SBME Wiki

Desktop, Laptop and Hardware Product Menu

Contact SBME IT with the model number you would like to purchase and we can order it. We can also purchase hardware that is not offered by UBC IT. If this is the case, please contact SBME IT with your requirements or a valid product link.

SBME IT: We are currently developing an SBME Help Desk but if that's not available, contact UBC IT.

UBC IT: You can sign in to UBC IT here or call at 604-822-2008

Contact SBME IT for onboarding instructions or to book training time.

If you have any special IT requests, let us know. We're happy to help in any way we can.

If you need to dispose of any electronic equipment, please let us know first so that we can ensure the safe handling of all materials. We'll assist with device hard drive removal for secure disposal.

1. Windows 10 Professional: Available to staff and faculty for computers purchased with UBC funds or grants. Contact SBME IT for help installing.
2. Microsoft Office 2019: Available to all staff and faculty for computers purchased with UBC funds and grants. Contact SBME IT for installation.
3. Adobe Creative Cloud Suite: Includes Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and more. Available to staff and faculty with an active campus wide login (CWL). Contact SBME IT with your name, CWL username, and UBC e-mail address.
4. UBC Self Service Software Portal: The UBC Software Portal is your one-stop shop for software that is made available to UBC Faculty and Staff at no cost. Be sure to read product descriptions for all licensing restrictions.

• Ali Bashashati: http://aimlab.ca
• Carl de Boer: http://deboer.bme.ubc.ca
• Fabio Rossi: http://www.rossilab.ca
• Calvin Kuo: http://humbl.bme.ubc.ca/
• Nika Shakiba: http://shakiba.bme.ubc.ca
• Nozomu Yachie: https://yachie-lab.org/
• Carolina Tropini: http://tropini.microbiology.ubc.ca/
• Dena Shahriari: https://bioauglab.med.ubc.ca/team/
• Manu Madhav: http://nc4.bme.ubc.ca/ 
• Peter Zandstra: http://zandstralab.msl.ubc.ca
• Anna Blakney: https://blakneylab.msl.ubc.ca/

1. Grant Applications
   • There are 5 major federal sources of grants in Canada
     1. Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)
     2. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
     3. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
     4. Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE)
     5. Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
   • To support faculty applying to these agencies, the VP Research Office has a group of Faculty Research Advisors that you can contact with questions. The Faculty of Medicine has agency-specific information here and advice on application submission here. The Research and Innovation website lists many resources.
2. SPARC (Support Programs To Advance Research Capacity) is an office at UBC that gives faculty members a competitive advantage by supporting funding proposals with strategic professional services and resources, including internal and editorial reviews, partnership development, strategic workshops and sample grants. SPARC provides grant development and internal review services for most Tri-Council funding (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) opportunities. These services are highly recommended for all researchers applying for Tri-Council funding, particularly for those new to the Canadian system. Sign up for the SPARC Connects newsletter for updates on upcoming deadlines for programs SPARC can assist with.
3. Funding Deadlines
   • Discover upcoming deadlines for commonly held grants at UBC:
     • Office of Research Services
     • FoS grant application deadlines
4. Research Roadmap
   The research roadmap at the Office of Research Services guides PIs through the administrative processes involved in applying for research funding.
5. Researcher Information Services (RISe)
   RISe is a collaborative online research administration tool that allows researchers and administrators to manage applications and track approvals, certifications and awarding of funds. If you indicate on your grant application that your project requires biosafety, animal care, or ethics approvals, funding will not be released in those are in place and the grant is specifically linked to the certificates. Applications for biosafety, ethics, or animal care protocols are submitted through RISe.
6. Indirect Costs of Research Charge
   Researchers must apply an overhead recovery charge to the total cost of all research grants, contracts, and agreements for research projects sponsored by industry and government (with the exception of Tri-Council grants (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) as UBC already receives an overhead allocation for these grants through the Federal Indirect Costs Program). For more information and sample budgets, go to the Indirect Costs section of the VP Research webpage

Researchers and scholars at UBC have duty to uphold the highest standards of scholarly integrity.

