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Sirisha Rambhatla & Amir-Hossein Karimi |
Management Science & Eng. / Electrical & Computer Eng. |
Val O’Donovan Chair appointments |
2026 |
Congratulations to Dr. Sirisha Rambhatla and Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi on their appointments as Val O’Donovan Chair holders in Engineering. Dr. Rambhatla focuses on efficient, safe, and adaptive AI, while Dr. Karimi leads research in trustworthy AI. |
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Gautam Kamath |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Gödel Prize; Presburger Award |
2026 |
Congratulations to Gautam Kamath for winning the 2026 Gödel Prize and the 2026 Presburger Award, recognizing his contributions to trustworthy and reliable machine learning and statistics. |
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Raouf Boutaba |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, Network Intelligence |
2026 |
Congratulations to Raouf Boutaba, Professor and Director of the Cheriton School of Computer Science, on his appointment as Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Network Intelligence, recognizing his leadership in AI for communication systems. |
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Anamaria Crisan |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
$250,000 grant, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre |
2026 |
Congratulations to Anamaria Crisan for receiving $250,000 from the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre to develop modular AI tools that integrate head and neck cancer data. |
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Maura Grossman & Yuntian Deng |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
CIFAR Solution Networks funding, AI safety |
2026 |
Congratulations to Maura Grossman and Yuntian Deng on receiving new CIFAR Solution Networks funding to advance research addressing AI safety. |
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Marina Meila |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Canada CIFAR AI Chair |
2026 |
Congratulations to Marina Meila, who joined the Cheriton School of Computer Science in 2025, on being named a Canada CIFAR AI Chair for her work advancing the theoretical foundations of interpretable and explainable machine learning. |
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Pascal Poupart |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
$480k grant (BMO/Mitacs); $412.5k grant |
2025–2026 |
Congratulations to Pascal Poupart for receiving a $480,000 grant with Luis Ricardez-Sandoval to develop reinforcement learning tools for rare-earth element recycling, and a separate $412,500 grant with Sriram Ganapathi. |
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Florian Kerschbaum |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
IEEE Fellow |
2026 |
Congratulations to Florian Kerschbaum on being named a 2026 IEEE Fellow. |
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Krzysztof Czarnecki |
Electrical & Computer Engineering |
ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award, FORGE 2026 |
2026 |
Congratulations to Krzysztof Czarnecki and collaborators on winning the ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award at FORGE 2026. |
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David Clausi |
Systems Design Engineering |
IEEE Fellow; OPEA Engineering Medal (Research & Development) |
2026 |
Congratulations to David Clausi on being named a 2026 IEEE Fellow and receiving the Ontario Professional Engineers Association’s Engineering Medal for Research and Development. |
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Amir Khajepour |
Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering |
Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering |
2026 |
Congratulations to Amir Khajepour on his election as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. |
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Catherine Burns |
Systems Design Engineering |
Graham Seed Fund – AI readiness in rural hospitals |
2026 |
Congratulations to Catherine Burns on receiving Graham Seed Fund support, with Brightshores Health System, to study human-AI teaming and readiness for AI adoption in rural patient access and flow units. |
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Moojan Ghafurian |
Systems Design Engineering |
Graham Seed Fund; NFRF grant |
2025–2026 |
Congratulations to Moojan Ghafurian on receiving Graham Seed Fund support for AI readiness in community care, and a separate NFRF grant to develop a training system helping dementia caregivers understand the affective component of their interactions. |
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Sirisha Rambhatla |
Management Science & Engineering |
Engineering Research Excellence Award; KW Oktoberfest Women of the Year |
2025–2026 |
Congratulations to Sirisha Rambhatla, the Val O’Donovan Chair in Efficient, Safe, and Adaptive AI, on receiving the 2025 Faculty of Engineering Research Excellence Award and being named among the winners of the 2026 Kitchener Waterloo Oktoberfest BMO Women of the Year Awards. |
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Alfred Yu |
Electrical & Computer Engineering |
IEEE Canada Outstanding Engineer Award |
2026 |
Congratulations to Alfred Yu on being named the 2026 recipient of the IEEE Canada Outstanding Engineer Award. |
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Ladan Tahvildari |
Electrical & Computer Engineering |
IBM Champion (2nd consecutive year) |
2025–2026 |
Congratulations to Ladan Tahvildari on being named a 2026 IBM Champion, her second consecutive year receiving the recognition. |
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Weihua Zhuang |
Electrical & Computer Engineering |
KW Oktoberfest Women of the Year (double nominee); Highly Cited Researcher |
2025–2026 |
Congratulations to University Professor Weihua Zhuang on her double nomination for the 2026 Kitchener Waterloo Oktoberfest Women of the Year Awards, and on being named to the 2025 Highly Cited Researchers list. |
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Kate Larson |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Fellow, Association for the Advancement of AI (AAAI) |
