Awards, Honours and Rankings

Aiping Yu is one step closer to her dream of establishing a world-leading carbon nanotechnology centre at the University of Waterloo after winning a prestigious award for highly promising researchers.

The chemical engineering professor is one of six nation-wide recipients of 2020 E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowships announced today by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

The University of Waterloo is in the top 150 universities in the world according to one prestigious global ranking just released. This strong performance is one of several for the University in rankings released this year. 

Never has the importance of a health-related degree been more apparent than it is today. On October 23, almost 200 graduate students and more than 50 undergraduate students from the three academic units in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences will celebrate convocation.

Early in his second year of medical school, Jose Luis Avilez realized he wanted something different than medical school could offer. In his heart, he knew he wanted to study mathematics. It was a difficult decision, but by 2016 he was applying to universities.

“A friend of mine who studied at Waterloo told me about its program in Mathematical Finance and that it has a co-op program,” remembered Avilez. “I was sold.”

When she started her engineering master’s degree in 2018, Linda Wang had no idea her research would be used to help detect a potentially deadly global virus less than two years later.

When asked about the Toronto Raptor’s second round exit from the NBA finals last month, Matthew Schmitz sighs. His disappointment is tangible. “I was worried about them playing the Celtics,” he admits, “I thought maybe it might be different playing in the bubble, but in the end, they were just too tough. But they gave it a good shot.”

For graduating master’s students, convocation is an important recognition of their hard work and dedication. Some will move on to professional roles, while others plan to continue the research that has captured their imagination.

As they celebrate their accomplishments with their families and supporters, Waterloo recognizes the commitment and success of our master’s students, including these six graduands. 

Convocation is a time to celebrate a significant milestone. This year’s convocation celebrations may look a little different, but the role of the valedictorian remains the same — to represent the graduating class and address the students, families and supporters who will come together to recognize this important day. 

These six students have been selected by their peers in recognition of their social and academic contributions to the Waterloo community.

The University of Waterloo will award posthumous degrees as part of its fall convocation in celebration of the academic accomplishments of Mansour Esnaashary Esfahani and Marizeh (Mari) Foroutan, two students killed in the crash of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752 in January 2020. An honorary degree has also been awarded to Jaya Gupta, an undergraduate Engineering student who lost her fight with cancer earlier this fall.