Wednesday, April 8, 2026

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• Waterloo capstone projects tackle cancer care

• Across the creek, students competed for the Intercollege Cup
• Remembering Nadia Ursacki and other notes

Waterloo capstone projects tackle cancer care

i-Capstone team members left to right: Elizabeth Agyei, Chris Abey, Heet Shah, Adrian Gri with Dr. Shima Deljoomanesh at Princess Margaret (centre). Absent: Labkhand Maghamianzadeh. Photo credit: University of Waterloo.

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

Two student teams are partnering with Princess Margaret Cancer Centre to improve how cancer care is delivered to patients. The work is being done as part of i-Capstone, the University of Waterloo's first interdisciplinary undergraduate capstone program. Part of Waterloo's growing capstone ecosystem, i-Capstone brings together students from every faculty to work alongside organizations on their most pressing challenges, for academic credit.

Two problems, one approach

When a CT scan slot becomes available at Princess Margaret, patient flow coordinators must work quickly to fill it. They connect with clinical sites by phone and email, often relying on manual processes to manage this time-sensitive work.

One Waterloo team, CT Optimizers, built a machine learning model paired with a set of dashboards that automates prioritization, keeps patient data locally housed and keeps a physician in the loop on every decision. "It reduces a lot of the administrative burden and allows them to focus on what's most important, helping patients”, says Chris Abey, a software engineering student on the team.

CT Optimizers built a dashboard prototype to help Princess Margaret improve scheduling efficiencies. From left to right: Elizabeth Agyei, Heet Shah, Adrian Gri, Chris Abey, Labkhand Maghamianzadeh.

The second team, We Dream in Voxels, is working on how cancer drugs reach their target. Treatment works best when it penetrates every cell in a tumour — but no two tumours are alike, making a clear picture of their internal structure essential to more precise care.  

Dr. Catherine Coolens' lab at Princess Margaret had already built a two-dimensional model to map how blood, and with it, drugs, move through a tumour. The Waterloo team extended this model to three dimensions and rebuilt it in Python. The rebuilt code runs more than 100 times faster than the original, due to improved algorithms. Researchers now have a model that maps a tumour's internal structure in full, offering a potential tool to support personalized patient treatment.

We Dream in Voxels presents their 3D tumour drug-mapping model at a University of Waterloo Global Futures event in January. From left to right: Saptarshi Battacherya, Nena Le, Ranmali Attapattu, Khushleen Bawa. 

Both deliverables are designed with real-world application in mind. CT Optimizers' dashboards are built as a prototype for clinical use. We Dream in Voxels' model gives Dr. Coolens' lab results that will inform future research and, eventually, clinical practice.

What capstone builds

For Waterloo students, combining co-op and coursework builds intellectual depth and real-world instinct. Capstone is the final integration of those two things; where students apply everything Waterloo has taught them and become prepared for what comes next.

Read the full story on Waterloo News

Across the creek, students competed for the Intercollege Cup

The AFIW institution mascots: Reni the Moose (Renison University College), Toasty (United College), Jerome, (St. Jerome's University) and Conrad the Cookie (Conrad Grebel University College).

A message from Renison University College.

On Saturday, March 7, the Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo (AFIW) came together for the Intercollege Cup—an exciting and meaningful event that celebrated community, friendly competition, and college pride at the University of Waterloo. Throughout the day, students participated in a variety of fun activities such as dodgeball, Pictionary, the Price is Right, and Dutch Blitz while proudly representing their colleges and building connections with peers from across campus.

The Intercollege Cup display in a case in the SJ2 Atrium.

The event created a welcoming space for students to meet new people, form friendships, and engage in spirited teamwork beyond their own residence communities. Intercollege Cup highlighted the unique identity of each college and showcased how smaller, close-knit communities can foster strong relationships and a deep sense of belonging. Overall, the event was a great reminder of how collaboration, energy, and shared experiences can bring university colleges together and strengthen the broader Waterloo community.

Remembering Nadia Ursacki and other notes

Friends, former classmates and colleagues are mourning the passing of Nadia Ursacki (BMath ’01), who died on March 21 after a battle with cancer. "Nadia was a former MathSoc volunteer, Math Orientation Director, and worked as the Front of House Manager at the Humanities Theatre from 2006 to 2015," writes Professor Diana Skrzydlo of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science. "Her impact on FASS, Kitchener-Waterloo Little Theatre, and many other local theatre companies was enormous, and she will be greatly missed."

A Celebration of Life event will be held at the Humanities Theatre on Monday, April 13 at 8:00 p.m., with visitation beginning at 7:00 p.m.

This is a reminder that the registration deadline for the upcoming UW Administrative Professionals Community of Practice Event is Friday, April 10. The actual event will be held on Wednesday, April 22. 

The Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE), within the Integrated Teaching and Learning Unit, is hosting GenAI in Teaching Material Development (CTE7553) on Tuesday, April 14, in person in MC 2036 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. "This workshop explores practical ways GenAI can assist in developing a wide range of teaching materials," says a note from CTE.

Facilitating the course are Natalie Chow and Victoria Feth. You can register on GoSignMeUp.