Thursday, July 21, 2022

We're among the best in the world in subjects you may not even know we offer

By Jon Parsons. This article was originally published on Waterloo News.

Everybody knows Waterloo is among the best in the world for computer science, engineering and math.

Tourism management and water research probably don’t come to mind when you think of the subjects where Waterloo excels globally.

A new ranking of universities by subject says you should think again, and that Waterloo is world-class in areas you might not even know happen here.

The annual Global Ranking of Academic Subjects does of course reflect Waterloo’s stature in engineering, with top 20 showings in Telecommunication Engineering (11^th) and Electrical and Electronic Engineering (18^th), as well as being at the pinnacle in several other engineering subjects, too.

Then there are these amazing rankings:

• 21 in the world for Hospitality and Tourism Management
• 28 in the world for Transportation Science and Technology
• 34 in the world for Water Resources research (nice going, UW Water Institute!)
• 40 in the world for Remote Sensing
• Among the top 75 for Physics
• Among the top 100 for Psychology
• Among the top 100 for Sociology

Maybe the Physics one isn’t a big surprise, since Waterloo’s Donna Strickland won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018 and our researchers are actively unravelling the secrets of the cosmos.

But here’s to the psychologists and sociologists, the geographers and the hydrologists, and all the people who make Waterloo among the best in the world.

“I’m delighted to see the excellent ranking of our programs in Psychology and Sociology, which we know have delivered outstanding teaching, learning and research for many years,” says Douglas Peers, acting dean of the Faculty of Arts. “These programs are two examples of excellence in Arts, which is home to diverse programming across the social sciences, humanities and creative arts — all uniquely positioned at UWaterloo.”

Even though they get the spotlight so often, there’s always pride for the engineers as well. Being the best is a constant challenge, but the Faculty of Engineering makes it look easy.

“It always feels good when external organizations recognize the excellence that I have the pleasure of seeing and sharing at Waterloo Engineering every day,” says Mary Wells, dean of the Faculty of Engineering. “I’m particularly pleased with our strong showing in Environmental Engineering and Water Resources.”

These latest rankings just go to show that the talent at Waterloo is broad and not just concentrated in a few areas. All its faculties and programs contribute to its world-class reputation and consistently high rankings.

And it’s some of the new areas of research, where Waterloo is breaking new ground, to keep an eye on.

The Global Ranking of Academic Subjects uses survey results and quantitative data to measure the performance of world universities in 54 distinct subject areas. The methodology includes analysis of research output, research influence, evidence of international collaboration, research quality, and international academic awards.

Professor Simron Singh receives prestigious international appointments

This article was originally published on the Faculty of Environment's website.

Simron Singh, a professor at the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo has recently been elected as Executive Secretary of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE), as well as the Co-Chair of the Risk-KAN, the Knowledge-Action Network on Emergent Risks and Extreme Events.

As an industrial ecologist, Singh is interested in the long-term system dynamics of society-nature interactions. Using small islands as a scope, he conducts socio-metabolic research to investigate the systemic links between material and energy use, ecosystem health, and human wellbeing. Professor Singh uses his knowledge of science and policy to seek for resource security and build system resilience against the impacts of climate change on island economies.

As the Executive Secretary of ISIE, Singh will support the president in the effective functioning of the society, advise strategic directions, call, and chair the ISIE Board and Annual General Meetings, and promote the interests of the society at all levels. The ISIE was founded in 2001, with currently 800 members located all around the world that promote industrial ecology as a way to address sustainability challenges and achieve a circular economy.

In same vein, Singh as the Co-Chair of Risk-KAN will support the leadership in bringing the network forward by convening, preparing, and co-chairing regular Steering Committee (SC) meetings. Risk-KAN is a joint initiative of Future Earth, Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP). He will co-lead Risk-KAN budgets development, shaping contribution to international events, and supporting and approving participation. He will use this role to foster a platform for scientific communities to contribute to research and action on extreme events, disaster risk reduction and governance.

Bridging the gap between student to full-time entrepreneur

A message from Velocity. This article originally appeared on Waterloo News.

Beyond Velocity’s well-known incubator in Kitchener’s innovation district, Velocity supports more than 5,000 students per year through on-campus programs, such as Zero, Problem Lab and Cornerstone, designed to give University of Waterloo students an early start in entrepreneurship and create experiences to build key skills for any career path. Introduced during the pandemic, the Cornerstone program helps the most advanced student teams refine their startup ideas and prepare them to start a career in entrepreneurship.

Six early-stage teams who worked on their startups through Cornerstone and other programs at Waterloo are moving into the incubator where they will receive support from Velocity business advisors and product development team as they refine their initial startup idea, business model and proof of concept over the next several months.

“Students have a fantastic opportunity to build out their own ideas and try starting a business while they are pursuing their undergraduate or graduate degrees. The University of Waterloo is a supportive environment where they can access Velocity's abundant free resources to help them test their ideas. By starting early with Velocity's on-campus support, students can de-risk their jump to full-time entrepreneurship upon graduation, when the Velocity Incubator can give them the best chance at success,” says John Dick, Velocity’s director of Campus Programming.

