November 2003




SNO leader wins top Canadian science prize
Dr. Arthur McDonald of Queen’s University, the driving force for the Sudbury Neutrino Project, has been named winner of the 2003 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. The prize guarantees that Dr. McDonald will receive $1 million in research funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). “Thanks to his great abilities as a scientist, mentor, leader and coordinator, we have an amazing scientific facility in Sudbury, and Canada is recognized as a major training ground for particle, nuclear and astrophysicists from around the world,” said NSERC President Tom Brzustowski. “We are thrilled that Art and the SNO team have been recognized with this tremendous Canadian honour,” says Queen’s Vice-Principal (Research) Kerry Rowe. For photos and more background information on all the award winners, visit http://www.nserc.ca/about/award_e.htm.

Laurentian kicks off Advanced Networking Days
ORION and CA*net 4 kicked off their fall series of Advanced Networking Days in Sudbury earlier this month, setting the stage for a broad outreach campaign to Ontario’s advanced research and education community. Several organizations sent representatives to the workshop, hosted by Laurentian University on Nov. 13. Several organizations sent representatives to the workshop, hosted by Laurentian University on Nov. 13. ORION Board member and President of Contact North Maxim Jean Louis noted that “ORION is here, now, and it is operational. Our challenge is to move quickly to adapt to this new technology, and make the most use of this new gateway to research and discovery in Ontario, especially here in the north.” Presentations included an overview of Laurentian University’s research activity and a look at the types of advanced applications and collaborative research activities that are now made possible because of ORION and the CA*net 4 networks. The sessions continue in Toronto, Hamilton and London in December. For more information, visit the ORION – CA*net 4 Advanced Networking Days web site, at http://www.orion.on.ca/orioncanet4days.html.

New northern IT and videoconference network
New funding announced earlier this month will establish a regional information technology and video-conference network, linking northeast and northwest Ontario. The project, a partnership between St. Joseph's Health Centre (SJHC) in Sudbury and St. Joseph's Care Group (SJCG) in Thunder Bay, will receive FedNor funding of $175,405. The project will enable the long-term care facilities to collaborate with each other and with Laurentian University, Thunder Bay Hospital, the NORTH Network, and the new Northern Ontario Medical School. The new network will also connect them with Lakehead University, the Northeastern Ontario Medical Education Corporation and the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research, to provide educational and research opportunities for students and faculty and for SJHC and SJCG staff.

U.S. builds optical network similar to ORION
A group of U.S. universities recently announced plans to build a $100-million infrastructure - similar to ORION - for experimental research on optical networks and other types of advanced scientific, engineering, and medical research. National LambdaRail Inc. is the non-profit consortium overseeing the project. It includes the Internet2 consortium and CENIC - the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California. “For the first time, the research community has acquired a national dark fiber footprint that can concurrently support network research at the optical, switching, routing, middleware, and application layers. NLR is lighting the first fiber pair with an optical Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network capable of transmitting up to 40 simultaneous light wavelengths (‘lambdas’ or ‘waves’) each at 10 gigabits per second (Gbps),” said NLR in its announcement. "Our colleagues in the U.S. are doing exactly what we have done here in Ontario,” said Phil Baker, President and CEO of ORION. “NLR is an not-for profit, infrastructure-based research and education optical network. The difference is that we’ve nearly completed our network. Ontario is well ahead of the US in building an advanced network like ORION.” Find out more on the NLR at http://www.nationallambdarail.org.


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