The University of Windsor hosted the fourth annual Communitech Code to Win preliminary challenge on Friday, Sept. 27, bringing students from the University and St. Clair College to the CAW Student Centre to compete.

The national competition, enabling students to showcase their coding skills across several Canadian universities, was sponsored by the School of Computer Science and the Office of Co-operative Education and Workplace Partnerships.

Although the event could be completed virtually, the University wanted to continue the tradition of offering a dedicated in-house event for students to come together under one roof to demonstrate their passion for coding.

“Over 180 students registered for the event which made for the largest attended group we have had to-date for this coding challenge,” said Johanna Beneteau, internship co-ordinator in Co-operative Education and Workplace Partnerships. “It was interesting to see the expression on the students’ faces; they were focused and very engaged. You could tell participants were immersed in the exercise and wanted to do well.”

Ziad Kobti, director of the School of Computer Science, kicked off the event, and the University’s Communitech ambassador, computer science student Noah Campbell, provided instructions on the challenge.

In a month’s time, organizers will announce the top performers across Canada, who qualify for the finals in January 2020 and have a chance to win $5,000, network with sponsor companies, and explore the Waterloo Region tech community.

Karan Singla, Master of Applied Computing student, noted that the competition questions were set to high standards.

“For me, it was not about winning, but to encourage the coding spirit which I loved,” he said. “I did get an idea what top employers may be looking for and what I need to work on.”

Second-year computer science major Joshua Gehl, said the challenge was difficult but fun.

“It gave me insight into what my future interviews may look like,” said Gehl. “I hope to compete again in the future.”

In addition to coding and pizza provided by the School of Computer Science, students enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about local organizations, visiting booths displayed by EPICentre, Hackforge, the Windsor chapter of Women in Cyber Security, and WEtech Alliance.

The recipe for designing better auctions, allocating the costs of mass transit fairly, or even distributing free concert tickets could flow from the latest research by a UWindsor economics professor.

Christian Trudeau, along with a research partner in the Netherlands and another in the United States, is studying what economists like him call “mechanism design and surplus sharing with externalities.” In plain language, it means designing substitutes for markets where markets are not feasible or inefficient.

“We study the problem in a purely theoretical manner,” said Dr. Trudeau. “While theoretical, the results we obtain will help deepen our understanding and provide new tools for many real-world situations.”

He offers the examples of the provision of health insurance, the design of auctions to allocate wireless spectrum licences, the identification of situations more likely to allow firms to collude, and the determination of fair compensation to the communities where gas pipelines are located.

Trudeau and his co-authors are using algebra and calculus to come up with designs — if they exist — with certain axioms. They are looking for designs:

• that yield efficient outcomes;
• where the players aren’t envious of each other;
• where the players participate voluntarily;
• where enough money is collected to pay the bills; and
• where it’s not in the players’ interest to lie.

By making sure that participants have no interest in lying, the theoretical work can be used by lawmakers to avoid unintended consequences resulting from participants trying to game the system. Variations have been used to design the mechanisms for college admissions and the school voucher system in the United States. Similar work, used to improve the organ donation system in the United States, won a pair of economists the 2012 Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Trudeau said the research initially will be of interest to other economists and scholars, perhaps making its way into course curricula.

“Over time, these findings could help organizations in need of such mechanisms.”

The value of the research has been recognized by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, which awarded Trudeau a grant of $59,500 over five years. Trudeau said he expects the research will spawn at least nine journal articles, as well as textbook chapters.

“We hope that this will trickle down to a more general audience and eventually end up in the hands of government and non-governmental organization officials who can implement this theory.”

─Sarah Sacheli

There is plenty to please fans of Lancer athletics this weekend, with contests at home and on the road.

Lancer basketball will host the Laurier Golden Hawks Saturday, Oct. 26 in the Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse.

