Current students

The University of Waterloo is pleased to recognize three outstanding graduate students as recipients of the prestigious Governor General’s Gold Medal at Spring 2025 Convocation.  

This distinguished award honours graduate students who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement and a remarkable commitment to scholarly excellence. These recipients exemplify the brilliance and impact of our academic community, contributing transformative research and advancing knowledge for the betterment of society. 

As climate risks such as floods, extreme heat, and wildfires grow, commercial buildings are increasingly vulnerable — creating uncertainty for both property owners and financial institutions around which measures are necessary to ensure resilience. It’s a complex challenge that RBC is exploring with the next generation of climate adaptation thinkers at the University of Waterloo.

Tech companies with University of Waterloo connections continue to climb the annual Narwhal list of Canadian unicorns.

The list assembled annually by the Narwhal Project, a group that monitors and analyzes the technology sector, offers companies supports to become more efficient and adopt best practices. Each year they evaluate close to 1,000 Canadian technology companies. The total number of unicorns in Canada has grown from only three in 2020 to 26 this year.

Quantum computers promise more than code breaking. They could unlock commercial value in areas like banking, automotive and optimization industries. Businesses need to not only prepare for quantum attacks, but also ready their organizations to tap into the economic benefit of adopting quantum technologies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and deep tech are revolutionizing how building developers and owners design, build and maintain their properties thanks to Adaptis, a Velocity startup. The decision-making platform supports optimizing cost-benefit and carbon usage from concept to completion by integrating financial, sustainability and operational data.

In its latest seed funding round, Adaptis has secured $4 million USD ($5.5 million CDN) from Building Ventures, including MetaProp, 2048 Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures and Blue Vision Capital.

Bordering Lake Erie and extending across Norfolk County, Long Point Region hosts many internationally recognized protected natural areas and is a refuge for many species at risk.  

Waterloo professor and WWII codebreaker Dr. William T. Tutte (1917-2002) is one of ten individuals being honored by Great Britain’s Royal Mail in a stamp series commemorating the 80^th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day.

Tutte’s stamp, which features his photograph in front of a multi-wheeled code machine, recognizes him for “Codebreaking the Lorenz cipher machine at Bletchley Park.”

Chris Albinson, co-founder and managing partner of Canadian venture capital fund True North Fund and co-founder of C100, says Canada is at a critical juncture in its continuing evolution as a global innovator. He says the country and its tech leaders need to work harder to retain the best and the brightest.

Ask a 10-year-old in Waterloo region about the University of Waterloo and they may tell you about the time they played with Nao or Talos, the humanoid robots housed in Waterloo Engineering’s RoboHub.