Registration is now open for the fourth annual Three Minute Thesis competition, which challenges UWindsor graduate students to offer a presentation on their thesis or dissertation topic to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes.

Organizers call the Three Minute Thesis competition a unique opportunity to promote the innovative research undertaken by graduate students at the University of Windsor. The heats (March 22, 23 and 24) and March 30 final are open to the public. Top finishers will win cash prizes and the champion will represent the University of Windsor in a provincial qualifier at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Limited contestant spots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The Faculty of Graduate Studies invites current doctoral and master’s students preparing their dissertations, theses, or major research papers to register today at www.uwindsor.ca/graduate/three-minute-thesis.

A webpage posted by Student Health Services provides information on the Zika virus, reported in 2015 to have reached the Americas for the first time.

A travel health notice issued by the Public Health Agency of Canada may be of interest to people travelling over the Reading Week break, says health promotion nurse Judi Wilson, “especially pregnant women or women considering becoming pregnant in the near future.”

Learn more on the Zika virus info page.

A pair of games for women’s hockey and the track and field Team Challenge are the only varsity action at home this weekend, but the big Lancer story is women’s basketball, playing Saturday in Toronto as part of the National Basketball Association’s all-star celebration.

The women’s hockey squad will host the Waterloo Warriors on Friday and the Western Mustangs on Saturday, both games at 7:30 p.m. at South Windsor Arena. Saturday is seniors’ day; the Lancers will honour their graduating players before the opening face-off.

The track and field Team Challenge opens at 3 p.m. Friday and continues at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the St. Denis fieldhouse. Find a full event schedule on the meet website.

Windsor’s women’s basketball team is back in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport top ten 10 rankings and will travel to Toronto on Friday to face the York Lions before meeting the Queens Gaels in a featured game at the Enercare Centre as part of the festivities for the NBA All-Star weekend. Friday’s game is set to tip off at 6 p.m., while Saturday goes at 4:30 p.m. and will be streamed live on www.oua.tv.

The men’s basketball team will also play York and Queens on Friday and Saturday, but will take on the Gaels in Kingston. Both games are set for an 8 p.m. tip-off.

Men’s and women’s curling are competing in the Ontario University Athletics championship meet, which began Thursday and runs through Sunday in Guelph.

The Lancer men’s hockey team will look to close its regular season with a victory when it faces off against York, Friday in Toronto.

The volleyball teams have parted ways, with the men in Kingston for matches against Royal Military College on Saturday and Queens on Sunday. The women play a pair of games against the Lakehead Thunderwolves in Thunder Bay on Saturday and Sunday.

Find a full weekend preview at goLancers.ca.

OUA honours Lancer volleyballer

Ontario University Athletics named Shannon Dean, a middle on the women’s volleyball team, its athlete of the week after she led Windsor to a pair of wins in the final home games of her Lancer career.

Dean scored game-highs of 18.5 points Saturday against Nipissing and 32 points Sunday against York, contributing to her league-leading total of 237.5. Read the full story at goLancers.ca.

Coach named to Volleyball Canada youth development program

Head coach James Gravelle of the Lancer men’s volleyball program will join the staff of the Team Canada 2016 Youth Development Program this summer. Gravelle will coach athletes in the select program, those born in 1999 or later. Read “Gravelle named to Volleyball Canada coaching staff.”

Organizers have issued a call for volunteers to help with the Ontario University Athletics track and field championship meet, February 26 and 27 in the St. Denis Centre.

Crews are needed to run each event in the competition, as well as awards and crowd control.

Applications are due by Friday, February 19; find a form online at http://golancers.ca/documents/2016/2/11//Volunteer_Form.doc?id=735.

Charles Alessi may just be visiting, but he still hopes to have a disruptive influence as he joins the World Health Innovation Network as its first visiting scholar.

Co-chair of the National Association of Primary Care for the National Health Service Confederation in the U.K., Dr. Alessi is Public Health England’s lead for new models of care and wellness.

“I am honoured to join this highly-respected group of academics as a visiting scholar and to work with Dr. (Anne) Snowdon and the Odette WIN team to foster and develop needed revolutionary and disruptive health system initiatives,” he said. “As the first Canadian health innovation centre with formal ties to the U.S., WIN will build collaborative partnerships between these countries and advance health care systems with an approach that has not been previously done.”

Dean of the Odette School of Business, Allan Conway, said he is delighted with the appointment of the international health systems expert.

“Dr. Alessi’s extensive experience developing the interface between health, business, industry, and government will be invaluable to the network and will contribute significantly to foster and strengthen the work being done to lead the adoption of health system innovation here in Canada and in the U.S.” Dr. Conway said.

Read more about the appointment, including a brief biography of Alessi.

The Campus Bookstore has reduced prices by 25 percent on its stock of T-shirts this week.

“All styles, all colours, all sizes are on sale,” says marketing coordinator Martin Deck. “Don’t wait until summer! Now is a great time to stock up and save.”

Lancer and UWindsor designs; cotton, polyester and blends; men’s and women’s fashions: all are one-quarter off regular retail prices. But hurry in—the sale ends today, February 12. The Campus Bookstore is located on the lower level, CAW Student Centre.