Friday, April 25, 2025

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• Faculty members named University Professors

• PitcherNet helps researchers throw strikes with AI analysis

• SLC electrical shutdown tomorrow, other notes

Faculty members named University Professors

The University of Waterloo has announced that three faculty members have received the University Professor designation in 2025. Vice-President, Academic and Provost James Rush made the announced at April’s meeting of the University's Board of Governors.

The latest University Professors are Dr. Anita Layton (Applied Mathematics), Dr. Daniel Scott (Geography and Environmental Management), and Dr. Donna Strickland (Physics and Astronomy).

Dr. Anita Layton

Dr. Anita Layton is the Canada 150 Research Chair in Mathematical Biology and Medicine, and Professor of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Pharmacy and Biology at the University of Waterloo. She leads a diverse and interdisciplinary team of researchers who use computational modeling tools to better understand aspects of health and disease. The Layton group collaborate with physiologists, biomedical engineers, and clinicians to formulate detailed models of cellular and organ function.

“Professor Layton is a world-renowned researcher in the area of mathematical medicine and a leading champion of interdisciplinary research across faculty boundaries at the university,” said Hans De Sterck, chair of the Department of Applied Mathematics in an article published on the Faculty of Math’s website. “Her groundbreaking studies have advanced many aspects of mathematical physiology including basic kidney function, sex differences, blood pressure regulation, diabetes, and kidney and heart diseases. The prestigious University Professor designation is a well-deserved recognition for the tremendous research impact Professor Layton has had throughout her career.”

Read the Faculty of Mathematics article about Dr. Layton’s University Professor designation.

Dr. Daniel Scott

Dr. Daniel Scott is a Professor and Research Chair in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. He is also an International Research Fellow at the School of Hospitality and Tourism at the University of Surrey (UK). Daniel has worked extensively on sustainable tourism for 25 years, with a focus on the transition to a low carbon tourism economy and adaptation to the complex impacts of a changing climate. He has advised and led projects for a wide range of government agencies and tourism organizations around the world, including the United Nations World Tourism Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, European Tourism Commission, World Travel and Tourism Council, International Olympic Committee, OECD, the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

“Dr. Scott has been instrumental in designing, directing, and teaching climate change courses and programs at Waterloo, advising on climate programming at other universities, and supervising graduate students who have become leaders in their own right,” says an article published on the Faculty of Environment website. “For example, the Master of Climate Change was the first and only professional climate change masters in Ontario for a decade and is still Environment’s graduate program with the highest enrollment. Dr. Scott also played a leadership role in the development of a Type 3 Diploma in Climate Risk Management (for mid-career professionals) and the new Type 2 Diploma in Climate Change open to every graduate student at the University of Waterloo.”

Read the Faculty of Environment article about Dr. Scott’s University Professor designation.

Dr. Donna Strickland

Donna Strickland is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo and is one of the recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 for developing chirped pulse amplification with Gérard Mourou, her PhD supervisor at the time. They published this Nobel-winning research in 1985 when Strickland was a PhD student at the University of Rochester in New York state. Together they paved the way toward the most intense laser pulses ever created. The research has several applications today in industry and medicine — including the cutting of a patient’s cornea in laser eye surgery, and the machining of small glass parts for use in cell phones.

“The University Professor title acknowledges this achievement and the attention it has brought to the university, but it also celebrates Strickland’s contribution as a teacher and researcher,” says an article published on the Faculty of Science website. “Strickland has been at Waterloo since 1997, and over the last 28 years, she has built relationships with students and colleagues alike. Her charismatic ease and passion for all things lasers have inspired and excited those she’s worked with.”

Read the Faculty of Science article about Dr. Strickland’s University Professor designation.

"The University of Waterloo owes much of its international reputation and stature to the quality of its eminent professors," Vice-President, Academic and Provost James Rush wrote in a report to the University of Waterloo's Board of Governors on April 15. "The University of Waterloo recognizes exceptional scholarly achievement and international pre-eminence through the designation “University Professor”. Once appointed, a faculty member retains the designation until retirement."

Since 2004, Waterloo has awarded this distinction to 38 other individuals. Please visit the Provost's website for a complete list of designations.

University Professor appointments are reported annually to the Board of Governors to recognize new faculty members who have achieved this prestigious designation.

PitcherNet helps researchers throw strikes with AI analysis

University of Waterloo researchers Jerrin Bright (left) and John Zelek developed the PitcherNet system for the Baltimore Orioles. (University of Waterloo) 

This is an excerpt of an article originally published on Waterloo News.

University of Waterloo researchers have developed new artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can accurately analyze pitcher performance and mechanics using low-resolution video of baseball games.

The system, developed for the Baltimore Orioles by the Waterloo team, plugs holes in much more elaborate and expensive technology already installed in most stadiums that host Major League Baseball (MLB), whose teams have increasingly tapped into data analytics in recent years. 

Waterloo researchers convert video of a pitcher's performance into a two-dimensional model that PitcherNet's AI algorithm can later analyze.

Those systems, produced by a company called Hawk-Eye Innovations, use multiple special cameras in each park to catch players in action, but the data they yield is typically available to the home team that owns the stadium those games are played in. 

To add away games to their analytics operation, as well as use smartphone video taken by scouts in minor league and college games, the Orioles asked video and AI experts at Waterloo for help about three years ago. 

The result is a comparatively simple system called PitcherNet, which overcomes challenges such as motion blurring to track the movements of pitchers on the mound, then yields data on metrics including pitch velocity and release point from standard broadcast and smartphone video. 

Waterloo researchers used images generated during the training process to help build the PitcherNet AI technology. (University of Waterloo)

“The Orioles approached us with a problem because they weren’t able to analyze pose positions and, subsequently, the biomechanics of their pitchers at games that may not have access to high-resolution cameras,” said Dr. John Zelek, a professor of systems design engineering and co-director of the Vision and Image Processing (VIP) Lab at Waterloo. 

“The goal of our project was to try to duplicate Hawk-Eye technology and go beyond it by producing similar output from broadcast video or a smartphone camera used by a scout sitting somewhere in the stands.” 

Read the full story on Waterloo News

SLC electrical shutdown tomorrow, other notes

Call it Shutdown II: Electric Boogaloo. Another electrical shutdown is coming for the Student Life Centre and Health Services on Saturday, April 26. Electrical power will be out in both buildings from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. tomorrow, although the word around Ring Road is that the shutdown may be shorter than that.

Both buildings will be without power for duration of the shutdown, but will have emergency lighting, according to an announcement on Plant Operations' service interruptions page.