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Waterloo ranked top research university among comprehensives for 10 years in a row
For the tenth consecutive year, the University of Waterloo is Research University of the Year among Canadian comprehensive universities, according to Research Infosource.
The announcement comes just weeks after Maclean’s magazine ranked Waterloo the most innovative university in Canada for the 26th consecutive year. Maclean’s annual ranking of Canadian universities also named Waterloo second for best overall, highest quality, and leaders of tomorrow out of the 49 universities surveyed.
The designation announced as part of Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities is based on a balanced set of input, output, and impact measures that distinguishes exceptional achievement in research income and publishing research in leading scientific journals.
Waterloo also ranked first among comprehensive Research Universities of the Year for total sponsored research income, total number of publications and publication intensity, or the total number of publications per full-time faculty.
The University ranked 13th among Canada’s top 50 research universities for total sponsored research income, with more than $166 million. It ranked fifth overall for publication intensity. Waterloo placed second among comprehensive universities for total corporate research income over the past five years with more than $74 million.
“We are honoured to have earned the distinction and recognition of research university of the year for a full decade,” says Feridun Hamdullahpur. “We intend to continue to lead Canadian research innovation with high-impact research that improves quality of life and advances our economy, as part of our goal to become one of the world’s top innovation universities.”
This achievement recognizes Waterloo’s extraordinary performance in international rankings. Also this week, the 2018 US News Global University Rankings named Waterloo engineering first in Canada and 51st in the world, computer science second in Canada and 15th in the world. Chemistry ranked second in Canada and 103rd in the world, and materials science ranked second in Canada and 112th in the world.
Earlier this month, Waterloo ranked in the top one per cent (263) of 27,000 degree-granting institutions of higher education worldwide in this year’s Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), the largest academic ranking of global universities.
Waterloo maintained its position in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking at 152nd in the world. The prestigious QS World University Subject Rankings placed Waterloo 31st in the world for computer science, 34th for mathematics and 13th hospitality and leisure management studies. Waterloo also ranked in QS top 100 for statistics and operational research, sports related subjects, material science, environmental science, geography, architecture, psychology and civil, chemical and electrical engineering.
“We are pleased to be recognized and named a leader, once again, among comprehensive universities across Canada, for research excellence. It’s an element of our roots and culture that truly drives innovation worldwide,” says Charmaine Dean, Vice-President, University Research.
IST launches WatVote electronic voting system
A message from Information Systems & Technology
IST is pleased to announce the launch of WatVote, a new Drupal-based electronic voting system that supports the official online voting needs of faculty and staff on campus. WatVote provides counting and access control for online votes requiring authentication, security, and anonymity, and will replace the existing eVote system.
There are two types of votes currently supported:
- Referendum (yes/no) votes
- Election ‘first-past-the-post’ style votes
Qualtrics Online Surveys and WCMS Web forms are alternatives for other types of votes.
This service is available for all faculty and staff by request to rt-ist-cs-watvote@rt.uwaterloo.ca.
More information about this service is available on IST's web voting website.
Lappin-Scott to speak on equality and diversity in STEM
The Faculty of Science is hosting a special lecture Monday afternoon that features Professor Hilary Lappin-Scott, Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Swansea University and Vice President of the prestigious Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS).
Professor Lappin-Scott's talk is entitled "What works to support greater equality, diversity and inclusivity in STEM and beyond?"
Professor Lappin-Scott’s visit is sponsored by the Faculty of Science HeForShe working group and the Department of Biology.
The talk takes place at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, October 30 in OPT 309 in the School of Optometry and Vision Science on the University's north campus.
Professor Lappin-Scott's talk will draw on many practical examples from across the UK and Australia of what works to support changing the culture in universities to be much more inclusive, to give women greater visibility/participation and more women into leadership roles. The benefits of the UK Athena SWAN scheme will be discussed and the various adaptations of the scheme for other countries too.
Professor Hilary Lappin-Scott is the Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor and a member of the Senior Management team at Swansea University, leading for Research and Innovation and Strategic Development. Lappin-Scott was elected Vice President of the prestigious Federation of European Microbiological Society (FEMS) in 2016, having held the Presidencies of both the Society for General Microbiology (now Microbiology Society) 2009-2012, and the International Society for Microbial Ecology (2006-2010). She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the Royal Society of Biology, the Linnean Society and also of the European Academy of Microbiology.
Professor Lappin-Scott is also Swansea University’s lead for the Equality and Diversity agenda for Athena SWAN and has ensured that every STEM subject has at least a Bronze award. She is an elected Board member of the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU). Her recent work on promoting girls in science and retaining women in STEM careers include her TEDx talk, "Move Over Boys: Why We Need More Girls/Women in STEM Careers". She advises Australian universities and research institutes on best practice on supporting women in STEM and is co-author of the Welsh Government Report “Talented Women for a Successful Wales”. Professor Lappin-Scott was awarded the prestigious WISE Hero Award 2016 and was recently awarded the Womenspire ‘STEM Pioneer’ Award 2017 for her work in supporting women in STEM.