Visit this page for guides that are designed to assist you in learning about the best practices of scholarly integrity so that you and your peers can apply them in today's research environment.

A salary award is a competitive, peer-reviewed award that is paid in part as salary to a faculty member. Examples include Canada Research Chairs, CIHR New Investigator, and MSFHR Scholar Awards. We strongly encourage new investigators to apply for these awards if they are eligible.

Institutional grants are proposals that are submitted to funding agencies by UBC through the Institutional Programs Office (IPO) or VPRI, rather than submitted directly by the investigators (e.g., CFI, BCKDF, CERC, CFREF). These applications undergo rigorous internal review by UBC prior to submission; be sure to check on the UBC internal deadline, as it is often months before the funding agency deadline. Details for each opportunity are communicated as they become available and can be found at the various sites listed above.

As mentioned above, the UBC SPARC Office provides grant development and internal review services for most Tri-Council funding (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) opportunities. These services are highly recommended for all researchers applying for Tri-Council funding. Please visit the SPARC website or Faculty of Medicine's Office of Research for further details.

1. Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
   The CFI funds research infrastructure including state-of-the-art equipment, buildings, laboratories, and databases required to conduct research. CFI awards typically fund up to 40% of a project’s infrastructure costs, with an additional 40% coming from the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF) and the remaining 20% from eligible contributors including institutional funds, trust funds, or foundations. Information and support when applying for CFI funding can be found on the Institutional Programs Office.
2. Indirect Costs of Research Charge
   Researchers must apply an overhead recovery charge to the total cost of all research grants, contracts, and agreements for research projects sponsored by industry and government (with the exception of Tri-Council grants (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) as UBC already receives an overhead allocation for these grants through the Federal Indirect Costs Program). For more information and sample budgets, go to the Indirect Costs section of the VP Research webpage.

1. It is important to understand the agency and specific program that you are applying for. Ensure that your application addresses program objectives and criteria.
2. Talk to others who have been successful. Read sample grants from SPARC or the VPRI/IPO.
3. Find out what is reasonable in terms of funding when creating a reasonable budget
4. Read the rules carefully (check formatting, font, and margin requirements). You don’t want your application rejected for something you overlooked in the formatting.
5. Clarify and solidify your ideas to put into a proposal

• The title matters!
• The abstract matters enormously. During grant review, certain members of the committee are designated as primary reviewers; others may read only the abstract/summary.
• If you are asked to suggest external reviewers, think very hard and very carefully as reviewers must be at arm's length. If you have any enemies, obviously avoid suggesting them!
• Be sure your proposal reflects current research and is respectful of the work of others.
• Be scrupulously honest and complete in all details, particularly in the resume/personal form section. Do not pad your achievements.
• Make it readable, both the style and format must be attractive.
• The budget section must match the work, tasks must match the personnel, account for all personnel costs (make sure to check the agency and university guidelines).
• Expenses for equipment, resources, travel, etc. should be clearly laid out and eligible within the agency rules.

Always remember to acknowledge First Nations in speeches and content that applies to the land on which UBC sits. This is integral to our pillar of inclusion and our ongoing REDI efforts.

How-to: Acknowledging First Nations

University of British Columbia (Vancouver) – We [I] would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather is the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples,[11] including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

SBME Stories

The SBME research and education community is doing important work. We want to tell those stories.

Send us all the news, stories, awards, breakthroughs and more that are coming out of your work and that of your colleagues, trainees, postdocs and assistants.

Op-Eds and Press Releases

The national and international media communities are always looking for opinion pieces from dedicated scientists and academics. SBME and UBC Media Relations have a constant call for content in the Op-Ed vein, so if you have an idea for a strong opinion piece, contact us with all the details. We will help edit and hone the piece, as well as connect you to media outlets across North America.

