WATERLOO - University of Waterloo graduate students will share their discoveries with the public next week at the largest research conference of its kind in Canada.

The ninth annual Sharing Discovery conference, from April 27 to 30, unveils research accomplishments by more than 200 Waterloo master's and doctoral students from six faculties -- applied health sciences, arts, engineering, environment, mathematics and science. They will give poster or oral presentations on three theme areas: health, life and environment; humanities and social sciences; and physical science, mathematics and technology.

All sessions will be held in the William G. Davis Computer Research Centre, starting at 8:45 a.m each day. The event is open to the public. For a program schedule as well as research paper abstracts, visit http://www.grad.uwaterloo.ca/Conference/program.html.

"This year's edition of the conference upholds the vision of the first organizers of these annual meetings -- to profile and promote excellence in graduate studies at Waterloo, to bring graduate students from all disciplines together and give them the opportunity to share their research findings, and to encourage and foster interdisciplinary research," said Bill Power, conference chair and a professor of chemistry. "This program is the latest evidence of the students' own efforts to realize this vision."

Among the topics to be presented this year are:

* Why Women Find Caring, Nurturing Men More Attractive During an Economic, Political Crisis -- Grace Lau, psychology. Oral presentation: Thursday, April 30, 10:20 a.m., Davis Centre, room 1350.

* Response of pan-Arctic Vegetation to Recent Climate Change (1982-present) -- Kristina Luus, geography and environmental management. Oral presentation: Thursday, April 30, 10:40 a.m., Davis Centre, room 1302.

* Utilizing In Situ Chemical Oxidation to Remediate Gasoline-Contaminated Soil and Groundwater -- Kammy Sra, civil and environmental engineering. Oral presentation: Monday, April 27, 3:45 p.m., Davis Centre, room 1304.

* Accommodation, Refraction and Early Literacy Skills in Children with Down Syndrome -- Krithika Nandakumar, school of optometry. Oral presentation: Tuesday, April 28, 10 a.m., Davis Centre, room 1351.

* A Multilevel Examination of School and Student Characteristics Associated with Physical Education Class Enrolment Among High School Students -- Eric Hobin, health studies and gerontology. Poster presentation: Monday, April 27, 1:35 p.m, Davis Centre foyer.

* Identity Management and Resource Allocation in the Network Virtualization Environment -- Mosharaf Kabir Chowdhury, David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. Poster presentation: Wednesday, April 29, 9:35 a.m., Davis Centre foyer.

This year, the conference will feature seven keynote speakers, most of whom have UW connections:

* Adalsteinn Brown, assistant deputy minister, health system strategy division, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and professor, department of health policy, management and evaluation, faculty of medicine, University of Toronto. Title: Translating Research into Practice: Strategies to Bridge the Gap between Researchers and Policy-Makers. Monday, April 27, 1 p.m., Davis Centre, room 1350.

* Howard Burton, founding executive director, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Title: First Principles: The Crazy Business of Doing Science. Book sale and signing to follow. Tuesday, April 28, 1:30 p.m., Davis Centre, room 1350.

* Joram Piatigorsky, chief, laboratory of molecular and developmental biology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. Title: Gene Sharing and Evolutionary Lessons From Lens and Corneal Crystallins. Tuesday, April 28, 4 p.m., Davis Centre, room 1351.

* Peter Forsyth, UW professor, David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. Title: A Hamilton Jacobi Bellman Approach to Optimal Trade Execution. Tuesday, April 28, 11:15 a.m., Davis Centre, room 1302.

* John Garcia, director, population health, department of prevention and screening, Cancer Care Ontario. Untitled. Wednesday, April 29, 1:30 p.m, Davis Centre, room 1350.

* Josh Neufeld, UW professor of biology. Untitled. Wednesday, April 29, 4:14 p.m, Davis Centre, room 1302.

* Kathleen Bloom, executive director, Canadian Centre for Knowledge Mobilisation, and UW professor of psychology. Title: Knowledge Translation and Exchange: Moving Your Research Skills Beyond the Walls of Academia. Thursday, April 30, 1:30 p.m., Davis Centre, room 1350.

The conference also plays host to several specialty sessions: vision science, biology, certificate in university teaching, aging health and well-being, and the Institute for Quantitative Finance and Insurance.

The conference, organized through the office of the dean of graduate studies, has received support from the graduate student association and Grad House, graduate studies endowment fund, retail services and faculty deans.