Wednesday, September 17, 2025

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• New EDI-R initiative is PG-Rated

• Even black holes have bad hair days

• Applications open for Sharratt Scholarship

• GSA unveils new mural by Indigenous artist

• What's up on a Wednesday

 New EDI-R initiative is PG-Rated

A message from the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism (EDI-R).

To every parent and guardian of children at our University: we see you.

Parenting while working and/or studying comes with unique challenges, and the support needed doesn’t look the same for everyone.

That’s why the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism (EDI-R) is launching PG Rated: an initiative to share resources and build community connections that reflect the realities of parenthood and help lighten the load.

This initiative will only be meaningful if it’s shaped by the voices of parents and guardians—their perspectives, their experiences.

If you are a parent or guardian on campus, please take a few minutes to complete the PG Rated feedback form and help build the supports across campus. As a token of appreciation for your time, if you feel comfortable sharing your UWaterloo email, you'll be entered into a draw to win one of twenty $50 Tim Hortons gift cards.

Even black holes have bad hair days

By Katie McQuaid and Scott Johnston. This is an excerpt of an article originally published on Waterloo News.

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has unveiled new, detailed images of M87*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy M87, that reveal a dynamic environment with changing polarization patterns near the black hole. The new images, constructed and validated by researchers from the University of Waterloo and Perimeter Institute, show how the environment around the black hole may be changing more than we previously thought.

In 2017, the EHT observed a spiralling polarization pattern that is the signature of a large-scale twisted magnetic structure, confirming long-held ideas about how black holes interact with, and impact, their environments. But in 2018, the polarization all but disappeared. In 2021, the meagre remnant began to spiral in the opposite direction. Astrophysicists are now wrestling with a solitary question: why?

New, highly detailed images of M87* from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration have revealed that the supermassive black hole’s magnetic fields are changing direction over time. The new images show that M87*’s magnetic fields appeared to be turning in one direction in 2017, but then settled in 2018, and experienced a reversal of direction in 2021. Scientists believe this flip in direction may be the result of internal magnetic structure and external effects, like a Faraday screen. Credit: EHT Collaboration, Amy C. Oliver/CfA 

Blockbuster movies tell us that black holes are fantastic traps where things go in and never get out. But M87* is showing us that black holes can also take energetic material from their surroundings, caught up in a powerful electromagnetic field, and launch it outward in spectacular fashion. M87*’s jet starts near the event horizon, eventually reaching 90 per cent the speed of light. These new observations offer the first tentative hint of connective tissue between the chaotic ring of plasma around the black hole and the engine at the base of this powerful jet. But exactly how black holes perform this magic trick, and what it means for the fundamental nature of gravity, is only beginning to be revealed.

Read the full story on Waterloo News.

Applications open for Sharratt Scholarship

From left to right: Laura Middleton, Schlegel Research Chair in Dementia and Active Living, 2024 scholarship recipient Tara Kuhn, RIA Executive Director Tina Mah, donor, Jacquie Sharratt, 2024 scholarship recipient Eric Hedge, and Richard Hughson, Schlegel Research Chair in Vascular Aging and Brain Health.

A message from the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA).

The Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA) invites University of Waterloo graduate students to apply for the Sharratt Scholarship!

Established through a donation from Jacquie Sharratt in honour of her late husband, Dr. Mike Sharratt, this scholarship recognizes his leadership in establishing the RIA and helps students to continue the work he passionately championed. 

Two $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to graduate students who have presented or will present aging-related research focused on gerontology or geriatrics at a recognized professional conference in 2025. All faculties are eligible, and interested candidates must submit an online application form by September 30.

For more details, contact Shira Ginsler, Fundraising and Development Manager, at shira.ginsler@the-ria.ca.

GSA unveils new mural by Indigenous artist

A message from the Graduate Student Association (GSA).

Last Thursday, the Graduate Student Association unveiled their new mural painting by Indigenous artist Kyle Joedicke who has had the opportunity to create a few different art installations for the University, including the recently released Waterloo Warriors logo.

This project is a step in the right direction for the inclusion of Indigenous culture into our spaces and our community. This mural is a direct outcome from the GSAs 2024-2027 Strategic Plan, specifically to address one of its Guiding Principles: "Affirming our Commitment to Indigenous Heritage." The art can be found in SLC 3216, also known as the Grad Lounge. The GSA is excited to welcome this beautiful painting into its space and will be continuing to include other Indigenous art into their spaces.

