Monday, March 17, 2025

Previous | Next

• Gender-Based Analysis Plus research webinar coming up
• Final-year engineering students bring bold ideas to life at Capstone
• March Open House will take place March 22

• Call for nominations for honorary degrees

• Remembering Dr. Darrol Bryant

• Monday's notes

Gender-Based Analysis Plus research webinar coming up

A message from the Office of the Vice-President, Research and International.

What is GBA+ Anyway?: An Introduction takes place on Monday, March 24, from 2:00 pm to 3:00 p.m.

Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) is an important tool for embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in every stage of research from design to sharing results and other outputs. But what is it, and how is it done?

This presentation will go over the basics of GBA+ including examples that highlight its usefulness, steps researchers can take, and questions they can ask themselves to start the GBA+ analysis of their research. 

Please register to receive the Zoom link to participate.

Upcoming webinars

• The Decolonial “R’s” of Research: Principled Approaches to Engaging Indigenous Communities, Monday, April 28, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.Please register.

Resources 

• Inclusive Research Resource Hub
• Inclusive Research website

For more information or questions, please reach out to research.equity@uwaterloo.ca or Indigenous.research@uwaterloo.ca with any questions.

Final-year engineering students bring bold ideas to life at Capstone

From groundbreaking technology to real-world solutions, Waterloo Engineering’s 2025 Capstone Design symposia will highlight the ingenuity of final-year students. Capstone Design symposia kicked off on Wednesday, March 12 and will run to March 26 in Engineering 7 (E7). This annual event offers a glimpse into the future through student-led innovations.

More than 1,500 students from 12 programs will present over 350 meticulously designed projects. New this year, the i-Capstone symposium will close the event on March 26, uniting students from all six Faculties at Waterloo. This interdisciplinary initiative fosters collaboration and reinforces the university’s leadership in work-integrated learning.

"Capstone Design is a defining milestone for our graduating students," said Dr. Mary Wells, Dean of Engineering. "It’s an opportunity to transform knowledge and experience into something tangible—projects that address real challenges and demonstrate the incredible potential of our students to shape the future."

The event culminates on March 27 with a pitch competition funded by the Esch Foundation, where up to 12 qualifying teams will compete for prizes. Thanks to donor support, all participating teams will receive funding, with the Sedra People’s Choice Award winner earning an additional $4,500.

Symposia dates and times:

• Civil, Environmental and Geological Engineering, Tuesday, March 18 | 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Engineering 7;
• Chemical Engineering, Wednesday, March 19 | 1 to 4 p.m. | Engineering 7;
• Nanotechnology Engineering, Wednesday, March 19 | 1 to 5 p.m. | Engineering 7;
• Systems Design Engineering, Thursday, March 20 | 12 to 4 p.m. | Engineering 7;
• Biomedical Engineering, Thursday, March 20 | 12 to 4 p.m. | Engineering 7;
• Mechatronics Engineering, Friday, March 21 | 1 to 4:30 p.m. | Engineering 7;
• Management Science & Engineering, Monday, March 24 | 12 to 4 p.m. | Engineering 7;
• Mechanical Engineering, Monday, March 24 | 1 to 4:30 p.m. | Student Design Centre Engineering 5;
• Software Engineering, Tuesday, March 25 | 12 to 4 p.m. | Engineering 7;
• i-Capstone Symposium, Wednesday, March 26 | 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. | Engineering 7;
• Norman Esch Capstone Pitch Competition, Thursday, March 27 | 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. | Engineering 7.

March Open House will take place March 22

A message from Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment.

We are so excited to welcome prospective students and their supporters to campus for March Open House!

Saturday, March 22 is our March Open House taking place from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Main campus will be busy with more than 12,000 guests expected. Future students will have plenty of opportunities to discover their story at Waterloo with offerings ranging from sample lectures, info sessions, to faculty, residence, and University College tours. Open house activities are also planned on Saturday at the School of Architecture, School of Pharmacy, and the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business. 

If you know a university-bound student, invite them to register.

Call for nominations for honorary degrees

"I am pleased to invite all members of the University community to submit nominations for honorary degree recipients for 2026," wrote President Vivek Goel in a memo circulated to employees on Friday. "An honorary degree is the highest honour conferred by the University. Through the conferring of honorary degrees, the University of Waterloo seeks to recognize outstanding achievement, whether academic or through service to society. These achievements are celebrated at Convocation where they inspire those in attendance, particularly our newly graduating students."

Guidelines for awarding honorary degrees, including selection procedures and considerations for assessing a candidate's qualifications, as well as details on what to submit in a nomination package can be found on the Senate Honorary Degrees Committee website.

