Thursday, June 25, 2020
The 2020 Vanier scholarship results have been released, and eight of our Waterloo doctoral students are recipients of this prestigious award. The Government of Canada launched the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (Vanier CGS) program in 2008 to strengthen Canada's ability to attract and retain world-class doctoral students and establish Canada as a global centre of excellence in research and higher learning. Vanier Scholars demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and/or engineering and health.
Waterloo’s eight Vanier recipients are:
- Finnian Gray is a PhD student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Gray’s research focuses on using quantum mechanics to study black holes via thermodynamics. Learn more.
- Christian Ieritano is a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry. Ieritano researches rapid molecule testing and prediction to aid in the drug discovery process. Learn more.
- Janet Jones is a PhD student in the Department of Philosophy. Jones’ dissertation work is titled It Probably Won’t Help Anyway: How Stigma Hurts Health Care Access for Persons with an Addiction, and the research looks at drug addiction and the social construct of the addict. Learn more.
- Asif Abdullah Khan is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Khan’s research focuses on developing next-generation sustainable power sources for designing self-powered micro/nanosystems for aerospace applications. Learn more.
- Serena McDiarmid is a PhD student in the Department of Psychology. McDiarmid’s research proposal – Supporting second language acquisition of Canada’s child refugees: a longitudinal study of risk and protective factors for language learning success – “has the potential to inform educational policy and practice in ways that optimize the experiences of refugee children in our community” say her supervisor, Heather Henderson. Learn more.
- Justin Muffit is a PhD student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management. Muffit is working on developing remote sensing approaches for large-scale monitoring of lake ice phenology and properties. By examining the thickness of lake ice, he and his fellow scientists can understand how climate change and other environmental factors are impacting our landscape. Learn more.
- Lauren Smith is a PhD student in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability. Smith’s work examines the influence of mortality salience in drinking water messaging on gender biased innovation outcomes. Learn more.
- Spencer Weinstein is a PhD student in the Department of Biology. Weinstein’s research involves working with the community of Kugluktuk, Nunavut, to understand why the Arctic char fish population is rapidly declining and changing. Learn more.
Congratulations to all our Vanier winners, and best of luck on your research!
