Tuesday, May 18, 2021

A decade of building a global community of innovators

This article was originally published on Waterloo News.

As the University of Waterloo embraces a future of rapid change, it will be supported by global connections made during President Feridun Hamdullahpur’s decade of leadership. 

“President Hamdullahpur has advocated for Waterloo worldwide, building relationships with alumni, governments, industry leaders and many other allies,” says Joanne Shoveller, vice-president, advancement. “His vision to build an international community of innovators has inspired a vast network of Waterloo champions, which includes alumni and donors in more than 150 countries across the globe.” 

With its reputation for research and teaching excellence, Waterloo has always attracted ambitious students, faculty and staff from around the world. Internationalization brings diverse talent from around the world to campus, while giving students and researchers more opportunities to build relationships globally.  

Global connections encompass academic, research, industry partnerships as well as international learning opportunities such as work placements, exchanges, field programs and co-operative education. Waterloo researchers, who secured  $21 million in international research awards in 2019-20, engage with scholars around the world. 

“President Hamdullahpur has been a tireless champion of building Waterloo’s global connections,” says Ian Rowlands, associate vice-president, international. “He engages so effectively with colleagues from around the world. He enthusiastically describes the breadth and depth of the University’s activities, learns about partners’ priorities and finds linkages for impact.”  

The number of co-op work terms that happen outside of Canada increased 70 per cent between 2013 and 2019. One company in Japan, Curvegrid Inc., was founded by University of Waterloo alumni who now hire Waterloo co-op students to help them develop blockchain technology in their Tokyo-based company. Curvegrid Inc., won the Impact in International Excellence award in 2020 as part of Waterloo’s Co-operative and Experiential Education Employer Impact Awards. 

“We are thankful for President Hamdullahpur’s longstanding commitment to champion co-operative education on a global scale,” says Norah McRae, associate provost, co-operative and experiential education. “It enables the University of Waterloo to clearly establish ourselves as thought leaders in this field and ensures our students have quality work-integrated learning experiences that prepare them for their futures.” 

Alumni like Curvegrid’s co-founder Jeff Wentworth (BASc ’06), are part of a global alumni network that has grown under President Hamdullahpur's decade of leadership. In the past ten years, the University has launched seven alumni chapters outside of Canada in places like New York City, Singapore and Hong Kong.  

Another alumnus Calvin Choi (BA '01), CEO of AMTD Group, created a multi-million dollar fund to support future global leaders. Through the Hong Kong-based AMTD Foundation, Choi partnered with Waterloo to develop talented professionals who are poised to make an economic and social impact on the world. 

“As we rebuild our lives and communities in the wake of the pandemic, we will have the support of international partners who know the value that Waterloo brings to the world,” Shoveller says. “These relationships are thanks to President Hamdullahpur’s efforts, for which we are all deeply grateful.”

Register to join us as we celebrate Feridun's decade of impact

Waterloo's climate centre welcomes new executive director

Waterloo’s Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change (IC3) is pleased to welcome Dr. Sarah Burch, leading climate change and sustainability researcher, as the new executive director. Burch holds a Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Governance and Innovation and is an associate professor in the department of Geography and Environmental Management in the Faculty of Environment.

“I’m honoured and excited to step into this role with IC3,” says Burch. “This is an important time for innovative climate change research and education, and the University of Waterloo is uniquely equipped to impact Canada’s progress towards a resilient, inclusive, and low-carbon future.”

An expert in climate change governance and sustainability transitions in communities, Burch brings a wealth of experience and leadership to her role as executive director. Her vision for the centre will advance the climate change agenda for the university, drive climate change research and education across campus, and expand opportunities for IC3 as a leading university climate centre.

“The Office of Research is delighted to welcome Dr. Sarah Burch as executive director of IC3,” says Charmaine Dean, vice-president, research and international. “Sarah is a highly-respected member of the Waterloo community, and brings vast experience and international leadership to IC3. Her contributions will build on the strong history of climate change research and education at the University of Waterloo, and will help us meet our ambitious institutional goals to advance climate research for global impact.”   

Burch’s research explores transformative responses to climate change at the community scale, innovative strategies for making progress on sustainability, and the unique contributions that small businesses can make to this solving this complex challenge. She leads the international partnership-based research project TRANSFORM: Accelerating sustainability entrepreneurship experiments in local spaces, and is the Director of the Sustainability Policy Research on Urban Transformations (SPROUT) Lab.

