Science

The University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry and Vision Science is amongst the top optometry schools in the world, according to one of the field’s top scientific journals.

These rankings were published in Clinical and Experimental Optometry, naming Waterloo 5^th overall, out of the 245 optometry schools in the world.

The listing also leaves Waterloo’s School of Optometry and Vision Science as #1 in Canada, and #3 of optometry schools in North America.

This fall’s Convocation isn’t the first for Tim Shardlow who is graduating from a master's in biology (microbiology specialization). With a little luck and a lot of hard work, it won’t be his last either. The Erin, Ontario native has already started his PhD at the University of Waterloo in the same field of microbiology with an environmental focus, and is well on his way to unlocking hidden secrets of what’s in the water.

Vision is one of our most dominant senses, and our world is often built around our ability to see. Despite this, the World Health Organization reports that more than one third of people around the world suffer from some form of vision impairment or blindness. Of these estimated 2.2 billion people, at least one billion of these cases could have been prevented or have not been addressed yet.

Despite breakthrough diabetes research over the past century, people with diabetes still need to rely on obtaining blood samples to monitor their sugar levels. Daily glucose monitoring by tracking blood sugar levels is essential for managing both types 1 and 2 diabetes, however the current method – finger pricking – is invasive and can become burdensome with how often it needs to be done.

The University of Waterloo has recently undertaken a significant step forward in promoting aviation research on campus, through the purchase of a new flight simulator.

The new flight simulator will allow researchers to have priority access to a simulator, which although common technology within flight school settings — including the Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre — they usually prioritize student flight training instead of research efforts.

A serious passion for physics was what drew Parshant Utam to study Mathematical Physics at the University of Waterloo. Little did he realize that the University’s entrepreneurial atmosphere would lead him to become a co-founder of viral smartphone app that is pure fun.

Parshant came to Waterloo as an international student from Pakistan, fascinated by theoretical physics. He was drawn by the presence of both the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum computing and the nearby Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

It’s Spring Convocation again, and this year the Faculty of Science will grant over 850 students their hard-earned Bachelor of Science degree. But for Susan and James Hadden, both BSc ’90 biology alumni, there’s one graduate in particular who they’re most excited to welcome into the club: their daughter, Jocelyn, who has earned her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences.

At first glance, astrophysics may not seem to have much in common with tracking and predicting the spread of a global virus. But to Professor Niayesh Afshordi, the link was clear – even early last year as our collective reaction to COVID-19 played out in real time.

Water is essential for life as we know it – water makes up around 70% of the human body, covers about 70% of the planet Earth, has been found in the far reaches of our universe, and is at the centre of our search for habitable planets around other stars.

But how does this water find its way from interstellar space to the comets and planets it is found on? This was one of the questions that Professor Michel Fich from the Faculty of Science, and his international colleagues set out to research, using observations from the Herschel Space Observatory.