Current students

Some of the leading solutions that tackle pressing challenges in our society started with an idea. 

At the core of addressing gaps and challenges in Waterloo Region are University of Waterloo students, alumni and researchers, who are known for thinking unconventionally and working collaboratively for the betterment of humanity and our planet.

Building disruptive technologies is at the core of what we do, and since our inception, the University of Waterloo has also been disrupting the boundaries of health.

In a landmark development for health-care innovation and regional transformation, the University of Waterloo has been selected as the site of Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital’s new joint hospital, serving Waterloo-Wellington and beyond.

Rehnuma Tasneem (BASc ‘24) did not always want to become an engineer. Growing up she pictured herself as a nurse or a doctor, pursuing a career that held prominence in her Bangladeshi family and community — no one she knew was an engineer. 

Tasneem moved to Canada with her parents when she was in high school. Her interest in the sciences grew with a particular enjoyment for subjects like physics and math. Shifting her focus to these fields, Tasneem researched other areas of impactful work outside of health care and discovered engineering.  

A University of Waterloo partnership with the Accelerator Centre (AC) will further advance our commitment to creating social change through innovation with the launch of the Global Impact Creator Program.  

The "Solving the crisis:" series explores the pressing challenges of our time, including climate change, access to health care, housing affordability and more. Each article highlights how Waterloo, a hub of research, innovation and creative thinking, is uniquely positioned to address these issues. Through this series, we highlight the dedication of researchers to tackling global crises and shaping a better future for all.

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion — and it’s pervasive.

In the U.S., 72 per cent of the workforce reports stress and anxiety affecting their daily lives, according to peer reviewed research published in the Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior.

Waterloo researchers are known globally for tackling complex problems and Dr. Robert Jan van Pelt, of Waterloo’s School of Architecture in Cambridge, is one of them. He is a highly regarded expert and truth-seeker on all things related to the Holocaust. 

A quarter of a decade ago, van Pelt acquired fame as an expert witness in a notorious British libel trial that pitted British Holocaust denier David Irving against American historian Deborah Lipstadt. 

On Saturday, July 6, nearly two hundred students gathered for an ask-me-anything event with Vitalik Buterin, the co-creator of the Ethereum blockchain and a former University of Waterloo student.

If you scroll through the average student’s digital textbook or reading, you will probably see multi-coloured streaks scattered everywhere. However, new research reveals that excessive highlighting may do more harm than good.

Researchers at Waterloo excel at creating new technologies, investigating human-technology interactions, and exploring how to mitigate harm. That’s why it’s no surprise that two computer scientists from Waterloo investigated whether technology controlling the number of words a user can highlight could affect their reading comprehension.

Accurate models of real-world scenarios are important for bringing theoretical and experimental research together in meaningful ways. Creating these realistic computer models, however, is a very large undertaking. Significant amounts of data, code, and expertise across a wide range of intricate areas are needed to create useful and comprehensive software.