Knowledge Integration students participate in a diverse range of experiences during their summer break (Spring term). From field work, research, coursework, volunteering, presenting conferences, travelling and completing internships at companies and non-profits, the opportunity for hands-on learning are endless!
Upper-year KI students seeking financial support for an experience which will enhance their learning experience such as an international exchange, an entrepreneurial venture, or other worthy project (excluding the museum field trip) should check out the KI Experience Awards Fund.
Check out some of the latest summer experiences shared by KI students below.
Gurkiran's Internship at Georgetown University
Gurkiran, first-year Knowledge Integration student completed an internship at Georgetown University in Washington, USA.
Reflecting on her experience, Gurkiran shares, “My internship at Georgetown University deepened my understanding of public health and medicine, showing me the real-world impact of innovative health solutions.”
Sophia's Climate Change Field Work in South Africa
Sophia, third-year Knowledge Integration student, spent her summer travelling to Cape Town, South Africa, for a new pilot field course, ENV 474: Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Social Justice.
Sophia shares, "This field course ignited a passion for marine ecosystems and helped me experience what it would be like to work abroad. I come out of this adventure with new knowledge, new connections, close and far, and a new outlook on the world."
Izzie, Corrine and Sakura's Association for the Study of Play Conference Presentation in New York
Izzie, Corinne and Sakura, third-year Knowledge Integration students, presented findings from their third-year design capstone project Imagine That! at The Association for the Study of Play (TASP) in New York, one of two international conferences focused on the interdisciplinary field of play study.
The three KI students were the only undergraduate students to attend and present their research at the conference! They share, "We hope our experience is a sign to other students that there is a place for us in academia before Masters or PhDs. Go and share the cool capstone and thesis projects you’ve worked so hard on!"
Léa's Field Work on Oceans and Human Impacts
In her last year of Knowledge Integration, Léa participated in ocean field work in Eastern Canada as part of the Waterloo course ERS 374: Oceans, Human Impacts & Sustainability.
Léa reminisces, "My perspective on the world has been impacted by this course and I’ll never forget the connections I made with the professors, other students on the course and with the professionals we met along the way."
Sam's Sound Processing Internship in Denmark
Sam, third-year Knowledge Integration student, completed an internship with AugmentedHearing.io in Denmark which inspired their fourth-year Senior Honours Project.
Sam explains, "My role with them was to validate their noise removal software by determining objective measurements that could show stakeholders how speech intelligibility was improved with our product. Now, for my senior honours project, I am researching how to improve AH’s speech enhancement algorithm by looking into what phonemes are often confused with one another and seeing how we can create sound filters to improve the distinction between them."
Katie's experience at the Redfish School of Change
Katie, second-year Knowledge Integration student, attended the Redfish School of Change intensive field school in coastal communities in British Columbia and Washington State to gain skills in raising environmental awareness.
Katie shares, "I had the unique opportunity to step out of my comfort zone, learn within the environment I was studying, collaborate with a diverse range of people and learn something about myself. Hearing the need for people to bridge between groups really solidified the importance of the collaboration and communication skills I am learning in Knowledge Integration."
Lindsay's Archaeology Field School in Jordan
Lindsay, second-year Knowledge Integration student, participated in an archeology field school in Jordan through ANTH 371: Anthropological Field Experience.
Lindsay shares, "I gained a much deeper appreciation for the work that archaeologists and anthropologists do. I am completing a minor in Anthropology, so this field course counted towards my minor. One of my favorite parts was working at the cemetery site and being able to identify the bones I was excavating, since I had learned all of them in ANTH 355 (Human Osteology)."