The women’s squad will play at 6 p.m., following a dominant performance in the season opener, defeating Western 94-68 Wednesday, led by Olivia Osamusali’s 24 points. Read an account of that game at goLancers.ca.

The Lancer men dropped their game against the Mustangs 76-73. Read “Lancers edged by Mustangs in Windsor.” The men will tip off Saturday at 8 p.m.

Men’s hockey will host two Toronto rivals this weekend, facing off against the York Lions on Friday, and the Ryerson Rams on Saturday. The puck will drop for both games at the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Centre at 7:30 p.m.

Women’s hockey will travel to Toronto to play the Ryerson Rams on Friday and the Varsity Blues on Saturday.

Cross country will compete in the Ontario University Athletics championship meet in Hamilton on Saturday.

Volleyball will open regular season play with a pair of matches on the road — in St. Catharines on Friday to meet the Brock Badgers and then heading over to Hamilton to play the McMaster Marauders on Saturday. The women play at 6 p.m. and the men at 8 p.m. both days.

The post-season has come to an end for men’s soccer with a first-round exit Wednesday, falling 4-3 to Brock on a penalty kick in the 119th minute. Midfielder Tanner Page scored all three Windsor goals. Read “Men’s Soccer loses heartbreaker to Brock in OT.”

Eighty-eight Lancer student-athletes achieved grade-point averages of at least 80 per cent last year while competing in varsity sports, earning the title Academic All-Canadians.

UWindsor provost Douglas Kneale hosted a breakfast Tuesday to recognize them, as well as club athletes in golf, baseball, and fastpitch who earned academic honours.

Find a full list of Windsor’s 2018-19 Academic All-Canadians at goLancers.ca.

UWindsor provost Douglas Kneale and president Robert Gordon flank a cohort of Lancer student-athletes named Academic All-Canadians. Click on the photo to see a larger image.

A panel discussion will focus on provincial changes to post-secondary education Monday, Oct. 28, in the CAW Student Centre.

Students will ask and answer questions says organizer Amanda Skocic, a political science major and president of the campus group Students Against Ford.

“We’re bringing people together to talk about harmful changes to our education system under the Doug Ford government,” she says. “It will be a chance to learn and to be heard.”

The event is set for the Commons area from noon to 2 p.m.

Women and their outstanding accomplishments will be showcased in a new speaker series that will explore and exemplify their successes through presentations in Windsor.

The Humanities Research Group and the Windsor Jewish Community Centre will host the Women of Valour speaker series over the course of the remainder of 2019 and 2020. The series will feature multiple presenters across different disciplines delivering keynote public addresses and spending time with other interested scholars, agencies, and organizations.

The second presenter in this series, environmental lawyer Dianne Saxe, is a former Ontario environmental commissioner, activist, and author.

Her presentation is at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, in the CAW Student Centre’s Alumni Auditorium. Admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

—Dana Roe

Thursday, Oct. 31, is the last day to buy tickets to the 2019 Faculty and Staff Retirement Dinner, recognizing more than three dozen honourees.

The event begins at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in the CAW Student Centre’s Alumni Auditorium.

Tickets are $30 per person; faculties and departments may sponsor tables for $150 each. To purchase tickets or sponsor a table, contact Mary-Ann Rennie at mrennie@uwindsor.ca or 519-253-3000, ext. 7059.

The Office of the Vice President Research and Innovation and the Office of Research and Innovation are joining with the Office of Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility in commitment to an inclusive and diverse research environment, and have implemented a minor revision to the current Request for a Research or Post-Doc Appointment form to make it more inclusive.

A drop-down box has been added to include additional options in the “Salutation” field. These options now include: Dr., Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, Mx., and N/A. This form can be found on the VPRI website http://www.uwindsor.ca/vp-research/324/forms.

Questions related to research appointments using a grant account should be directed to Sandy Mehenka in the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation via email at mehenkas@uwindsor.ca or by telephone at 519-253-3000, ext. 3987.