From breathtaking landscapes and incredible wildlife encounters to unforgettable moments with new people and communities, Environment students captured the very best of their local and international field experiences this year. Now we need your help to crown the top three winners!
Dr. Reiko Omoto (PhD ’13) is a professor, researcher, farmer and lifelong learner whose work bridges scientific research and the knowledge of people who live and work closest to the land and sea. From fisheries and food systems to rural sustainability, her research across Japan, Southeast Asia and United States explores how global approaches can learn from local knowledge and lived experience.
Adam Clark (BAS ’06, MArch ’09) has created a bridge between Waterloo classrooms and real-world city building. Through years of collaboration as a project client, guest lecturer, critic and mentor, the City of Kitchener urban designer has given students opportunities to tackle active planning challenges while bringing their research and ideas into municipal decision-making. That relationship has contributed to projects including Growing Together, Kitchener’s award-winning framework for growth around its ION light rail stations.
Dr. Kate Linden (PhD ’18) is an ecological economist, educator and community-engaged researcher challenging conventional ideas about how we define progress. Now an associate professor at Cape Breton University, she works alongside communities on issues ranging from rural aging to ecological footprints. Across her work, she returns to the same idea: lasting change depends less on speed and optimization than on care, relationships and the communities that sustain them.
Douglas Jones (BES ’93) has spent his career reimagining where and how children learn. As principal of Limehouse Public School, he has helped embed outdoor and sustainability-focused learning throughout school life, building on an interest first sparked during a Waterloo co-op term in outdoor education. His leadership has helped Limehouse earn EcoSchools Platinum certification for five consecutive years while influencing educators and school leaders well beyond his own school.
Jo Fitzgibbons (MES ’19) is a planner and researcher turning environmental research into practical change in Canadian cities. She currently works in urban ecology with the City of Vancouver where she demonstrates how research, community knowledge and municipal practice can work together to create more room for nature in growing cities.
KEEN Footwear is a long-standing partner of the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Environment, helping students turn environmental knowledge into action through scholarships, internships and experiential learning.
From changing how children learn about the world around them to rethinking how cities grow, strengthening connections between research and practice and investing in the next generation of environmental leaders, the 2026 Faculty of Environment Alumni Award recipients demonstrate the many ways knowledge can create change when put into action.
Big moves. New chapters. Familiar names. Explore the latest updates from your classmates, then submit your own news to be featured in a future issue of Class Notes.
Homecoming 2026 brought Environment alumni together for milestone reunions, class gatherings, Faculty events and plenty of opportunities to reconnect.