KI students have also had success completing the following opportunities:
- Amplify internship with RBC: an intensive summer student program for talented developers, data scientists, UX/UI designers, and business analysts that fosters innovation and collaboration to tackle real world business challenges
- Civic innovation assistant at the Calgary Civic Innovation Lab including co-creating tools and materials for prototyping and rapid experiment of ideas, assisting with creation of productive lab working sessions using design thinking methodologies, social media, data analysis
- Working in Toronto at a company specializing in digital strategy and doing an intra-preneurship project
- Internship at Overlap Associates, a strategy studio in Kitchener, doing research, writing, design, facilitation, project management and more
- Overseas placement with Beyond Borders, an academically-centered international service-learning experience:
- community-based trainer for a Village Savings and Loan Association in Kampala, Uganda
- working Nairobi, Kenya with an educational organization
- working in Kampala, Uganda with Reach Out Mbuya, an HIV/AIDS initiative that takes a holistic approach to helping limit the spread of HIV/AIDS as well as help families and individuals that have already been infected
- Working as a Knowledge Mobilization Associate for Octagram, a software consultancy
- Communication intern in Washington building relations with the US government and international media, and then returning to Waterloo as a Shad program assistant during July
- Research with a biology professor, including field work in the far north
- Participating in the University of Waterloo Enterprise Program, developing a resource that teaches start-ups and small businesses how to make the best hires possible
- Internet services research consultant for the uWaterloo Housing Office to find issues and inefficiencies with the residence internet system and address them from a residence student’s point of view
- Participating in Explore, a six-week French immersion program in Quebec, and using the remaining weeks to complete a wilderness first responder course and backpack along the east coast
- Civilian interpreter for the Halifax Citadel Regimental Association in Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Research internship with the UROP international program in Aachen, Germany:
- programming web applications at an institute that specializes in virtual reality and educational organization
- the economics of European Union real estate policies
- the cellular mechanisms in malaria reproduction and how they enter into human cells
- communicating scientific knowledge to the general public
- urban metabolism -- the study of how materials and energy flow within a city and between a city and the surrounding natural environment
- Research technician with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (before that, she attended the World Environmental Education Congress, as a member of DodoLab, an artists’ collaboration she became involved with through a KI seminar speaker)
- Business analyst at Matrix Solutions in Calgary
- Project development intern for a grassroots and emerging community organization in Hamilton
- Synthesizing interdisciplinary and international experience to support business development at an architectural firm in Calgary
- Internship with the Working Centre in Kitchener
- Worked in the talent acquisition department at Talisman Energy Inc, in Calgary
- Research student at William Osler Health System in Brampton, including creating a clinical process involving an interdisciplinary team of social works, personal support workers, nurse practitioners and a Geriatrician to manage residents with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia in long term care homes
- Intervenor with Deafblind Ontario Services, also taking math course and volunteering for a political campaign
- Summer field technician at an agriculture research foundation
- Working with The Museum in Kitchener
- Studying and working in Cuba and Mexico with an NGO in a lab, in the jungle, and on the beaches protecting endangered sea turtles
- Conducting research at Dalhousie University and supported marketing/business with BlueLight Analytics
- Social Media Intern with BlackBerry
- Research assistant at a hospital
- Youth services officer at the Owen Sound Service Canada Centres For Youth, and was involved in other activities including running, taking a French course, and travelling
- Working with start-up to develop and roll out the company’s customer support infrastructure
- Running a leadership and teamwork program at an overnight summer camp in northern Ontario
- Trades Interpreter at the Heritage Village of the Waterloo Region Museum, dressed in period correct costume for Kitchener in 1914, demonstrating basic blacksmithing and leather work.
- Intern with MaRS Discovery District in Toronto at the Centre for Impact Investing, research in field building and collaborative networks
- After the KI Barcelona field trip, working on an organic farm in Finland as a WWOOFer, then working as SHAD Program Assistant
- Working Treehaus Collaborative Workspace in Kitchener
- After Amsterdam museum course field trip, in Copenhagen for a three-week intensive design thinking course
- Working at the Toronto Railway Museum
- Travelling in Europe (after the KI Museum Field Trip), then working as a computer camp instructor at TELUS World of Science in Edmonton
- Barcelona museum course field trip, then Benin for a 3-week trip with an international development NGO, then a summer camp for work as a waterfront director
- After Barcelona trip, heading to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to work in an orphanage with disabled children, then to Singapore for 3 months to work in a law firm
- Volunteered with the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre in Ramallah
- First Year Experience Leader for the Faculty of Environment, including working with the Student Life 101 program events
- Guide at the Peterborough Lift Lock Visitor Centre, Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site of Canada
- Participating in the Explore French immersion program in Quebec, then going to France for a four week French immersion program there, then travelling in Italy, then heading to an exchange at a university in Lyon, France for nine months