We are pleased to announce that four new faculty have taken up positions in SERS in the past year. We welcomed Dr. Felicitas Egunyu (August 2022), Dr. Helena Shilomboleni (September 2022), Dr. Chantel Markle (January 2023) and Dr. Leah Jones-Crank (July 2023).
Dr. Kelsey Leonard's WAMPUM Lab partnered with the Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance to co-develop a report to the UN to prioritize Indigenous Peoples in the digital ecosystem. Their submission indicates principles and actions that can be taken to achieve the goal of an open, free and secure digital future for all. It employs the CARE principles, which are well-established in the open data movement.
With the end of the winter term and school year, recipients of special awards were announced. Sharah Gallego Meneses was awarded the academic excellence award among graduating undergraduate SERS students. Ishani Dasgupta and Kyle Schang were awarded the SERS Good Citizen Awards at the undergraduate and graduate levels respectively.
A special offering ERS graduate field school course is taking place August 12-19, 2023 in Chilika, India. ERS 675/ INDEV 617 is the code for the Field School course Blue Justice and Coastal Livelihoods to Transition from Vulnerability to Viability. University of Waterloo students receive course credits for their successful completion of the Field School course. All on-site Field School costs for registered UWaterloo students are covered.
Jennifer Clapp, University Professor in SERS and Canada Research Chair, was inducted into the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry as a new international fellow on January 28, 2023.
Nathanael Bergbusch, a SERS PhD Candidate, has been awarded the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship for his innovative research proposal titled “Towards Sustainable Watershed Management: Meaningful Inclusion of Communities and Ecosystems in Environmental Assessment.”
A new study led by University of Waterloo researchers discovered greenhouse gas production during spring freeze-thaw events in cold temperate regions is significantly less when biobased residues like compost replace nitrogen fertilizer.
Congratulations to Lowine Hill and Madu Galappaththi for their recognition as SERS student achievement leaders. Lowine and Madu (in collaboration with planning student Sarah Ghorpade) established a unique program for the Faculty of Environment that focuses on critical reflections on the colonial aspects of sustainability research.