Future students

On May 5, the University of Waterloo community came together to observe Red Dress Day, also known as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S). The commemoration ceremony was led by Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, Elder Myeengun Henry, at B.C. Matthews Hall (BMH) Green. The Waterloo community was invited to help hang red dresses on trees around BMH Green to represent and honour the lives of the missing and murdered, while showing solidarity with their family and loved ones. 

Asian Heritage Month offers us the opportunity to pay special attention to the vital roles our community members of Asian heritage play in the success of our institution, while also recognizing the important work needed to eliminate anti-Asian racism, and all forms of racism, on our campuses.  

Sarah Rourke, who will graduate this spring with a Bachelor of Science, will pursue a master’s degree in physics at McGill University. She is among 30 students from 10 countries selected for these awards worth more than $3.3 million combined. The awards were created with a generous gift of $200 million from John and Marcy McCall MacBain. Rourke is the second Waterloo student so honoured.

Twenty years ago, a cross-campus collaboration in quantum science and technology was just a newly unfolding idea. Today, the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) has grown from this idea into a fully formed campus research community, and recently celebrated its 20^th anniversary. 

Today, on World Quantum Day, we proudly reflect on IQC’s impressive achievements made over the past 20 years, look forward to the future of quantum discoveries, and celebrate the new connections and collaborations that they have brought to the University of Waterloo community.

Students at Velocity Digital are bullish about artificial intelligence.

More than 35 per cent of the cross-disciplinary teams engaged in Velocity Digital, the South Campus Hall creator space, are using artificial intelligence in multiple ways, recognizing its power as a tool to solve problems at a capacity beyond the capabilities of human analysis of data.

Under the hotly debated impacts of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) lies the deeper problem of biased data that trains AI systems. With growing numbers of people and organizations turning to tools such as ChatGPT to write their essays, legal briefs, or make critical decisions, the challenge of algorithmic bias and injustice built into AI is urgent.

As workplace practices continue to shift, organizations are finding inventive ways to keep their employees motivated and committed to reaching their goals. According to a new study, researchers at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University have found that employees who are rewarded for achieving their goals by having a donation made to charity perform at a higher level than those who are rewarded with cash.

Ten senior student teams from the Faculty of Engineering competed in this year’s Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design, pitching their startup ideas to a panel of judges tasked with awarding $60,000.   

All 10 pitches showcased innovative thinking and entrepreneurial skills. The teams presented creative solutions to challenges ranging from an affordable at-home robot that helps non-verbal autistic children learn how to communicate, to a smart intervention that prevents tennis elbow.

The Dean of Arts, along with members of the departments of Communication Arts, English, Philosophy, and Political Science, are very pleased to welcome four new faculty members who join Waterloo as part of the Black Excellence and Indigenous Excellence hiring initiative.