If UBC takes a dedicated interest in the story, they will want to push it as well. This often leads to UBC Leadership getting involved and weighing in on the piece. SBME communications will be the main point of contact in such instances.

Press releases are most often used for research breakthroughs and big awards. If you have a pardigm-shifting publication in the works, let us know BEFORE IT IS PUBLISHED. This way, we can put together a press release to be distributed to media.

SBME in the News

Have you or your team been featured in the media? Any and all stories count! Let us know so that we can track media touch points, boost the signal and get the UBC community spreading the word.

If you have program updates or spot inconsistencies and outdated information, let us know. We are augmenting and improving the website on a regular basis.

Need a new page created? Reach out and we'll put it all together.

We are always looking to build out our photo and video library. Photo and video shoots can be arranged depending on the story you want to tell and the time horizon per project.

Hosting an event? Offering lab tours to prospective students? Let us know and we’ll support you as well as spread the word. So long as you provide the information, we'll create branded print and digital assets as well as a website landing page when necessary. We'll also boost the signal on our social media channels.

If you, your colleagues, your lab, etc. have a paper coming out, contact the SBME communications team with as much lead time as possible. SBME communications will work with UBC Media Relations to put together a press release that can reach the broader community.

1. 1. NOTE: You should also contact the SBME Strategic Planning and Operations Director: Carmen de Hoog. This will allow us to track publications within the SBME Community

To help engage with the SBME community, boost the signal of important research, stories and student profiles, etc. be sure to share your social handles with the Communications team. Like, retweet, connect, tag SBME, share.

We know that social media isn't for everyone, but we do encourage you participate so that students, colleagues and the SBME community can stay connected and engaged. It provides students with a great touchpoint and the rest of the SBME with opportunities to put its megaphone behind your efforts.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr.

Need a poster, pamphlet, brochure, digital signage, etc. made? Contact us! We may send you a creative brief to fill out so that we can gather all the details we need.

This is our weekly newsletter that goes out to the SBME  community. If you have content for the newsletter, submit via this Qualtrics link. 

Send us all of your upcoming events with enough lead time as possible so that we can populate the SBME Events Calendar – this is our one source of truth on all upcoming events.

Remember to subscribe to the SBME Events Calendar to stay apprised of all upcoming events.

Want to invite a speaker? Planning a Seminar? Get in touch with Carmen de Hoog and Jocelyn McKay - they will get you started.

Please review expenditure guidelines carefully. All reimbursements are processed by Rowena Ambal.

SOP coming soon, will be based on new Workday procedures.

You must follow UBC Procurement Practices when purchasing supplies and equipment.
A Purchase Order (PO) is required for all purchases over $3,500, inclusive of taxes, which typically takes a few weeks to process.
All purchases of $15,000 or more require competitive vendor quotations.

SOP Email Rowena Ambal (finance@sbme.ubc.ca) with the following information:

• • • Your name
    • Name of your Supervisor
    • Valid worktag (grant or program worktag, most often)
    • Estimated order price
    • Potential vendor(s)
    • Item identification numbers, descriptions, and quantities.
    • Be as clear and descriptive as you can, include website links where possible.
    • Include all relevant vendor quotes.

Apply for cards through Workday.

Expenses charged to cards are now reconciled via Expense Reports in Workday.

Tri-Agency Financial Guide

UBC’s Expenditure Guidelines help you determine reasonable and appropriate expenses while conducting university business.  

Expenditure Guidelines

We are unable to advise students in their first year as they are not yet part of our program. First year students may be eligible to complete a supplementary form for approval to register in a Pre-Biomedical Engineering Standard Timetable (PBME STT) that sets students up for joining the SBME in their second year placement at UBC.

SBME undergraduate program is a second year entry program that welcomes 113 new students each year. In their third year, Students focus their studies in one of four streams: Cellular Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Biomechanics, Bioinformatics, or Biomedical Systems and Signals.

