Talent

Even before the commitment was made on paper and then solidified in ceremony, talk of Indigenous reconciliation had been taking place in the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Health. However, it took the hire of an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper to give shape to a process that is sometimes not well understood and often difficult to begin.

What do dance, design and marketing have in common? For Berlin Pang (BGBDA’ 22), earning a degree was about far more than what she learned in the classroom. Extracurriculars, work experience and hands-on challenges gave her a solid foundation for her career.

Jeremy Pittman, a professor of Planning in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, was recently appointed as a member of new federal Nature Advisory Committee (NAC), created by Environment and Climate Change Canada to foster ways for Canadians to engage positively with our natural environment.

A key puzzle piece fell into place today with the announcement of $1.65 million in federal funding for a joint training program involving the University of Waterloo and partners in Germany.

Support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) gives the green light to a nine-year initiative to train dozens of graduate students and help bring promising new two-dimensional materials out of the laboratory and into the marketplace.

Tyson McGavin (BGBDA ’22) is fostering community among game players and embracing the emerging digital marketing landscape of TikTok. He recently surpassed the 500K follower milestone for Big Blue Bubble’s My Singing Monsters account.

While her high school education in Hong Kong nurtured her strengths in sciences, Gigi Chan (MPS '22) explored her interest in social and political issues as an undergraduate student in Canada. Working on a housing policy capstone project at the University of Toronto, she discovered that public policy could merge her aptitude for evidence-based analysis and passion for societal impact. “I realized that I enjoy working in public policy and I thought there might be a career in it.”

Trisha Cho is not only a powerhouse on the ice, but an excellent student who embodies leadership and hard work. A varsity hockey player who is graduating this spring with a BA in Recreation and Sport Business and a minor in Event Management, she joins 587 Faculty of Health students at this term’s convocation celebrations. She will return in the fall to begin a master’s in Recreation and Leisure Studies. 

It’s fair to say that Sana Ahmad (BSc ’22) was always planning on attending the University of Waterloo. Afterall, she practically grew up on campus as a child of two Waterloo alumni from the Faculty of Engineering and saw her older sister also graduate from Engineering in nanotechnology. The only hiccup was the subject matter Ahmad was to study. Although the Cambridge, Ontario native showed an inherent interest in STEM and engineering, Ahmad was really interested in rocks and had accumulated an impressive rock collection early on in life.

Pests and diseases are one of the top issues facing farming today. Using pesticides is a major recurring expense but is necessary to maintain economically viable yields and healthy crops. Every year, 20 to 40 per cent of global crop yield is lost due to plant pests and disease. A loss that cost the global economy around $290 billion annually, according to the United Nations.

Yesterday, many of us across Ontario exercised our democratic right to vote in the provincial election. It can be easy to take this simple, recurring action for granted, but in recent years we have been reminded just how precious this fundamental right is and the importance of our civic duties.