Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Get involved with reconciliation this September

A message from the Office of Indigenous Relations.

The Office of Indigenous Relations is pleased to host and share initiatives and events this September so that all campus members, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, can get involved in decolonization, reconciliation and indigenization.

Gidinawendamin/Ska’nikú•lát Pow Wow

Join us for the 21^st annual Pow Wow on Saturday, September 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at CIF Outdoor Field 7. This event is free and everyone is welcome to join. For more information visit the Pow Wow website.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

On Monday, September 30, we honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. We will commemorate the day with a sunrise ceremony, the official opening of the Indigenous outdoor gathering space, Waterloo’s commitment polishing ceremony, speeches, a walk around Ring Road, drumming, dance and a feast. For more information about the event and educational resources visit the Office of Indigenous Relations website. 

Orange Shirts available

W Store is pleased to provide Orange Shirts that feature the unique design from Alanah Astehtsi Otsistohkwa (Morningstar) Jewell. Orange Shirts are available for purchase at W Store website and in-store at South Campus Hall. A portion of the proceeds will support the Indigenous Student Development Fund as we wear orange to recognize all those whose lives were impacted by Canada’s residential school system.

Two Waterloo researchers recognized with prestigious honour

By Angelica Marie Sanchez. This is an excerpt of an article originally published on Waterloo News.

Two University of Waterloo researchers, Drs. Ihab Ilyas and Laura Hug, are being recognized as a Royal Society of Canada (RSC) fellow and a member of the RSC College.  

“Recognition from the RSC is an outstanding acknowledgement of research excellence,” says Dr. Charmaine Dean, vice-president of Research and International at Waterloo. “This year’s awardees from Waterloo have made significant contributions in the areas of artificial intelligence and environmental microbiology, crucial fields of scientific discovery that will dramatically impact future generations. At Waterloo, we are proud to lead the charge in addressing complex global challenges through our Global Futures framework. Congratulations to Dr. Ilyas and Dr. Hug on their outstanding achievements.” 

Founded in 1882, the RSC comprises the Academy of Arts and Humanities, Academy of Social Sciences, Academy of Science and the RSC College. The RSC recognizes excellence, advises the government and the larger society, and promotes a culture of knowledge and innovation in Canada and with other national academies around the world. 

Ilyas, a professor and computer scientist in the Faculty of Mathematics, and Hug, a professor and Canada Research Chair in the Faculty of Science, are joining more than 100 Waterloo researchers who have been inducted as fellows and RSC College members since 1958.  

They will join 103 new fellows and 55 new members of the RSC College who will be inducted at a ceremony held during the 2024 Celebration of Excellence and Engagement conference in Vancouver, British Columbia on November 8. 

Ilyas and Hug represent two of the outstanding Waterloo researchers who are committed to solving the most pressing challenges of our time. They continue to build on the University’s strengths while delivering new directions and solutions needed for humanity to thrive in a complex future. Learn about their academic and industry contributions as they join the incoming cohorts of the RSC fellows and the new members of the RSC College.  

Waterloo's new Royal Society of Canada Fellow

Dr. Ihab Ilyas, a professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, whose research focuses on big data and database systems, with special interest in machine learning for data quality and enrichment, information extraction, and probabilistic and uncertain data management. 

As a computer scientist, he is especially known for his pioneering research in artificial intelligence for managing and cleaning data at scale. Ilyas’ contribution to the industry includes being a co-founder of Inductiv, a Waterloo-based startup using AI for structured data cleaning. Inductiv has since been acquired by Apple to improve the data used by Siri — an AI-powered virtual assistant that’s part of Apple’s operating systems for its wide range of devices.  

Ilyas will be joining the Academy of the Arts and Humanities as a fellow of the RSC. 

Learn more about Ilyas on the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science website. 

Waterloo's new Royal Society of Canada College Member

Dr. Laura Hug is a professor in the Department of Biology and a Canada Research Chair in Environmental Microbiology. Her research seeks to define microbial diversity and function at contaminated sites, primarily at municipal landfills, that could often have hundreds or thousands of different species.  

Hug is also the principal investigator of the Mitigation of Methane Emission Hot Spots from Municipal Landfills project, funded through the Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Climate Action and Awareness Fund.

Landfills contribute 20 per cent of Canada’s methane emissions and a priority target for emission reduction. As part of the five-year interdisciplinary research project, Hug and her team assess the impact of hot spots associated with Canadian landfill infrastructures and improve how we measure greenhouse gases. By creating these tools, cities can more effectively monitor and cut down on landfill emissions, and help Canada achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.  

Read the rest of the article on Waterloo News

The Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute’s annual conference is set to take place on October 10.

Sponsored by MasterCard, the theme of this year’s conference is “Tackling Canada’s Cybersecurity Challenges” and will focus on the issues of open banking, quantum technologies, elections security, and societal surveillance. The conference will feature CPI experts in conversation with leaders from industry and beyond.

The conference runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 10 at Federation Hall. The event is conference is open to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, entrepreneurs, startups, government, sponsors, and businesses.

Register for the conference on the CPI website.

Lectures in Catholic Experience Solidarity in a Time of Solitudes series continues with Galen Watts

A message from St. Jerome’s University (SJU).

Continuing with this year's theme for the Lectures in Catholic Experience, "Solidarity in a Time of Solitudes," Galen Watts, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo and associate director of the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Societal Futures, will lecture on, "The Spiritual Turn and the Challenge of Solidarity." Watts aims to clarify the widely held belief that modern spirituality vastly differs from organized religion. He argues that this spiritual turn, which started in the 1960s, has led to a renewed emphasis of what he refers to as "the religion of the heart."

St. Jerome's vice president academic and dean, Dr. Carol Ann MacGregor, herself a sociologist of religion and co-organizer of the Lectures in Catholic Experience emphasizes that "everyone, regardless of their own religious or spiritual beliefs, can benefit from learning more about the impact of contemporary religion and spirituality on individuals and communities and how that has shifted over time. Galen's talk offers an opportunity to replace myths with robust social scientific insights."

The lecture is based on his recent book with Oxford University Press, "The Spiritual Turn: The Religion of the Heart and the Making of Romantic Liberal Modernity," which has received widespread praise in the academic community, including the 2023 Society for the Scientific Study of Religion's Distinguished Book Award and an Honourable Mention for the 2023 Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association's Section on Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity. Drawing from a cultural sociological perspective, this book combines history, politics, first-hand interviews, fieldwork data, and discourse analysis.

St. Jerome's welcomes Galen Watts to the Notre Dame Chapel on Thursday, September 26th at 7:30 p.m. This free lecture will be live-streamed for people who cannot attend in person. Please register for the event, as space is limited.