2025 |
Congratulations to Kate Larson, Professor at the Cheriton School of Computer Science, for being named a 2025 Fellow of AAAI for her significant contributions to the foundations of multiagent systems and service to the broader AI community. |
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Jian Zhao |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Early Career Research Award (CS-Can|Info-Can); Ontario Early Researcher Award |
2025 |
Congratulations to Jian Zhao for receiving the 2025 Early Career Research Award from CS-Can|Info-Can and the 2025 Ontario Early Researcher Award, recognizing his work on visual interfaces and human-AI interaction. |
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Lukasz Golab |
Management Science & Engineering |
Best Demo Paper Award, EDBT 2025 |
2025 |
Congratulations to Lukasz Golab and Data Science master’s student Anastasiia Avksientieva on winning the best demo paper award at the 2025 International Conference on Extending Database Technology (EDBT). |
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Jun Liu |
Applied Mathematics (Associate Director, Waterloo.AI) |
Oded Maler Award, Best Paper, FORMATS 2025 |
2025 |
Congratulations to Jun Liu, Associate Director of Waterloo.AI, and his student Maxwell Fitzsimmons, on winning the Oded Maler Award for best paper at FORMATS 2025. |
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David Del Rey Fernandez |
Applied Mathematics |
Faculty of Mathematics Golden Jubilee Research Excellence Award |
2025 |
Congratulations to David Del Rey Fernandez on receiving the 2025 Faculty of Mathematics Golden Jubilee Research Excellence Award. |
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Hyock Ju Kwon |
Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering |
$250,000 NFRF grant – AI-enhanced cancer imaging |
2025 |
Congratulations to Hyock Ju Kwon on receiving a $250,000 NFRF grant to develop AI-enhanced imaging for precise, non-invasive cancer therapy guidance. |
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Roger Melko |
Physics & Astronomy |
Faculty of Science Outstanding Performance Award |
2025 |
Congratulations to Roger Melko on being named a 2025 Outstanding Performance Award winner in the Faculty of Science for his work applying machine learning to quantum many-body physics. |
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Lai-Tze Fan |
English / Sociology and Legal Studies |
$382,300 SSHRC Insight Grant |
2025 |
Congratulations to Lai-Tze Fan, Canada Research Chair in Technology and Social Change, on receiving a $382,300 SSHRC Insight Grant to develop technical, ethical, and regulatory recommendations for responsible facial recognition AI in Canada. |
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Efrim Boritz |
School of Accounting and Finance |
ISACA Educational Excellence Award |
2025 |
Congratulations to Efrim Boritz on receiving the 2025 ISACA Educational Excellence Award. |
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Ian Goldberg |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Asiacrypt Test-of-Time Award |
2025 |
Congratulations to Ian Goldberg, Aniket Kate, and Gregory Zaverucha on receiving the 2025 Asiacrypt Test-of-Time Award for tools that reduce the communication cost of cryptographic protocols. |
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Wenhu Chen |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Canada CIFAR AI Chair; Faculty of Mathematics Golden Jubilee Research Excellence Award |
2022–2025 |
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Sepehr Assadi |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Presburger Award |
2025 |
|
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Ming Li |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
IEEE Computer Society W. Wallace McDowell Award |
2024 |
Congratulations to University Professor Ming Li on winning the 2024 IEEE Computer Society W. Wallace McDowell Award for his contributions to information theory and bioinformatics. |
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Karen Cochrane |
Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business |
Google Academic Research Award, Society-Centred AI |
2024 |
Congratulations to Karen Cochrane and Daniel Harle on receiving a 2024 Google Academic Research Award (GARA) in Society-Centred AI. |
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Jimmy Lin |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Fellow, Association for Computational Linguistics |
2024 |
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Xi He |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Canada CIFAR AI Chair; Outstanding Performance Award |
2022–2024 |
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Yaoliang Yu |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Ontario Early Researcher Award |
2024 |
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Freda Shi & Victor Zhong |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
Canada CIFAR AI Chairs, Vector Institute |
2024 |
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Alexander Wong |
Systems Design Engineering |
OPEA Engineering Medal for Entrepreneurship |
2023 |
Congratulations to Dr. Alexander Wong, P.Eng., for winning the OPEA Engineering Medal for Entrepreneurship, recognizing his world-leading work in integrative medical imaging systems and responsible AI. |
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Shai Ben-David & Ian Goldberg |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
ACM Fellows |
2023 |
Congratulations to Shai Ben-David and Ian Goldberg on being named 2023 ACM Fellows. Dr. Ben-David is recognized for foundational contributions to machine learning theory, and Dr. Goldberg for leadership in cryptography, privacy, and computer security. |
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Yue Hu |
Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering |
Best Paper Award, International Conference on Social Robotics |
2023 |
Congratulations to Yue Hu on winning the Best Paper Award at the 2023 International Conference on Social Robotics. |
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Daniel Vogel |
Cheriton School of Computer Science |
ACM Distinguished Member |
2023 |
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