Awards, Honours and Rankings

Eleven leaders in education, business and community who have ties to the University of Waterloo are named among the 100 most powerful women in Canada.

Women’s Executive Network (WXN) recently released the 2022 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners, and Waterloo faculty, alumni and parents figure prominently. The list celebrates women across Canada for their leadership and accomplishments.

Professors Wenhu Chen and Xi He from the Cheriton School of Computer Science have been named Canada CIFAR AI Chairs. They are among eight leading researchers across Canada who are building a robust artificial intelligence research ecosystem to advance the nation’s leadership in priority areas under the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy at CIFAR.

The University of Waterloo ranks fourth in Canada and 42nd globally on the QS World University Ranking: Sustainability.

This is the first time that QS has published a global ranking on sustainability and has evaluated 700 institutions on environmental and social impact indicators. The ranking joins a growing list of international higher-education sector efforts to understand how universities impact some of the most prominent and intersectional ecological and societal challenges.

Motivated by an innate sense of curiosity, Dr. Norman Zhou has made significant contributions in many areas of engineering over the past 24 years.

While he began his career as a Waterloo Engineering professor focused on advanced welding and joining technologies, his inquisitive nature also led to advancements in fields including nanomaterials fabrication and laser processing of shape memory alloys.

Three new students with impressive leadership potential began their academic careers at the University of Waterloo this fall backed by prestigious national scholarships worth up to $100,000 over four years.

Ava Fitzgerald of physics, Nain Abdi of electrical engineering and Hilus Keay of computer engineering chose to come to Waterloo after being named 2022 Loran Scholars from a pool of almost 5,200 applicants across Canada.

Climate change, armed conflict, economic and political instability and natural disasters can all impact food security. And the recent COVID-19 pandemic and global inflation have added additional strain to sustainable food production and food security.

They may be graduating from different academic units, but these Faculty of Health grads show how getting a great university experience comes from following your interests, building your network and gathering skills both in and outside the classroom. Congrats to the Class of 2022!

Preet Momi, who is graduating with a Master’s in Recreation and Leisure Studies this fall, had the unique opportunity to study community reintegration for women leaving prison with Professor Heather Mair from the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies.

Honorary doctorates recognize those thought leaders and influencers advancing society across a spectrum of disciplines. Our graduates can look to these people for inspiration as they prepare themselves for the future.

At Fall 2022 Convocation, the University confers honorary degrees on Dr. Claudia Klüppelberg and Gerry Remers. Find out more about these academic and industry leaders.

Dr. Claudia Klüppelberg