Download the nomination form

"The committee will consider a broad range of achievement in exceptional service or significant contribution to the University, the community, the nation, or the world, in areas that include research and scholarship, the arts, business, and professional and voluntary service," President Goel's memo continues. "Nominations can be made for individuals from Canada or abroad, whose presence will bring honour and distinction to the University of Waterloo and whose achievements will be seen as important and exemplary to the graduating students."

"The University embraces and appreciates diversity and wants to ensure the pool of candidates reflects our student body and local, national, and global communities. Decisions taken by the committee will seek to reflect the diverse social and cultural character of Canada as well as the academic diversity embodied in the university itself.  Nominations should also consider how candidates relate to the University and align with our strategic priorities and institutional values. Recipients of Honorary Degrees are expected to participate in, and inspire graduates at a Convocation ceremony." 

Complete nomination packages should be submitted by May 30, 2025 to the secretary of the Senate Honorary Degrees Committee, c/o Secretariat, NH 3060 or senate@uwaterloo.ca.

"Thank you in advance for your contribution to this important tradition," Goel's memo concludes.

Remembering Dr. Darrol Bryant

A message from Renison University College.

It is with deep sadness that we share news that long-time Renison professor Dr. Darrol Bryant has passed away.

Darrol was a professor at Renison for over 30 years, from 1973 until his retirement in 2005. During this period he also served as Acting Principal in 1997. After retiring, Darrol received the honour of Distinguished Professor Emeritus, and in 2010 became a Renison Senior Fellow.

Darrol was an active part of the Renison community, both during and after his time in the classroom. He was a frequent attendee of Renison events, often alongside his wife Susan Hodges Bryant. He remained an academic, serving as Director of Renison’s Centre for Dialogue and Spirituality in the World Religions long into retirement. Darroll’s gentle nature and curiosity led him to many deep conversations with countless members of the Renison community. He will be dearly missed.  

In 2022 Darrol and Susan helped establish a new garden space, the Bryant Stone Garden, on the Renison grounds. This serene garden serves as a community space, and the site of the Renison Stone Garden Ceremony. A few times each year, students and other community members are invited to participate by placing a stone into the garden as a way to demonstrate the impact each individual has on the life and story of Renison. After releasing a stone into the Bryant Stone Garden, participants are invited to choose a stone bracelet as a reminder of their Renison journey. The new garden was part of the Bryant’s legacy of care for Renison’s landscape, and was preceded by years of both Darrol and Susan tending to the East West garden, which occupies Renison’s central courtyard.

In accordance with Darrol’s wishes, cremation has taken place. A commemoration gathering will be held in the Spring.

Read Darrol’s obituary by visiting the Erb and Good Family Funeral Home website. 

Monday's notes

Today is St. Patrick's Day, which celebrates the eponymous 5^th Century missionary to Ireland who is now considered its patron saint, and over the years has become a celebration of Irish culture, food and drink.

"I’m writing to let you know that this year will be a little different when it comes to the risk of attending the large street gatherings that sometimes occur around campuses in our community," wrote Associate Provost, Students Chris Read in a memo to undergraduate and graduate students circulated on March 7. "The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has issued an Order that prohibits anyone from breaching the City’s Nuisance Party By-law or attending “Nuisance Party,” as defined in the By-law. The Order prohibits anyone from planning, promoting, attending, or participating in any street parties between March 14, 2025 and March 17, 2025."

"Anyone who is found to be in contravention of the Order could be arrested, detained and held in custody by the police and charged with violating a court order," Read writes. "You could also face tickets and fines for violating the Nuisance Party By-law."

"The University of Waterloo discourages attending large, unsanctioned street gatherings as they can quickly get out of control and have previously resulted in students drinking too much, overdoses, assaults and overall feelings of insecurity."

"Remember that we are part of a broader community here in Waterloo Region and be respectful of your neighbours as you celebrate."

A holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Newfoundland and Labrador, St. Patrick's Day is often celebrated with parades and other gatherings, and of course the wearing of green. St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Canada date back to 1759, when Irish members of the Montreal Garrison observed the holiday.

Elsewhere on campus, the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI) Speaker Series continues with a lecture by Dr. James Shelley from Western University entitled “Research Funding as a Complex System: Can AI Predict What Peer Reviewers Will Flag as Weaknesses in Grant Applications?”

"WICI external core member James Shelley returns to Waterloo to talk about how complexity theory has informed his exciting new project, now a university-wide pilot at Western, on AI use in the research funding competition space," says a note about the lecture.

The event takes place at 3:00 p.m. today in DC 1302 and online via Zoom. There's still time to register.

Finally, a back-to-back McCaw Cup victory just wasn't in the cards for the Women's Warriors hockey team, who lost 3-2 against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Athletics has all the rematch details.