UW researchers participate in projects with European, Canadian universities

WATERLOO - University of Waterloo researchers were successful in the latest round of the Transatlantic Exchange Partnership (TEP) competition, with one UW-led project aimed at developing student talent with global experience in quantum information processing.

The competition, formally known as the Canada-EU Program for Co-operation in Higher Education, Training and Youth -- Transatlantic Exchange Partnership, has funded two projects involving UW faculty members and researchers from other institutions in Canada, including Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, and the European Union. The federal Human Resources and Social Development department administers the program in Canada.

Ashwin Nayak, UW professor of combinatorics and optimization, heads the TEP project on collaborative student training in quantum information processing. The project, which involves Canadian and European partners, received $199,968 for a three-year period ending in 2011. University of Calgary is the other Canadian partner in the project.

The project will enhance student and faculty exchanges across several Canadian and EU institutions with strong research efforts in quantum information processing.

As computer and communications devices become smaller, the principles of quantum mechanics are increasingly more important. Quantum information processing studies the use of quantum mechanical operations in information processing devices.

"We will consolidate and expand existing collaborations so as to provide a larger pool of talented students access to expertise available beyond their home institutions," said Nayak, also a member of UW's Institute for Quantum Computing.

The students will receive credit for the international experience. The project will also provide a platform for developing standard courses on the rapidly developing field of QIP.

UW professor Jan Huissoon is involved in the TEP project on innovative project based engineering curriculum development in mechanical and mechatronics engineering. The project, which received $200,000 in funding, is led by Conestoga College in Canada.

In 2007, Nathan Funk, a UW peace and conflict studies professor, joined colleagues at the University of Manitoba's Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice to initiate a Canada-EU university consortium for student exchanges in conflict analysis and resolution.

The ongoing project received $200,000 in TEP funding for cross-cultural, interdisciplinary studies in peace-making and peace-building. It aims to provide undergraduate and graduate students with new insights and skills relevant to conflict resolution practice.