Talent

Of all the information yielded by the University of Waterloo Weather Station since its launch as an internet experiment 23 years ago, one non-technical fact is right up there in terms of interesting tidbits.

Frank Seglenieks (BASc ’91, geological engineering; MASc ’95 and PHD ’09, civil engineering), the station’s high-profile co-ordinator, hasn’t actually worked for the University for 12 years.

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.

During her graduate studies, Kathryn Morrison worked both inside and outside the classroom to support ethical challenges in pediatric end of life decisions. Her research and interests lie in the theoretical ethics of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) for mature minors — capable children under 18 years-old.

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. 

O’Neill didn’t come up with the term botanical sexism, but ensuring that more strategy and consideration of future needs for tree planting efforts make up a number of the 12 recommendations in a nationally-applicable Practice Guide created by her and colleagues — all Planning graduate students, to help guide municipalities towards more sustainable tree management.

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: 

As the world continues to change and everyone rethinks their business, the digital divide could further divide those who have access to technology and those that do not — but we’ll see a new gap in digital skills.

“There’s a new digital divide that’s going to come upon us — it’s going to be those that have the skills to thrive in a digital world and those who don’t,” said Vivek Goel, University of Waterloo president.

This fall, 274 Faculty of Health graduands will celebrate their achievements as students and begin their journeys as alumni of the University of Waterloo. Some will pursue graduate studies, others will be embarking on new careers – but all will be doing what Health graduates do: Improving the health and well-being of individuals, communities or populations.

We asked a couple of graduating students to tell us what motivated them during their studies and what they will miss most as they move on to a new phase of their lives:

Su-Yin Tan is the first to acknowledge that the sudden shift to online learning during the pandemic was hard on teachers and students. So, when public health restrictions lift, Tan doesn’t want to lose all the valuable lessons learned.