News

Instead of typing furiously and constantly hitting backspace, what if you could code by just drawing out your ideas?

This vision is becoming a reality thanks to Ryan Yen (MMath ’24), a recent master’s graduate of the Cheriton School of Computer Science, and Professors Jian Zhao and Daniel Vogel. While at Waterloo, Yen co-developed Code Shaping, an AI-powered software that allows programmers to edit their code through free-form sketches. ­

Professor Freda Shi was featured in Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago's (TTIC), alumni highlight series.

Freda Shi, Ph.D. graduate from TTIC’s class of 2024 (advised by Professors Karen Livescu and Kevin Gimpel), joined the Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in July 2024. In September 2024 she was named a CIFAR AI Chair and a faculty member at the Vector Institute.

Freda’s research focuses on computational linguistics and natural language processing, aiming to deepen the understanding of both natural language and human language processing. She explores how these insights can enhance the design of more efficient, effective, safe, and trustworthy NLP systems. She is particularly interested in learning language through grounding, computational multilingualism, and related machine learning aspects.

Seventeen students from the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University dominated ETHDenver, held from February 23 to March 2, 2025.

ETHDenver is the world’s largest and longest-running Ethereum event. Since 2018, it has hosted blockchain-focused events, including panel discussions, workshops, networking sessions, and boot camps. Their main event is #BUIDLathon, a hackathon where attendees can team up to develop their own blockchain projects.

Professor Xiao Hu has received a Best Paper Award at the 2025 ACM SIGMOD/PODS International Conference on Management of Data for her research on optimizing join-aggregate queries.

Her paper, Output-Optimal Algorithms for Join-Aggregate Queries, addresses a long-standing open problem in database theory, establishing output-optimal bounds on the efficiency with which such queries can be processed.

Waterloo researchers use machine learning to predict how new drugs could affect the body.

Graduate student Helia Yazdanyar and her advisor, Professor Sepehr Assadi, have received the Best Paper Award at SOSA25, the eighth SIAM Symposium on Simplicity in Algorithms.

Their paper, Simple Sublinear Algorithms for (Δ + 1) Vertex Coloring via Asymmetric Palette Sparsification, was recognized for its approach to simplifying sublinear algorithms for graph colouring.

Launched by the Computing Research Association in 2023, the UR2PhD program is designed to broaden access to undergraduate research experiences and inspire students to pursue graduate studies.

Among its institutional partners is the University of Waterloo, where Cheriton School of Computer Science Professor Edith Law coordinates the program locally.

University Professor M. Tamer Öszu has received the Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision, a prestigious recognition conferred annually since 2005 by Waterloo’s Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs in collaboration with the Graduate Student Association.

Linda Wang (she/her), a third-year Computer Science student, is the Co-op Student of the Year for the Faculty of Math! Her incredible work at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) played a pivotal role in developing one of the company’s first generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) use cases in human resources (HR).

A lot has happened to Kristy Gao (BCS ’22) since graduating from the University of Waterloo, nearly three years ago.

She moved to San Francisco for her first post-graduation job. Started a book club to make friends. Got into an accident, where she, a Canadian, had to navigate the complexities of the American healthcare system. Quit her job to launch a health-tech startup, Cenote, with two people she met from her book club. Applied to Y Combinator (YC), the world’s largest and most competitive startup accelerator. Got accepted by YC and received $500,000 USD in seed funding. 

We connected with our alum about her unique entrepreneurship journey, her passion for diversity, equity and inclusive (DEI) initiatives, and her words to her younger self.