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Gord Pennycook published research on everything from BS to how smartphone use is linked to lazy thinking. Now he’s on a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University.

Pennycook is a psychology expert on how humans think, reason and make decisions. His passion for cognitive science may well be connected to his own extraordinary ability to think fast.

The Globe and Mail reports on essay writing skills with comments by Associate Dean, Undergraduate Programs, Katherine Acheson:

Even in an age of quick-bite digital communication, writing skills are key because they can be transferred to any number of other forms, including a song, a sales pitch, or even a profile on a dating site.

Zuhair Zaidi, a student in the Master of Public Service program at Waterloo, has been interested in Canadian politics since the age of 15. Thanks to Waterloo’s flexibility in allowing students to arrange their own jobs, Zaidi landed a co-op work term in the House of Commons this past spring.

The social and clinical psychology areas of the Department of Psychology have much to be proud of - and this week that includes the announcement of the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships for 2016. Two PhD students are among the recipients.

“We need to create communities where we’re all helping each other,” says Arts alumnus Michael Robson. Last June, he put that statement into action by starting an award for undergraduates at the University of Waterloo. He pledged $10,000 of his own money over five years to build the Collective Movement Award, which supports students involved in the African, Caribbean or black communities.

Professor Heather Douglas, Waterloo Chair in Science and Society and a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy, told CBC radio's The 180 this weekend that gaps in public understanding or support of science and technology can  force the scientific community to be more rigorous and innovative. Read or hear the full story on CBC.

The Mush Hole Project is an art and performance event at the former Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in Brantford

A former residential school for First Nations children in Brantford, Ont. — a site where children were physically, sexually and emotionally abused for more than 140 years — has become a space where artists will help visitors connect to the stories of pain,  trauma, survival and empowerment.

Douglas Hunter, a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow in History working under Susan Roy, has won the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS) Dissertation Award for his work on the lore surrounding Dighton Rock, a 40-ton, petroglyph-covered boulder in a Massachusetts riverbed.

It's hard to keep up. Again, an impressive number of Arts professors have won impressive research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Again, we celebrate a member of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists - congratulations to John Turri of the Department of Philosophy.

Universities are one of the few places where people can speak frankly about hard-to-talk-about problems, says Tim Kenyon, associate dean of research and a professor of philosophy. It’s for this reason that the Faculty of Arts tackled a topic that has received a lot of attention recently: rape culture.