MASc | PhD: Overseen by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, SBME MASc and PhD programs are research-based. Students are admitted on the recommendation of an affiliated SBME Faculty Member. Faculty members must commit to funding minimum prior to admission.

MEng: Offered through SBME with oversight provided by the Faculty of Applied Science. The MEng program is course-based with a mandatory internship/project component. Top students are admitted after a committee has reviewed all applications and made offers to highest ranked applicants.

Recruitment is a big part of the Student Services and Communications Portfolios. Each holds regular events throughout the school year at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Undergraduate

1. 1. First Year Fair: Usually occurring in mid-March, the First Year Fair is an information session hosted by the Faculty of Applied Science that allows first year students to explore different second year placement opportunities. Each department has a booth where students can ask questions about their programs.
   2. Open House: Usually occurring in early November, each year the Faculty of Applied Science invites high school students to explore UBC and the engineering program. Prospective students are given the opportunity to ask questions of current students, staff, and faculty each representing the different engineering programs.
   3. APSC 100/101 & BMEG 101 Info sessions: Occurring throughout terms 1 and 2 during class time in APSC 100, APSC 101, or BMEG 101. Students are introduced to the 15 different engineering programs through short presentations followed by Q&A sessions.
   4. SBME Stream Info Session: Usually occurring in February, 2^nd year SBME students and first year engineering students are invited to attend an information session that provides students an overview of each stream in our academic programming. Info sessions also cover the application process, due dates, and what to include in an application package.

Graduate

Canadian Graduate Engineering Consortium: Usually occurs late September/early October. Current undergraduate and graduate students are invited to connect with representatives from UBC, UoT, McGill, Waterloo, Queen’s, McMaster, and UAlberta to explore each institution's admission requirements and processes, distinctive features of Canada’s leading graduate engineering programs, the difference between professional-based and research-based graduate programs, and career possibilities for both professional and research masters and PHD graduates.

The SBME Student Services office provides advising for all undergraduate and graduate Biomedical Engineering students, answering student inquiries about academics, awards, admissions, and on-campus resources. Our office is here to ensure our students are supported throughout their degree.

We're also here to assist faculty by providing resources and guidance. If you have concerns about a student, reach out to our office - our staff is trained in Mental Health First Aid and Suicide prevention, and some staff have additional training in Applied Suicide Intervention. We also provide guidance on cases of academic misconduct.

The Undergraduate and Graduate Student Newsletters are distributed every Tuesday provided there is enough content for that week. If you have something you would like to share, whether it be a publication, news article, lab opening, etc., please email the Student Services Office for distribution. Please consider who your target audience is (i.e. graduate or undergraduate students) and email a short descriptive blurb (preferably with a link) to the appropriate email.

For information and contacts in all areas of UBC Faculty Relations from recruitment to leaves to training, and so much more, visit UBC Faculty Relations:

UBC Faculty Relations

These are important numbers that we recommend noting down. For procedures in the event of an emergency or crisis of any scale, please refer to the UBC Safety & Risk Services website.

*Note: when calling a UBC number (those beginning with 604-822-xxxx or 604-827-xxxx) using a UBC landline, you only need to dial the last 5 digits.*

Emergency & Essential phone numbers

Non-emergency numbers

Emergencies happen, and as UBC students, faculty, and staff, we all have a role to play in emergency preparedness. That’s why it’s so important that each and every one of us have the tools and know-how to respond appropriately.

Don’t wait until it’s too late — get informed, get prepared, and get ready to take action now! We want you to be ranger ready, which means being emergency ready!

Our Local Safety Team: to get in touch for anything related to building safety and emergency preparedness, please email reception@sbme.ubc.ca or Rupi Dhesi (rupinder.dhesi@ubc.ca) with "Local Safety Team" or "Emergency Preparedness" in the subject line.

For more information & resources, visit the Emergency Preparedness site at UBC SRS.

Abbreviations & Acronyms Guide: Click here to download.