Burch holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia, and held a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute. She is currently a Lead Author of the Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007). She was named one of Canada’s Clean50^TM sustainability leaders in 2021, elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars in 2017 and was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40^TM in 2018. Her most recent book is entitled ‘Understanding Climate Change: Science, Policy and Practice,’ and she has taught the first Massive Open Online Course on climate change, which reached thousands of students in over 130 countries.

IC3 is the focal point for climate change research, training and knowledge mobilization at the University of Waterloo. IC3 facilitates interdisciplinary research and education that empowers business, government and civil society to respond effectively to climate change and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient society.

Spring issue of Waterloo Magazine puts resilience in focus

The spring issue of the Waterloo Magazine is now live. In this special issue on Resilience, you can read about how Waterloo alumni face challenges, overcome setbacks and make things better for people in their communities.

This issue includes alumni stories from across the University community. Find out what happened when Rachel Bartholomew (MBET ’14) pitched an idea for a startup to her radiologist while she was undergoing treatment for cervical cancer. Jo Fitzgibbons (MES ’19), who was awarded one of Canada’s most prestigious academic honours, opens up about her mental health struggles. Kyne Santos (BMath ’21) shares how she became a confident drag queen and math educator on TikTok after years of childhood shame for being gay. Brad Regehr (BA ’93), the first Indigenous lawyer to lead the Canadian Bar Association, shares his plans for transforming the legal profession. Dr. Dr. Robert Norrie (BSc ’96) tells us how working in a small community hospital during the pandemic opened his eyes to the resilience of his colleagues and patients. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (PhD ’11), a cosmologist, shares how Black women need unreasonable levels of resilience to persist in science. 

This issue also features special features about how Waterloo transformed under a decade of President Feridun Hamdullapur’s leadership.

Tuesday's notes

Campus tour in progress: Joe Petrik of Computer Science snapped this pic of an impressive gaggle of geese modelling safe pedestrian behaviour by the Needles Hall extension. "I counted 18 in the picture, yet even more goslings were there just outside the frame," Petrik writes. "The parents must have adopted."

The Equity Office is seeking to create space to explore creative and restorative paths to healing through a community screening of the acclaimed short documentary film, Ballet After Dark, and a discussion around themes raised in the film as part of Sexual Violence Awareness Month. Ballet After Dark tells the story of a young woman who found the strength to survive after an attack. She created an organization that is helping sexual abuse and domestic violent survivors find healing after trauma through dance therapy. Moderating the event will be Kathy Hogarth, special advisor to the vice-president, research and international on anti-racism and associate professor in the School of Social Work, with panellists Professor Naila Keleta-Mae from Communication Arts and Professor Trish Van Katwyk of Renison's School of Social Work.

The event takes place at 1:00 p.m. today.

Athletics and Recreation is hosting its Virtual Open House today from 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The event is free for students, faculty, staff and alumni. The virtual event includes a presentation about what services and amenities Athletics and Recreation has to offer, and includes time for Q&A. Attendees should register to win prizes including a $25 gift card from Freshii.

"W3+ (Waterloo Womxn + Nonbinary Wednesdays) is a community of womxn and nonbinary grad students, post-docs, staff, and faculty at the University of Waterloo," says a note from FAUW. "Normally a monthly gathering, W3+ is currently hosting a Microsoft Team as a space in which womxn and nonbinary members of the UW community can connect and support each other. The Team features a range of channels with different purposes, from discussing equity issues in the academy, to celebrating accomplishments and reminding each other to take breaks throughout the day. W3+ also operates a mailing list for those not using Teams and welcomes new womxn and nonbinary members on either platform at any time (find out how to join)."

"On June 9, W3+ is hosting W4: W3+Workshops, a day of online workshops, teach-ins, and how-tos that will share the talents and expertise of our members. Topics include equitable teaching and hiring practices, vegan cooking, mindfulness, gardening, habit change, beekeeping, samba dancing, and more (see the full schedule and session descriptions). This event is open to all womxn/nonbinary graduate students, post-docs, staff, and faculty. Please register by June 2."