Dear WISE community,

Today we proudly present our new WISE website to you, our WISE members.  We envision our website not only as a portal to present WISE researchers and their work to the public, but also as a communication platform.  We offer a central portal for you to collaborate with colleagues, industrial and academic partners and, of course, with us.  We want you to be able to use this platform to share information, documents, opportunities, and discussions, and to do so among each other, with us, and with your respective partners. 

You are part of today's pre-launch, which makes the website accessible to WISE community members only.  Before we present the website to the public, we would like to hear your opinion and input.  Further, please review your personal information including your privacy settings, which is contained in your "Profiles" and in our "Documents" sections.  You will find a more detailed description of the key areas to review below.

To obtain a password and log into the WISE Website, please follow this link, click on "Forgot your password?", type in your uwaterloo.ca email address and follow the instructions provided.  

We understand that a web portal is an ongoing project, and we will keep adding and adjusting features regularly.  We are anticipating some important new features in the upcoming platform update.  It will contain increased personalization and communication functionalities for the Profile pages, and will allow you to share and discuss content directly on your personal profiles.  We will keep you informed of future changes.

We hope you will enjoy exploring our new webpage, and are looking forward to your feedback by next Monday, February 20^th.  Please use this email form for comments regarding your personal pages, documents and information.  For general feedback, questions, and discussions, we created this forum.

In order to help you to navigate on our new webpage, we have attached two schemes showing key functionalities of the WISE website and "Profile Pages".

List of key areas to review:

Your Profile Page:  Please review and update your "Profile" which can be accessed from the drop-down menu beneath your name in the top left corner.  Here, you can share your contact information, your expertise, and research interests.  Please feel free to include a brief summary of your research in the "About" section, which can be edited by clicking "Edit my Profile".  Please inform us of any updates or changes regarding your research interests ("Groups") or your expertise using the email form.  We are looking forward to an anticipated software update this quarter, which will offer enhanced functionality by allowing you to upload and share documents to your Profile Page, post links, etc.

Your "Private". "WISE Members" and "Public" Folders: Under "Documents" > "Members" you will find a "Personal Folder" with your name.  This folder contains one "Public", one "WISE Members" and one "Private" folder.  The content of the "Private" folder is accessible to you and to WISE administrators only; the "Public" and "WISE Members" folders can currently be viewed by all WISE community members.  After the upcoming public launch of our website, the "Public" folder will be viewable by the entire public.  Please double-check the files in these folders, and verify that no confidential documents are accessible by the public.  You can update, change, or add files to your "Public", "Private", or "WISE Members" folders directly.  - Note: These folders will be linked to your "Profile Page" as soon as we receive the newest software update for our platform.  This will enable you to share and discuss information and documents with other WISE community members directly from your Profile.  

Your Groups:  Your research interests define the research "Groups" in which you are involved.  These groups are important tools enabling users to find your profile based on your research interests.  Further, the groups will be used to broadcast group-specific information and opportunities.  You can find a list of your "Groups" on your "Profile Page" beneath your photo.  Please review your "Groups" carefully, and use the email form to inform us of any updates or changes.           

Your Labs:  If your energy research involves the use of a UW laboratory, please review the information on the respective Lab pages.  Please feel free to send us any changes you would like to have made, and any additional information you might find missing.  Take a look at the list of our laboratories.