Program Overview

Fostering and supporting the career development of new faculty members is of importance to the mission of the School of Biomedical Engineering. In addition, to continual informal interactions, each new faculty will meet annually with their mentors, and with the School Director, to discuss career development. The mentors will be appointed by the School Director, in consultation with the faculty member (mentee), and can be changed, in order to provide the faculty member with the most relevant independent advice. Importantly, the collegial atmosphere of the School actively promotes and encourages unofficial mentoring from a broad range of colleagues. If the faculty is jointly appointed with the School, the School Director and the joint partner department/school/program Head will appoint one at least one mentor each to work with the mentee.

Purpose

Each new junior and mid-level faculty member (Assistant Professor, Instructor, Associate Professor, Senior Instructor) should have a welcoming, supportive relationship with at least two mentors throughout their initial years at UBC. New faculty at the rank of Professor or Professor of Teaching are welcome to participate in the program.

Confidentiality

The content of discussions between the Director and the mentee or the mentors and the mentee, as well as discussions between the Director and the mentors that relate to the mentee, should not be revealed to other parties, without agreement by the mentee. Matters of particular sensitivity should be discussed in individual private conversations with the Director, the mentors, relevant colleagues, or Faculty Relations.

Guiding Principles

1. Within two month of arrival at UBC, the School Director upon advice from faculty and in consultation with the new faculty member (mentee), will choose at least two faculty members who will serve as mentors. A minimum of two mentors must be from the SBME faculty but others may be outside of the School.
2. Within three months of arrival, all new faculty should meet jointly with the School Director and the mentors. At this meeting the goals of the mentoring program and the roles of the head, mentors and mentee should be discussed (“goals and roles” meeting), along with any issues that need to be urgently addressed.  Thereafter, meetings should include only the mentors and the mentee.
3. The mentee will be responsible for arranging at least two meetings per year with his/her mentors. All discussion between mentees and mentors shall be strictly confidential.
4. A mentee should be able to change/add mentors at any time.
5. In the annual meeting between the Director and the mentee, the Director will assess the mentee’s satisfaction with their mentors, assess if the arrangement is working effectively, and determine if a change is advisable.
6. Both mentors and mentee should consult the following resources for suggestions on topics for discussion, as well as relevant resources to assist new faculty in their transition to UBC:

• • Faculty of Medicine mentoring guide
  • Faculty of Applied Science mentoring guide
  • Provost Office mentoring guide

7. The mentors and the Director, can provide the mentee with advice on subjects that include:

• • Applying for research funding, designing grant proposals, grant management
  • Hiring staff, recruiting and supervising graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, lab management
  • Research networking opportunities
  • Responding to reviews of manuscripts and grant applications
  • Departmental activities and resources
  • Teaching assignments, development of a teaching philosophy, resources for course development and for improving teaching skills
  • Expected workloads with respect to teaching, service, and student supervision
  • Progress towards tenure and promotion (i.e. developing demonstrated excellence in research, teaching, and service as well as national/international recognition)
  • Preparation of CV and annual activity reports
  • Award eligibility
  • Tenure and promotion processes

8. As necessary, the mentors or the Director may refer the mentee to an expert to provide specific advice on a particular subject. The mentee should also be mindful that the mentors’ advice on some of the subjects listed above is often an opinion and not official UBC policy. The mentee is encouraged to seek input from as many relevant sources as possible and for policy matters to consult with the School Director, the Director of Strategic Planning and Operations, the HR Manager or Faculty Relations. In addition, both the Faculty Relations and Faculties Applied Science and Medicine websites have official policy documents such as the current Guide to Promotion and Tenure.
9. The Director and mentors may coordinate on formal mentoring activities. The mentors will provide the Director with a written summary of their annual meeting with the mentee (the mentee will also receive a copy of this summary). This document will form the basis for discussions between the Director and the mentee at their annual meeting. Conversely, the Director may approach the mentors and ask them to provide the mentee with additional advice on specific issues.
10. Mentees are also encouraged to seek advice relating to research, grant applications, teaching and career advice, etc., as needed, from other faculty members and to participate in relevant workshops offered by Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, the Faculty of Applied Science, Faculty of Medicine and other UBC stakeholders.
11. Participation as a mentor is expected to be a normal part of a faculty member’s School service and should be recognized as an important contribution to the mission of the School, which emphasizes building a collegial atmosphere. Mentors are encouraged to list membership on faculty mentoring committees in their annual update reports for Merit/PSA consideration.

