Co-op and Experiential Education

Brenda Reid laughs when she thinks about anticipating some downtime after finishing her architecture master’s degree last spring. 

Since graduating, Reid (BAS ’19; MArch ’21), has served as an Artist in Residence for the Co-Create Residency in Guelph, Ontario, joined the KW Artists Co-op where she has studio space, and led Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery architecture walking tours.

In September, she began teaching in Waterloo’s first-year architecture studio.

When Phil Wood talks about two major victories during his time as a Waterloo student in the early 1970s, he tends to remember the prizes much more than some of the other details.

Fifty years after the 1973 chemical engineering grad and his classmates* captured first place in the Waterloo Engineering Society softball tournament,

Months of hard work ended with a disappointing crash for two University of Waterloo students during a historic autonomous vehicle race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) on Saturday afternoon.

A million-dollar, self-driving racecar developed by master’s students Brian Mao and Ben Zhang with teammates from three U.S. universities hadn’t completed its warmup lap when a GPS failure led to an unscheduled left turn into an infield wall at the famed home of the Indianapolis 500.

“What I most appreciate about Waterloo Arts is that I got to have so many different focuses.”

This fall, Sabrina Khandakar is graduating with a degree in Honours Arts and Business with a major in Political Science — but her list of accomplishment stem much further than that.

When Khandakar was first debating where to go to university, she was considering Toronto-area schools, but Waterloo could offer her something the others couldn’t — an internationally recognized co-op program that would offer her real-world working experience.

Impressive problem-solving skills Khaled Younes honed as an engineering student contributed to his exceptional showing in the classroom and research breakthroughs.

Officially graduating with a master’s in mechanical and mechatronics engineering this week, Younes has developed a passion for tackling and finding answers to difficult challenges in fluid mechanics. 

For Xipeng Huang, completing an undergraduate degree in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo was the culmination of years of hard work. He made sacrifices, faced challenges and struggled along the way.

But the hard work paid off, as Huang graduated with a 94 per cent overall average, putting him at the pinnacle of excellence in the Faculty of Mathematics. He majored in mathematical finance and statistics and minored in pure mathematics. 

Two students at the University of Waterloo expect to be part of history this weekend when an autonomous, million-dollar racecar they helped develop drives itself around the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour.

Brian Mao and Ben Zhang are members of a four-university team set to compete with rivals from around the world for a US $1-million top prize at the Indy Autonomous Challenge on Saturday.

As the world continues to change and everyone rethinks their business, the digital divide could further divide those who have access to technology and those that do not — but we’ll see a new gap in digital skills.

“There’s a new digital divide that’s going to come upon us — it’s going to be those that have the skills to thrive in a digital world and those who don’t,” said Vivek Goel, University of Waterloo president.

A social activist who started Waterloo’s software engineering program this semester is passionate about seeing what she can accomplish as a new student.

Charlene Rocha brings with her a wide range of experience from leading climate change events and strikes at Queen’s Park to heading up a Canadian high school chapter of an initiative to 3D print prosthetic limbs and advocating for women in STEM.

When “business as usual” came to a screeching halt in March 2020, the University of Waterloo quickly pivoted to develop new ways for students and employers to continue to realize the co-op advantage. This resilient response helped retain 78 per cent of Waterloo’s co-op students through the beginning stages of the pandemic, and supported the shift to a remote, online workforce.