Awards, Honours and Rankings

Compiled annually by Deloitte, the Technology Fast 50 features eight companies founded by University of Waterloo alumni, and 10 additional companies with a Waterloo connection. Recognizing the world-class achievements of Canadian technology companies, the Technology Fast 50 program winners showcase innovation, leadership and rapid revenue growth between 2017 and 2020. 

A major annual publication has recognized nine University of Waterloo faculty members as being among the most cited in the word.

For now, Alfred Yu is focused on two distinct lines of research as he works to develop the next generation of ultrasound technology – one involving diagnosis and the other involving therapy.

But when he looks ahead, the University of Waterloo biomedical engineer can see a day when the two converge in a single, powerful tool to guide and deliver medical treatment at the same time.

The University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry and Vision Science is amongst the top optometry schools in the world, according to one of the field’s top scientific journals.

These rankings were published in Clinical and Experimental Optometry, naming Waterloo 5^th overall, out of the 245 optometry schools in the world.

The listing also leaves Waterloo’s School of Optometry and Vision Science as #1 in Canada, and #3 of optometry schools in North America.

Two researchers at Waterloo Engineering have made the semi-finals of a multi-year contest to develop new food production technologies and systems to sustain astronauts on long space missions.

Six women from the University of Waterloo were named among the top 100 most powerful women in Canada in the annual rankings released by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN). This year’s list includes Clarice Ward, Jacqueline Beckford-Henriques, Suzanne Kearns, Anita Layton, Carolyn Ren and Pearl Sullivan (in memoriam). 

“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.

This fall’s Convocation isn’t the first for Tim Shardlow who is graduating from a master's in biology (microbiology specialization). With a little luck and a lot of hard work, it won’t be his last either. The Erin, Ontario native has already started his PhD at the University of Waterloo in the same field of microbiology with an environmental focus, and is well on his way to unlocking hidden secrets of what’s in the water.

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. 

Convocation is an exciting time of year, where students reach the long-awaited day when they can celebrate their hard work and achievements together with peers. The University of Waterloo takes pride in recognizing such achievement.  

It is a substantial and distinguished honour to be awarded a doctorate, becoming an expert in a field of the graduate’s choosing. Six outstanding new PhD graduates as of fall 2021 have been chosen to share about their academic journeys — how they got here, what they did here, and where they are going. Read their stories: