backfilling the program with the archive of information, Nicholas became the resident “go-to” guy for the program. His managers took notice. Eventually, he ended up run-ning training sessions for all of the engineers on site, including one-on-one tutorials for senior employees. The benefit was immediately appar-ent; data entry now took a matter of minutes, and the program spread to over 23 different contracts by the end of his term. (When he started, only two were using the program!)

As Nicholas says, “You must be do-ing something right on your co-op term when you’re teaching the high-est ranking employees how to run their own quantities tracking pro-gram.” Too right you are, Nicholas.

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NOn the job “training”

Nicholas Holroyd (centre) along-side his Bechtel colleagues

Forget Birkenstocks, oversized purses, and UGG boots. In today’s 5¢ plastic bag and “I am not a paper cup” world, going green is the only trend here to stay. But believe it or not, despite the eco-friendly revolution that has exploded in the last decade, sustainability and environmental conservation in Canada’s history can be traced back hundreds of years. From the birth of Can-ada’s first national park, to the climate change activism of David Suzuki, environmentalists have been hard at work preserving ecosystems for years.

But now that it is fashionably chic to go green, more and more industrial and corporate businesses are look-ing to hire environmental consultants to help compa-nies trim their carbon footprint. And they are looking no further than Waterloo.

In the Winter term of 2010, Britney Niedzielski, 3B Envi-ronment and Resource Studies, worked as a Corporate Sustainability Co-ordinator for LoyaltyOne (the com-pany behind asking if you collect AirMiles at the gro-cery store checkout). As the inaugural employee in this position, Britney had the delight of collaborating with the VP of Corporate Sustainability and Facilities Man-agement on almost all of the company’s green devel-opments. She even got to tackle a project on her own, which she lovingly referred to as her “baby”.

Before Britney’s arrival, LoyaltyOne was already one

step ahead of the sustainability game. The company began implementing LEED certified workspaces across the country. (For those not down with the eco-lingo, that’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – an eco-friendly building rating system) The roof of their Mississauga building has the largest solar panel array of its kind in Canada, with a whopping 800 panels.

With an environment student onboard, LoyaltyOne ex-panded their green initiatives with Britney as their go-to girl. She worked on carbon reports, communicating sus-tainability events to all associates, and continually updat-ing the internal sus-tainability website. Britney even as-sisted with the new World Wildlife Fed-eration’s (WWF) “Living Planet @ Work” project. This pilot aimed to edu-cate and motivate employees to save on electricity cost with easy ways to conserve energy around the office.

On top of her ongoing commitment to LoyaltyOne’s eco-projects, Britney led the launch of an improved recycling pro-gram for the entire Toronto head office of over 1,000 5 6

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IT’S EASY BEING GREENSorry, Kermit. Being green has never been easier (or more popular).

By Matthew Mendonca

Britney at the launch of herrecycling program

“There is so much information out there about ‘going green’ and businesses need help understanding it all.”

(cont’d on pg. 6)

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SUSTAINABILITY in CANADA

(cont’d from pg. 5) employees. She introduced single stream recycling, biodegradable food packaging recy-cling, and even got her entire office to compost organic food waste. Quite a feat for a team of over a thousand! Even more impressive? The invaluable education that she has provided to her co-workers.

“There is so much information out there about ‘going green’ and businesses need help understanding it all,” Britney says. Her recycling project, which launched April 19, 2010, was accompanied by ten information ses-sions hosted by Britney herself. She explained how the recycling initiative would operate, and why it is so im-

portant (and so easy!) to contribute to the conservation of our planet – especially when working at such a large corporation. The launch was a success. Britney says “[she] even had employees volunteer as recycling moni-tors in the cafeteria to help people sort their lunches into the correct bins”.

Combining what she has learned in her Environment and Resource Studies classes and her past co-op jobs, Britney was able to sift through all of the information and make sure what she was doing was truly reducing LoyaltyOne’s carbon footprint. Clearly “going green” has never been easier.

Canada creates a reserve that later becomes Banff National park, Canada’s first national park

The first International Joint Commission speaks of perilous water pollution in the Great Lakes

Creation of the World Wild-life Fund to protect animals and plants threatened with

extinction

Canada creates the Department of Environment

Canada plays host to the first World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere,

publicizing the issue of climate change

The Ocean’s Act is intro-duced in an attempt to

control the exploitation of living and nonliving aquatic

resources

The Green Energy Act is designed and implemented

to accelerate the use of wind and solar energy

across Canada

1885 1918 1961 1971 1988 1997 2009

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“Going green” isn’t entirely new-age thinking. Here’s a snapshot ofCanada’s environmental history:

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TALES When Yale University, one of the top three schools in the entire world, chooses to hire researchers from their Canadian competition, you know our Waterloo students are doing something right! Meet two co-op students from the Faculty of Science who conducted research at the Yale School of Medicine on their co-op work term. The sCo-op asked Darshani Singh and Iryna Voytyuk to share their Yale experience with their fellow co-op students.

What is it about the human brain that makes us hu-man? Why does our closest evolutionary relative, the chimpanzee, share so much of our DNA yet lack higher cognition? There are no simple differences in the frontal cerebral cortex (the part of the brain that is responsible for higher cognitive function) at a gross anatomical level that can account for our unique cognitive ability. For my co-op job, I, along with my team at the Sestan laboratory at Yale, inves-tigated how neuronal identities and synaptic circuits form during brain development, as well as how they have changed during the evolution of the mamma-lian brain.

As a student researcher, I worked firsthand on ex-tracting RNA from brain tissue. Differences in RNA expression can lead to different gene expression levels. By analyzing the differences in gene expres-sion levels during development, our team gained insight as to how the human brain develops. Also, we investigated species-specific evolutionary changes in neuronal gene expression that may be significant in the evolution of the human frontal cerebral cortex.

In addition to conducting re-search, I worked alongside re-searchers from around the world. I attended guest lectures and semi-nars by researchers and special-ists in the field of neurobiology. And to top it all off, I had a won-derful time exploring the historic and picturesque Yale campus. It was a once in a lifetime opportu-nity - well, twice if you count my return this summer!

Before leaving to the U.S., I remember meeting with my Employment Advisor, Cathy Stein, who told me to “make the most of this experience”. This is exactly what I have tried to do.

During my last co-op term, I had the incredible op-portunity of working at Nenad Sestan’s laboratory at the Yale School of Medicine. At first, I couldn’t believe that an undergraduate student like me would be accepted to work at such a prestigious school. My excitement about this job persisted from the moment I found out that I was selected until my last day at Yale. My supervisor assigned projects that were both interesting and challenging; I found myself engaged to the point where I did not consider it “work.” Not only did I get a chance to study the most current mysteries of brain development, but I also got to do it with co-workers that were, quite frankly, brilliant.

The calibre of people you are exposed to at Yale Uni-versity is striking. Practically every day, experts from

all over the world spoke about their most recent research. I attended numerous talks in order to broaden my scientific knowledge as well as to interact with people from dif-ferent fields. Yale also organizes many social events, such as trips, concerts and dinners. One day, new friends and I enjoyed a classical music concert in the same building where we work. Overall, my se-mester at Yale was a time of great professional and personal growth.

YALEFRom

By Iryna Voytyuk3A Biotechnology/Economics

Twice in a lifetime making the most of yaleBy Darshani Singh3A Biochemistry, Science and Business

Darshani (left) and Iryna (right)outside Yale’s School of Medicine

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WHY CHOOSING A CAREERIS NOT LIKE CHOOSING A CAR

hy is it that most people spend more time deciding which car to buy than they do choosing a career?

Simply put: career decision-making is hard work!

Co-op students have the upper hand: The integration of work and school provides the opportunity to test the waters of potential full-time careers. But the alternating cycle of four months of school and four months on the job can be dizzying. And before you know it, it’s time to graduate. Now what do you do?

The work experience accumulated over your co-op terms is only beneficial to a future career if you plan well in advance. It is crucial to plan future career or post-graduate plans early on. Delaying this decision-making process can put you in a situation where your job feels meaningless.

It can be daunting to sit down and make the “big decision” about your future. The good news: it’s not as black and white as buying a car. Career decision-making is an on-going, nonlinear process. Combine past experiences with current interests, and you can begin to make rational choices. To start things off, Career Ser-vices has assembled a five step program to get you on the right track for achieving your dream career.

A clear idea of where you are going is the only way to make a proactive decision. To be successful, you must have a strong desire to achieve your goals. However, at this point, don’t limit yourself. Take an honest look at what you like to do and your needs for the future. Cre-ating a vision goes beyond your dream job title. Start by asking yourself the following questions:

•IfIwereguaranteedtoearnagoodliving,what type of work would I do?•WherewouldIlive?•Whatwouldmyworkandpersonalrelationshipsbe like?•WhatkindoflifestylewouldIhave?

Yes, realistic goals are important. But don’t assume your passion is unachievable. Assess the risk involved with your top options. What’s the worst that could happen if you pursue this path? What’s the best? Are there any

long-term consequences to this decision? Understand-ing (and being comfortable with) all the necessary pre-cautions is the only way you can progress. Create a list of ideal occupations (or post-graduate opportunities) and compare it to your lifestyle vision.

After putting your vision through a reality check, you will naturally eliminate a few of those occupations. Nar-row down and assess your occupational alternatives by prioritizing them according to their compatibility with your overall vision. Pay attention to those gut reactions! Are you sensing excitement? Logic is good, but your in-nate instinct is also important. Once you make a tenta-tive choice, it’s time to set a goal and achieve it.

A positive attitude is the biggest determinant of suc-cess when striving for goals. To make life easier, don’t set an unrealistic goal. Think SMART (Specific, Measur-able, Achievable, Realistic, Time specific). Set a goal that is within reach and has a specific deadline (i.e. “June 30, 2012”, not “in the near future”). Perhaps your goal will be to land a specific job in your desired field within two years upon graduating.

To achieve that one goal, you need to follow an ac-tion plan. These are short-term, attainable steps that slowly build your vision. Co-op students have a variety of outlets to initiate an action plan. Consider trying to land a job on your next co-op term that will help you develop relevant skills. Or perhaps you should focus on taking courses in specific subjects that pertain to your field of interest. Whatever you decide, make these goals relevant, achievable and realistic.

Reflect back on your plan and ask yourself: Am I on the right track? Take every step one day at a time as you move towards your larger vision. Celebrate all of our ac-complishments and milestones, and don’t forget the big picture; keep in mind that the intermediate steps will ultimately lead to achieving your vision. Unlike buing a car, career decision-making is an ongoing and constant-ly changing process.

1. CREATE A VISION

2. MAKE A DECISION

3. sET A GOAL

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We’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg!For more information, consult the eManual at

http://cdm.uwaterloo.ca/index.asp

4. dEVELOP A PLAN

5. tAKE ACTION

By Matthew Mendonca

By Iryna Voytyuk3A Biotechnology/Economics