Meet the 2024 GRADflix Finalists!

After a record-breaking number of registrations for this year’s GRADflix competition, our judges have selected the top 15 finalists who will have their videos featured at our upcoming GRADflix Showcase.

Graduate students from across campus were tasked with creating a 60 second video about their research. These videos are a testament to the students’ ability to blend research with creativity while broadening their communication and creative skills, expanding their network, and gaining exposure for their research.

We extend an open invitation to the finalists, their friends, family, supervisors, and the Waterloo community to join us on February 6 at Federation Hall for the GRADflix Showcase. Witness the premier of our finalist’ videos and the awarding of six prizes ranging in value from $250-$750, including the People’s Choice award where you get to be in the judge’s seat! Registration for the showcase required.

Without further ado, please join us in congratulating this year’s finalists!

• Understanding the emotional experience of environmental education by Beth Grant (Master’s student), Environment, Resources and Sustainability, Faculty of Environment
• Symmetries in physics and quantum gravity by Christopher Pollack (PhD student), Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematics
• Peatland wildfires and the global carbon cycle by Emma Wegener (Master’s student), Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment
• Powering homes across sub-saharan Africa by Isra Saeed (PhD candidate), Environment, Enterprise and Development, Faculty of Environment
• Beyond ruins: The role of cultural heritage in the post-disaster tourism revival of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal by Jacqueline Harper (Master’s student), Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment
• The distributed cognitive environment of the York Dramatic Cycle by Karen Ward (PhD student), English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts
• Exploring e-cigarettes for smoking cessation by Kimberly D’Mello (Master’s student), Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Health
• Vessel: Stories from the edge of the world by Liam Bursey (Master’s student), Architecture, Faculty of Engineering
• Can public health messages mitigate the power of food marketing? by Liza Boyar (PhD candidate), Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Health
• The critical role of synthetic data in accelerating AI in health by Mohammad Ahmed Basri (Master’s student), Systems Design Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
• Accessibility in speech technologies: Bridging the gap between typical and impaired speech by Nada Gohider (PhD student), Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
• Immune system: How does cancer turn it off? by Norman Ly (Master’s student), Pharmacy, Faculty of Science
• Permeable reactive barriers: A strategy for acid mine drainage remediation by Paul Sherk (Master’s student), Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science
• Understanding the role of fluid flow on the functioning of the lens of the eye by Shilpa Gorla (PhD candidate), Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Science
• Investigating the roll of sensory re-weighting in motion sickness development by Siyavash Izadi (PhD student), Kinesiology and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health

A heartfelt thank you goes to our judges, Michael Dorr, Tania Del Matto, and Valerie Vaz, for their expertise and insight in selecting our finalists from an exceptional pool of submissions.