Future students

It’s convocation season again — a time when our graduating students reflect and feel a sense of pride for completing their post-secondary academic journey. For many of our graduating students, their time at Waterloo has included a level of learning that amplifies regular classroom instruction, and this statement is true for graduating biology science student, Tharindya Abeyratne. Her co-op work placements and involvement in student-led extracurricular activities have proven to be just as valuable and rewarding as her time in the classroom.

Obtaining a PhD can sometimes be considered a daunting task because the voyage often seems endless. The path is not straight. The process is never quick. In fact, one can expect to encounter many challenges and setbacks. Challenges that push the boundaries of your imagination and intellect. 

The goal is to find opportunities in those challenging moments because the result is massively rewarding. Upon completion of the dissertation defence — the culmination of years of hard work and research — candidates are congratulated for bringing new knowledge to our world. 

Cutting-edge technologies gave the world fake news, but researchers from the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering are developing even newer technology to stop it. Their innovative system — the first of its kind — relies on something already famous for underpinning Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — blockchain. But in addition to sophisticated machines, these researchers are enlisting humans to establish the truth. Their goal is a world where people have greater trust in the news they see and hear. 

The University of Waterloo is proud to welcome three new honorary doctorates at our fall convocation ceremonies.  

Honorary doctorates are an integral part of each convocation ceremony as recipients are awarded for their substantial contributions to the Waterloo community, to their profession or to society at large.  

An honorary doctorate is one of the highest recognitions of the University and is bestowed to honour individuals whose character and extraordinary intellect, creativity and service to society set a standard of excellence that merits this honour.  

The University of Waterloo's Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute (CPI) hosted its annual conference on October 12, 2023. The event brought together cybersecurity and privacy experts, students, faculty, entrepreneurs, government officials and businesses to delve into the pressing challenges and innovative solutions within the field. The conference was notably interdisciplinary, closely aligned with the University’s Waterloo at 100 framework — focusing on society, health and technology.

Passionate about helping people, Oumar El-Aina’s most rewarding University experience has been volunteering his time as an exercise trainer with elderly post-stroke patients and other individuals with mobility issues.

Spending several hours a week at the Faculty of Health’s Centre for Community, Clinical and Applied Research Excellence (CCCARE), the fourth-year kinesiology student works with participants to regain strength and functionality in the centre’s gym.

On September 29, 2023, 80 former students gathered in celebration of a common thread that binds them all.      

It was the 10th anniversary celebration of social incubator GreenHouse, and dozens of alumni commemorated their shared commitment to making the world a better place, rooted in a desire to foster change and social justice. 

Having weathered the COVID-19 pandemic far from home, Waterloo Engineering alum and Muay Thai instructor, Qianshu Wang (BASc ‘19, Nanotechnology Engineering) is back in Waterloo figuring out his next move. 

When she was 16 years old, Alexa Megan Holder spent a month camping and canoeing in Northern Ontario. She loved it so much that she became a wilderness guide with the YMCA, taking kids between six and 16 years old on river trips. Her recreational love of wild waters grew into an academic interest that guided her towards Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering for a Bachelor of Architectural Studies (BAS).