Future students

How would the treatment experience and outcomes change for cancer patients if we could actively deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to their tumours?

What if large and complex kidney stones could be dissolved without the need for invasive procedures?

Would the success rate of fertility treatments increase if specialists could guide live sperm directly to the most advantageous location for fertilization?

I spent a large part of my childhood in a bomb shelter. I got married at 15 years old in a bomb shelter. I gave birth to a baby girl when I was 16 – in a bomb shelter. We escaped that bomb shelter in war-torn Lebanon in 1989 with a stamp in my passport for Canada. The stamp of freedom and opportunity.

In a wide ranging and thought-provoking conversation, former Governor General and University of Waterloo President Emeritus David Johnston joined current President Vivek Goel to discuss how the workforce of the future can turn compassion into action. The fireside chat, part of the World Association of Co-operative Education (WACE) 2023 World Conference hosted at Waterloo, used Johnston’s new book “Empathy” as a starting point.

A transcript of President Goel's remarks from the June 29, 2023 Community Gathering that took place in the Arts Quad is below.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for gathering here with us today.

The University of Waterloo ranked 112 overall in the 2024 QS World University Ranking, a leap from last year’s place at 154. Waterloo also placed among the top five universities in Canada. 

At the beginning of last summer, master’s student Lena Kozyr fled her home in Ukraine, leaving behind parents, grandparents, relatives and friends to seek refuge in Vancouver, Canada.

Like so many other Ukrainians, Kozyr says the move was bittersweet. Though she was grateful for a sense of safety and was looking forward to new opportunities, a mix of loneliness and anxiety still riddled her. 

Earlier this year, the Narwhal Project released their annual Narwhal List, which tracks Canadian technology companies that are on their way to unicorn status based on their billion-dollar annual revenues.    

The Italian race is the latest competition in the Indy Autonomous Challenge, a collaboration between public-private organizers and academic institutions created in 2019 to challenge university students to invent a “new generation of automated vehicle software” in order “to run fully autonomous racecars.”

June is National Indigenous History Month, and on the 21^st—the summer solstice—we mark National Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

For some Indigenous Peoples, it’s a day to gather, celebrate the diversity of Indigenous Peoples, reflect on recent achievements and dream for the future. It’s also a chance to catch up with friends and family while enjoying an extra-long day of traditional food, music, conversation and games. First and foremost, I wish those celebrating a fun and relaxing day to remember.