News

Women in Computer Science has received $90,000 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s PromoScience Program to establish Girls Mean Business. This new WiCS outreach program will encourage girls and young women in grades 6 to 12 to explore technology and to develop their entrepreneurial skills.

Cheriton School of Computer Science Research Professor Maura R. Grossman was one of eight recipients of a Faculty Teaching or Service Award from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.

Waterloo-based Inductiv Inc., an AI start-up that uses machine learning to automate the task of identifying and correcting errors in data, has been bought by tech giant Apple.

Solaiappan Alagappan, Daniel Herman, Wanxin Li and Blake VanBerlo have each received a Vector Scholarship in Artificial Intelligence from the Vector Institute. Valued at $17,500, these prestigious graduate scholarships recognize exceptional students and support their studies in top artificial intelligence–related master’s program in Ontario.

Steven Feng has received one of two honourable mentions for the 2020 Jessie W.H. Zou Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. Established 2012, the award is given annually to recognize research excellence of an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Mathematics.

Professor Jo Atlee has received the 2020 IEEE Technical Council on Software Engineering Distinguished Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Leadership Award. This prestigious recognition is presented annually to an individual for outstanding and sustained leadership in the software engineering community to encourage women to explore science and engineering careers.

Professor Mark Giesbrecht will become the 12^th dean of the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Mathematics, a five-year appointment that begins on July 1, 2020. The distinguished computer scientist has nearly 20 years’ experience at Waterloo and he will leverage his abilities as an administrator, teacher and researcher to lead the Faculty of Mathematics.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, researchers and clinicians have rushed to understand the available treatments and procedures to mitigate this rapidly growing threat to human health. The sheer volume of studies published on COVID-19 — in countries spanning the globe — as well as lessons learned from prior epidemics and pandemics, simply cannot be gathered and assessed quickly enough using traditional manual methods during this time of crisis.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers at Waterloo’s Cheriton School of Computer Science and Western University has developed a computational method that within minutes can identify and classify viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, the respiratory pathogen responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent PhD graduate Priyank Jaini has been awarded second place in the Faculty of Mathematics Doctoral Prize competition. Now in its second year, these prizes are awarded annually to recognize the achievements of top graduating doctoral students in the Faculty of Mathematics. As a silver recipient, Priyank will receive $1,000.