In explaining the meaning behind the art, Kyle has provided his thoughts:

The design concepts within it are rooted in that same sense of building community and growth together. He has chosen to use a maze of vines to emulate a student’s journey here at Waterloo University. The complicated and intricate way that vines grow is like how students entering into their first years of school must weave together a tapestry of their own through the experiences and guidance they receive here.

Along the pathway of vines are what are referred to as “split-circles” in the iconography of woodland art. These shapes are meant to represent physical and the spiritual states of being which our bodies are in a constant state of fighting to keep in balance. In this mural, this imagery is also specifically meant to represent major milestones that students will accomplish on their educational journey. Many things in life don't take a straightforward, linear path, and often scholastic pursuits fall prey to this as life can be incredibly unpredictable, but through maintaining one's passion for learning and keeping the spirit of curiosity alive many of these milestones will be reached and become points of pride.

The background of this mural was stylized after the Outdoor Gathering Space, which can be seen just outside of the windows here. This acts as a way of connecting the meaning of this mural with the land that the campus is situated on. The patterning is a take on the scales of a trout fish, a native species to the Grand River. This land has worked in harmony for centuries to foster the lives of the plants, animals and people that have called it home, and now where each student attending this University calls home.

The celebration event was well attended by graduate students, the Provost and the Faculty of Health’s Knowledge Keeper, Dr. Myeengun Henry. On behalf of the GSA, we thank our speakers and the students who attended and celebrated this piece.

What's up on a Wednesday

WUSA's Welcome Week concludes today with the Campus Life Fair, which takes place in the Student Life Centre's Great Hall from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The first 500 Waterloo undergrads to check in at the WUSA booth will receive a free donut, so remember, do or donut. There is no try.

The Engineering Wellness Program’s Community Well-Being Fruit and Veg Markets are back this term.

Today’s edition starts at 12 noon and runs until 4:00 p.m. or while supplies last. This term there will be two locations: Engineering 7 on the 1^st floor near the Robohub, and the first-floor foyer of the Faculty of Health Expansion building (EXP). As usual, $10 will get you a bag of produce, with fruit and veg bags available. The markets are open to everyone in the University community. If you have an ice pack or thermal bag, you’re encouraged to bring it with you to keep your goods fresh.

If you can’t make it to today’s market, don’t fret – the next one is coming up on October 1.

Also making its termly return? The Music Department's Noon Hour Concert Series! Today sees the Cuore Piano Trio performing Tensions & Transparencies. The Vienna-based trio explores the expressive breadth of the piano trio form through two contrasting masterworks: Joseph Haydn’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Hob XV:29 and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67. The concert takes place at 12 noon in the Conrad Grebel University College Chapel. Admission is free.

A documentary film directed by a University of Waterloo professor will be screened on Friday afternoon. Thinking Beyond the Market: A film about genuinely affordable housing by Dr. Brian Doucet, a professor in the School of Planning, will be screened at 3:00 p.m. in EV3 1408. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Dr. Doucet and the event will wrap up at 5:00 p.m.

“Thinking Beyond the Market: a film about genuinely affordable housing is the culmination of years of research into why we are in a housing crisis and what we can do about it,” Dr. Doucet writes in his director’s statement. “It draws on my own work on displacement, gentrification and housing precarity in cities across the country, as well as important findings, evidence and examples that get to the root causes of the housing problem.”

“As an academic researcher and one of Canada’s leading experts on housing, it’s not enough to simply write articles that only my colleagues in a narrow field of inquiry will ever read. I’ve long worked to bring my academic research into broader public, political, planning and policy conversations. The ability to make a documentary film about housing is the ultimate way to bridge the ever-increasing divide between university scholarship and the people who make, shape and experience cities. I hope this film enhances existing conversations and begins new ones in communities across Canada and beyond.” The documentary film's running time is 86 minutes.

Employers hosting Employer Information Sessions this week include Charta Health, Manulife, Electric Mind, BCI, CC&L, Hatch, Cape, Eckler, 1851 Labs, Bell Canada, and Google. Make sure to register through WaterlooWorks and check the calendar for any updates.