KI grads profiles

Here is what some KI grads are doing, and how they customized their KI program to match their unique interests and goals.

Public Policy and Politics

Matthew Klassen (BKI '15) is Chief of Staff with the Region of Waterloo. In this role, he supports the work of the Regional Chair and Council. He also collaborates with area partners and senior levels of government to advance Regional priorities.

Matthew joined the municipal work from the Government of Ontario, where he was a director of policy and senior advisor to three cabinet ministers. He has worked and volunteered with organizations including the British Consulate, Sustainable Waterloo Region, and Churchill Society for Parliamentary Democracy. He first caught the politics and public service bug as a legislative intern with the Ontario Legislature Internship Programme (OLIP).

Matthew also holds a master's degree from the London School of Economics and was a 2018-19 Action Canada Fellow with the Public Policy Forum.

Exploring the consulting industry

She has worked at Deloitte as a Senior Business Analyst in the Human Capital Consulting service. Human Capital consulting is a type of management consulting that focuses on things like human resources strategy and organizational design.

During her KI studies, she worked in the summer after her third year in Student Talent Acquisition at Talisman Energy Inc, was a runner-up in the campus-wide i3 Challenge and helped run the successful Combining Two Cultures 2012 conference.

see what courses she chose

International Relations

She completed a Masters in Comparative International Studies and a PhD in Political Economy at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. The Masters was a thesis based in international studies that had a strong emphasis on quantitative and computational methods, theory and research.

Her first opportunity to pursue this was in her undergraduate thesis where she is determining if the indicator, net enrollment ratio, for the Millennium Development Goal, universal primary education, is a good proxy for quality education and student performance by using principle component analysis, linear regressions, and correlation tests.

While at university, she pursued a mathematics minor and option in International Relations and participated in the Beyond Borders program.

She went on to work in Paris as a Junior Policy Analyst, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in the Climate, Biodiversity and Water Division in the Environmental Directorate.

see what courses she chose

Tackling the technology and software industry

He plans to find a technology/software job to build his skills, with the eventual goal of working for a business or charity and working in a team to do projects, whatever form they may take.

He was one of the main organizers of the Combining Two Cultures 2012 conference, and has taken on leadership roles in KISS, the Knowledge Integration Student Society.

Innovator for Hire

He is working with Overlap Associates, where they are "Directors of Innovation for Hire" by empowering teams to tackle challenges using creative tools and approaches. Hear more about the KI connection to Overlap.

Big Bank Catalyst program

Betelhem (Betty) Alemayehu (BKI'19) is working as an analyst at Scotiabank, within the Catalyst Global Operations rotational program. This enables her to work on high-impact projects that involve process improvements or creating efficiencies through reporting/analysis and/or digital re-engineering solutions. As part of this 2-year program (three 8-month rotations), designed to be the “catalyst of your career”, she has been working with various teams as a collaborative problem solver.

When discussing her Bachelor of Knowledge Integration, she said, “KI is not just about the name of the degree, but the skill sets that you've garnered and that you can prove you have which are most important.”

Law + MBA

Shane Morganstein (BKI'16) obtained joint JD and MBA degrees from Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business. He then articled (legal apprenticeship) with a large downtown Toronto law firm, where he specialized in banking and investment law.

When talking about his Bachelor of Knowledge Integration, he said, “The way that you pitch it to employers, so being able to fit into whatever it is the employer is looking for, has been in my experience extremely helpful”.

more about KI and law school

Game Design

Mitchell Loewen (BKI'17) is Co-Founder and Designer at Cloudfall Interactive Studios, a small independent game studio creating both digital and tabletop games. He also completed the MA in Game Design program at American University, Washington DC.

When talking about his Bachelor of Knowledge Integration, he said, “The degree itself was really valuable, I learned so many skills and it's so versatile that you can find a way to pitch it that will appeal to any employer.”

Big Data and Analytics

During her KI degree she was a research assistant with a KI professor, and then she completed a Masters of Big Data program to obtain a M.Sc. in Computing Science in Big Data, at Simon Fraser University.

During her grad school internship interviews, she said, "KI came up multiple times in my interviews and employers were really interested in a degree that let me explore data science, while at the same time gaining a really solid footing in skills such as communication, critical-thinking, and collaboration."

Read more about her experiences and perspectives in an interview with her in a Women in STEM series for the Ingenium Channel.