Microsoft OneDrive is now available to all UBC Faculty & Staff.

Microsoft (MS) OneDrive is a file hosting and synchronization service operated by Microsoft, as part of their suite of MS 365 applications. MS OneDrive allows users to securely store, share, and synchronize files and folders from anywhere at anytime.

MS OneDrive at a Glance

• 1TB (one terabyte) of data storage
• Secure sharing storage
• Access to your files at any time, from anywhere, on your favorite devices 
• Ability to share within and outside of your organization
• Easy co-authoring  
• Seamless integration with your favorite Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Find files with intelligent recommendations based on what you are working on and who you are working with

Access

You can access OneDrive on your computer after setting up the OneDrive Sync Client. Here's how to get started with MS OneDrive:

• Windows: MS OneDrive Guide
• Mac OS: MS OneDrive Guide

You can also visit the OneDrive Portal to access your OneDrive files if you are on a different computer. (Remember to log out once you are done using OneDrive).

Security

A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for MS Teams and OneDrive has been conducted and approved by UBC Safety & Risk Services.

All data created and uploaded via MS Teams will be stored in your MS OneDrive account. MS OneDrive is stored securely and hosted in Canada.

Collaborating with MS OneDrive

The best way to collaborate on a document is to share it with edit permissions to the other user(s).

By using the online version of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, you will see changes happen simultaneously with your collaborators.

Online Office apps can be accessed through your web browser by going to: https://portal.office.com

What happens to OneDrive access when you are no longer part of UBC

Once employee status is no longer active, you will lose access to OneDrive. Please ensure that you download or save your files to an alternate location prior to the end of your employment at UBC.

Before your access is disabled, you will need to review the files you have shared with other people. If your shared files still need to be accessed by others, you will need to assign ownership of the file to another active UBC employee who will share those documents. If you need the files, please download and/or save your files to an alternate location.

Microsoft Teams is now available to UBC Faculty, Staff and Students for free.

Microsoft Teams offers an all-in-one collaboration and communication solution, integrating chat (IM), online meetings, calling, file management and a project work space into one interface.

Over the next few months, all Skype for Business users will be required to transition to Teams.

If you are a Skype for Business user, you will have a choice to make

1. Keep using Skype for Business for Instant Messaging and Meetings for now and only use Microsoft Teams for Team Site Collaboration; or
2. Move to Microsoft Teams for Instant Messaging, Meetings and Team Site Collaboration (Teams Only Mode)

For those who choose to move to Teams Only mode

• You will get access to all the MS Teams features notes above.
• You can still look up, chat and attend meetings with other Skype for Business users in the Teams app.
• You will need to rebook any Skype for Business meetings that you are hosting (using either Teams or Zoom).
• If you have an assistant that books Skype for Business meetings on your behalf or if you book Skype meetings on behalf of someone else, you should request to move to Teams Only mode at the same time.
• MS Teams does not currently have a phone dial-in conferencing option for meetings. Those who need this feature should use Zoom instead.

Download & Install Microsoft Teams

• Get Started Here

How to Sign In to Teams

• Use firstname.lastname@ubc.ca email address
• CWL password
• Complete Duo Security Authentication

If you have any questions or issues, contact lee.michael@ubc.ca

To download SBME's virtual Zoom backgrounds, select from the following options below.

If selecting the image link does not prompt you to download the background, right click on the link to open in a new tab and then proceed to download):

1. Background 1

   

2. Background 2
   

3. Background 3

   

4. Background 4

   

5. Background 5