Research

When the organizers of a violence prevention program for children and youth invited Dr. Adam Ellis to contribute a recorded lecture to their array of teaching resources, he wasn’t all that keen. Instead, he pitched a hip hop song.

“From a communication standpoint, it was really important for me to get the message out this way,” says Ellis, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies.

If you ask Dr. Sheila Ager, Dean of Arts, and a full professor in Classical Studies, what drew her to study ancient history, her answer comes quickly. “The stories! I loved the stories.”

Ontario's agricultural sector plays a significant role in the province's economy. In 2021, agriculture contributed nearly $10 billion to Ontario's GDP, employing 67,000 people directly and over 740,000 in related agri-food industries. However, the environmental impact of modern farming practices cannot be overlooked. Especially, large-scale industrial farming practices can contribute to soil erosion, water and air pollution and biodiversity loss.

And as climate change impacts continue to escalate, the imperative for sustainable farming practices becomes ever more pressing.

University of Waterloo researchers have created a new technology that can remove harmful microplastics from contaminated water with 94 per cent efficiency.

The amount of plastic pollution in our ecosystem has become an increasingly alarming concern globally. Concerns have frequently been flagged about the impact that plastic pollution has on the toxicity to the environment and humans.

Sometimes an experiment doesn’t go as planned. That’s science. But a “failed” experiment or unexpected results can be the avenue to a discovery you could never anticipate. University of Waterloo PhD student, Jackson Tsuji (BSc ’15, PhD ’20), had a poorly growing bacterial sample he wasn’t ready to give up on, which ultimately led to a once-in-a-lifetime finding that could change how scientists view photosynthesis and its origins. 

Researchers from the University of Waterloo got a valuable assist from artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help capture and analyze data from professional hockey games faster and more accurately than ever before, with big implications for the business of sports.

The growing field of hockey analytics currently relies on the manual analysis of video footage from games. Professional hockey teams across the sport, notably in the National Hockey League (NHL), make important decisions regarding players’ careers based on that information.

A research team led by Dr. Richard Kelly, a professor in Geography and Environmental Management at Waterloo, uses a novel radar-based technology to provide more insight into snowpacks and their implications for climate change, water resource management and hazard prediction.

Snowpacks form in cold regions and high elevations, accumulating due to layers upon layers of snow. As they melt, snowpacks serve as vital water resources — feeding streams, rivers and reservoirs.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide. It’s almost always caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) which can be passed from one person to another during sex. The Pap test (or Pap smear) screens women for cervical cancer but regular testing can be difficult to access — in Ontario, women are only eligible for the test every three years. This is cause for concern as early detection is key to treating cervical cancer successfully.

If you recently had trouble figuring out if an image of a person is real or generated through artificial intelligence (AI), you're not alone.

A new study from University of Waterloo researchers found that people had more difficulty than was expected distinguishing who is a real person and who is artificially generated.

Digital Health 2024 at Stanford University showcased successful collaborations among tech and life science companies, government organizations and academia in advancing digital health solutions. As health technologies evolve, they present unprecedented challenges and opportunities to improve patient care and individual health outcomes. From remote monitoring to artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostics, these technologies facilitate data collection, analysis and innovative life-changing therapies.