Speech-Language Pathology

She did a graduate program in Speech-Language Pathology, and is now working in that area. She loves languages, working with people and is fascinated by the way things work. Speech Path is a way for her to keep studying the things she’s interested in through a graduate program.

“KI has been the perfect Undergrad program for me - not only have I loved every second of it, but Speech Path programs want well rounded students with a background in psych, stats, linguistics etc (everything that I've been studying for the past few years). I'm not sure whether I would rather work with children in a school, adults in a hospital setting, or with a team of health care professionals trying to fix the communication system within medical institutions, but I can't wait to see where this next step takes me!”

See what courses she chose

Science communication

After graduating from KI, she did an MSc in Science Communication at Imperial College London, UK. During her studies she had the opportunity to curate a mini-exhibit for the Science Museum in London that featured an object from the Courtald Gallery collection and presented some of the science behind the object.

She's now the Communications Coordinator at The Atmospheric Fund in Toronto, which advanced innovative local solutions to climate change.

Designer and problem-solver

She is a designer at Normative, a software design studio helping organizations create products and services for a networked world.

Protecting the environment

Vanessa Minke-Martin, BKI'13, is a science writer, fish biologist, and environmental educator. She has an M.Sc. in salmon ecology (University of British Columbia), a post-graduate certificate in Environmental Visual Communication (Royal Ontario Museum/Fleming College), and a joint honours in Knowledge Integration and Biology (University of Waterloo).

Her work focuses on the interconnection of human and natural systems, particularly how values, cultural knowledge and storytelling shape conservation decision-making. She has led strategic advocacy campaigns to protect vulnerable fish and wildlife for Pacific Wild, written about contemporary science issues for the Vancouver Aquarium and Canadian Science Publishing, and taught environmental and social justice to undergrads in the Redfish School of Change.

She has an M.Sc. in salmon ecology (University of British Columbia), a post-graduate certificate in Environmental Visual Communication (Royal Ontario Museum/Fleming College), and a joint honours in Knowledge Integration and Biology (University of Waterloo).

Medical School

Alex Pearce, BKI'16, spent one of her summers during her KI studies working with an HIV/AIDS initiative in Uganda. Read about how her KI experience prepared her for medical school.

Jamie Vinken (BKI'16) is in medical school at McMaster University and also completed a Master’s degree in Political Science at Waterloo and has been a medic in the Canadian Forces Reserves.

When talking about her Bachelor of Knowledge Integration, she said, “KI is the only undergrad program that I know of that has half the courses as electives, so I don't think that you're going to find a more flexible program anywhere else. This is the program that's most likely to be one that you can fit and develop to what you're interested in as your interests change.”

UX Research

Danielle Juneau, BKI'15, works as a user experience researcher, bridging the gap between business and customer needs to help organizations make better decisions about their products and experiences. She leads research efforts at all phases of product development, from early stage discovery to post-launch product optimization. She holds a Bachelor of Knowledge Integration with a specialization in Collaborative Design, and a Masters of Digital Experience Innovation from the University of Waterloo.

Wild writing

Haley Down, BKI'20, is doing a Master of Arts, in Wild Writing: Literature, Landscape and the Environment at the University of Essex.

“Now that I’m almost through a degree here in the UK, I’m even more impressed, amazed, and grateful for what the KI experience was, and the skills and background the BKI gave me. For real, I’ve discussed it with a number of other people from our cohort, and we all agree — the benefits of KI just keep revealing themselves after we’ve graduated.”

Teaming up in design project competition

Two of our grads were part of a design team that did very well in an international package design competition, and their KI skills were an important part of their success. Read more at KI alumni team up in design project competition.

Research Assistant

She is working as a Research Associate for the Berkman Center of Internet and Society (Affiliated with Harvard Law) for a year. She is hoping to continue on into grad school and continue to look for ways that she can combine practical design with research, tech, and society.

Banking industry business analyst

"We take the high level requirements given to us by the business side or the idea creator and turn them into more detailed functional, system, and user experience requirements for the technical analysts to code from, and for QA to use in their testing.

We also help design the solutions that fit the requirements, and make recommendations to the business group if a decision needs to be made about which design they want to move forward with."

Studying Science, Technology, and Society

He was admitted directly to a PhD program at one of the top international think tanks on science & technology. His research focuses on trust, expertise, and collaboration, and he's passionate about finding ways to productively engage the public in complex socio-technological challenges like climate change and development. His KI thesis and several independent studies courses were particularly important in preparing him for this research and program, as was KI's interdisciplinary approach to tackling complex systems.