“We here at TAMVOES Health are so excited to be members of Velocity. We have found so much value in working with our advisors to date and are looking forward to working more directly to maximise growth,” says Jessica Lunshof, co-founder at TAMVOES, one of the first companies to join the incubator post-pandemic.

The Velocity Incubator founders, many of which have received venture capital investments, can help guide these six new companies through the unique challenges of building a startup and pursuing private investment.

"While we have a keen understanding of our market and our solution, at this stage, our exposure to the investor side of entrepreneurship is still limited. This is why we really value this opportunity to join the Velocity community and meet with other founders, including founders at the same stage as well as founders who have already gone through raises. We also look to Velocity's advisory team to help us navigate the early-stage Canadian venture capital ecosystem and set the goals and milestones that will guarantee our investor readiness. We are glad to be part of this new program. The mentoring we've received at Velocity is not something I have found anywhere else," says Margaret Mutumba, CEO and co-founder of MedAtlas.

The Southwestern Ontario Health Innovation Partnership also opened a path for companies started by graduates of the Western Medical Innovation Fellowship to join the Velocity ecosystem and benefit from Velocity’s connection to the University of Waterloo to connect with research labs and institutes for additional technical support.

Meet the new six participating companies

Six companies will join the 51 companies at the Velocity incubator starting in a few days. Five of the teams were founded by Waterloo students and alumni:

• MedAtlas is a digital health startup making it easy to find licensed specialists and doctors from anywhere in Africa. MedAtlas was founded by Margaret Mutumba, a PhD candidate in Public Health and Health Systems at Waterloo, Samuel Mutumba and Christoper Nsimbe. Earlier this year, Mutumba shared that it wasn’t until she had attended a Concept pitch competition that she thought, “I could do this.” MedAtlas went on to become the third-place recipient of the Concept Graduate Student Startup Fund in 2020 and a first-place showing at the Concept $5K competition in 2021. MedAtlas has also completed the Cornerstone program and participated in Translation through Velocity’s on campus programming.
• Sway’s social commerce platform lets creators launch curated shops on their social media. Creators can seamlessly promote and sell brand products to their audience through Tiktok and Instagram Shops integrations. Sway was founded by Mathematics student Sam Minkov-Temis and Engineering student Ayush Bhargava. Sway's campus to incubator journey was highlighted with winning a Concept $5K Grant with their sustainable fashion marketplace solution called ChangeRoom in fall 2020. They then propelled further as they pivoted to address a larger market and completed the Cornerstone program where they were able to validate their solution.
• TAMVOES is an online health management platform that supports and stores the information of individuals, families and professional teams. TAMVOES is a women-led startup with the goal to empower individuals with their health information; giving them the ability to make more informed health care decisions. TAMVOES was co-founded by Jessica Lunshof. TAMVOES continually supports the hiring of University of Waterloo co-operative education students and in 2022 completed the Cornerstone program on campus through Velocity. They were also an active member of GEDI (Gateway for Enterprises to Discover Innovation).
• Adaptis, empowers circularity in construction by automating and optimizing building adaptation and material reuse planning. They enable existing owners, architects, and engineers to make informed decisions for decarbonizing their buildings and lowering costs. Adaptis was founded by Sheida Shahi (BAS ‘12, MA ‘14) and Aida Mollaei (MES ‘21). Shahi an architect and holds a PhD in Circular Engineering from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Mollaei is a PhD candidate in Master of Environmental Studies at Waterloo. Shahi received recognition in the Concept Graduate Student Startup fund in 2019 and went on to participate as a member of the Cornerstone program.
• ESGTree has built one of the most advanced ESG tracking and reporting technology platforms for private equity and venture capital globally. ESGTree was founded by Majid Mirza, a PhD candidate in Sustainability Management who is expected to graduate in 2023. More than two years ago, ESGTree was awarded funding through Concept by Velocity helping to accelerate their work and have since been supported by the Grebel Peace Incubator.
• The sixth company, Vessl, which was founded by graduates of Western University’s Medical Innovation Fellowship, joins the Velocity ecosystem thanks to the Southwestern Ontario Health Innovation Partnership (SOHIP), a program funded by a $10 million investment by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. SOHIP is opening pathways to support the strong pipeline of health tech companies that is emerging in southwestern Ontario by connecting them with services, support for health tech product development and access to specialized research labs and clinical trial spaces as part of Velocity’s offerings and the University of Western Ontario’s medical programs and innovation partners.

For more information about this new program, contact John Dick, Velocity’s director of Campus Programming.

Ukrainian students to share their experiences today over coffee

"In mid-May, Waterloo welcomed to campus 35 Ukrainian students whose education had been disrupted by war," says a note from Dean of Engineering Mary Wells. "From the very beginning, our Ukrainian students have felt overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity they’ve received from the Engineering community. To show their gratitude, they invite you to join them for a Coffee Chat and view their photo exhibition, which highlights the impact that the war in Ukraine is having on academics and civilians."

You can register or drop in to meet the students over refreshments and to take in a photo display of their home lives and universities now disrupted by the ongoing conflict. There will also be a colour dye station, where you can dye your fingers to show support for the Ukrainian community.

The event takes place today at 3:00 p.m. on the first floor of Engineering 7.