In 2021, he was honoured with the Faculty of Environment Young Alumni Inspiration Award

see what courses he chose

Interaction design

She is studying Interaction Design at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver in a "industry transition" program. She is building a portfolio and working on mock-ups for websites and mobile apps.

Data Scientist

As a part of Shopify's Data Science & Engineering team, he helps to build the scalable data assets, pipelines, and systems that support Shopify's innovative community of decision makers and developers. Before Shopify, he developed open source entity matching and data extraction tools with KI professor John McLevey's NetLab, enabling NetLab's leading-edge research in large-scale collaboration networks.

Advocating on student issues

He was elected as Vice President, Education for the Federation of Students, a one-year full time job at the University of Waterloo. He will be the primary representative for UW undergrads to federal, provincial and municipal governments, and to the University administration, advocating on student issues such as tuition, financial aid, coop and academic policies.

He graduated KI with a heavy focus on the humanities (minors in English and Philosophy), and intends to apply to professional school in the future — either in law or in management. Long term, he hopes to work in not-for-profit sector leadership. "I think my degree path highlights how post-secondary education can be about holistic learning and growth, not just about employment outcomes."

Genetic Counselling

She did a Masters in Genetic Counselling, and during the application interviews, the schools were very impressed with the structure of KI and the museum course specifically. The emphasis on team work and broad critical thinking skills were evident to them.

She is the Clinical Genetic Counsellor for the Heart, Lung and Vascular Program at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto. She counsels patients for a variety of genetic conditions, and works with physicians, administration and executives to develop the medical genetics program and patient supports.

Pursuing a passion for teaching

He is doing a Master of Teaching at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. The topic of his KI senior research project was on innovation in high school enrichment.

Content Strategist

He plans to continue full time as Content Strategist at a software startup company.

see what courses he chose

Finding connections and patterns in data

He is working for Employment and Social Development Canada as a data analyst, building on the experience he had as an undergrad research assistant with KI professor John McLevey’s NetLab, which focuses on developing open source software (e.g. metaknowledge) to support networks research on science and knowledge.

Showcasing Alberta’s rich music story

She coordinated an exhibition at the National Music Centre in Calgary that explores Alberta’s rich music history.

Mathematical biology

He is doing a master's degree in mathematical biology, where he studies large scale forest dynamics and the sociology of science. His interdisciplinary background includes bioengineering, museum exhibit design, and science comedy.

Vision and Paralympic athletes

She did a Masters in Vision Science where she did research to help develop improved classification rules that reflect the unique visual demands of each Paralympic sport including measuring the functional impact of vision impairments on athlete’s performance under real-world conditions in Alpine and Nordic (cross-country) skiing.

Now she's working in Europe for the International Paralympic Committee doing classification work for visually impaired athletes.

Graduate studies in philosophy

He intends to pursue an M.A. in philosophy, followed by a Ph.D. in the same, though perhaps not right away, and work toward becoming a professional writer and educator, possibly a professor in philosophy.

see what courses he chose

Understanding clients needs, building a software model

She is a Business Analyst at Prophix, a financial software company. They create a financial software program for companies to consolidate financial reports and improve their budgeting and reporting processes. She works with clients to understand their needs and build a model of the software that can fit their business requirements.

"It’s a really great job for a KI grad since it involves working with clients (public speaking, a lot of soft skills from design courses to understand what the client needs), numeracy (a bit of accounting), and technical skills (a bit of coding/computer programming)."

Learning animation

She is going to the Max the Mutt Animation School, Toronto, doing the Concept Art for Animation and Video Games program.

"It's been a really interesting program and draws really heavily on a lot of things we did in KI, especially because concept art is all about smashing together ideas/inspiration from a variety of sources to come up with new ideas, as well as collaborating with programmers, game designers etc."

see what courses she chose

Studying communication

She will be doing a Masters in Rhetoric and Communication Design.

see what courses she chose

Spiritual and cultural connecting

She is the Spiritual and Cultural Programming Coordinator in a non-profit co-educational affordable residence that offers comfortable living facilities in a Ukrainian Orthodox environment, and fosters a stronger Ukrainian heritage and Canadian community by producing educational, spiritual, cultural, and outreach programs for youth and community members.