Blog

Sebastian Cmentowski

With my research, I address one of the most urgent problem of our modern society: sedentary lifestyles. A highly promising solution to motivate people towards more physical activity are so-called exergames that combine enjoyful gameplay with strenuous exercises. Especially when using the latest generation of extended reality systems (e.g., VR headsets), such applications could provide a highly individualistic, responsive, and motivating training experience.

Stuart Schussler

My postdoctoral research explores how to remedy this. "Bridging the Gap: The Makings of Constructive Service Learning with Community Organizations" is an inquiry into effective collaboration. Students and professors at universities like Waterloo have much to learn from these practices, and to responsibly do so they must engage in ways that are accountable to community organizations, rather than treating them as mere research subjects. My research will provide tools for doing so.

Anny Leudjo Taka

My work involves conducting research and publishing articles as well as teaching.

My research mainly focuses on developing novel polymer nanobiocomposites with multifunctional, biodegradable, and recyclable properties. These novel polymer nanobiocomposites will be exploited in organic electronic devices and water desalination. This research work is of societal importance and transformative. This project also aligns well with research strengths set by the University of Waterloo, such as nanotechnology, water and energy sustainability, and security. Furthermore, this project favours multidisciplinary approaches to research leading to innovative knowledge and quality technology in the interest of improving societies.

Dalal Daoud

My dissertation-based book project explores ruling Islamists’ approaches to minorities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It analyzes the variation in ruling Islamists’ treatment of the South Sudanese and Darfuris in Sudan, as well as the Kurds in Turkey. It asks why some minorities are repressed while others are accommodated. For example, non-Arab Darfuris were subject to a genocide, while the South Sudanese were afforded the right to self-determination in Sudan.

Samuel Gyamerah

The agriculture and agribusiness sector accounts for a significant share of all the major economic activities and sources of income among smallholder farmers in Ghana and across Africa. The agriculture and agribusiness sector accounts for a significant share of all the major economic activities and sources of income among smallholder farmers in Ghana and across Africa. However, the sector continues to be controlled by primary production as a result of high climate variability and hydrological flows, especially in the Northern Savannas of Ghana.

Shoronia Cross

The prospect of designing novel data storage technologies based on nanomaterials, whose electric polarization and magnetization can be controlled simultaneously, promises to yield higher storage densities and faster processing speeds, while simultaneously reducing the power requirements of these devices. The class of materials known as multiferroics are ideal candidates in that regard, as they are simultaneously ferroelectric and ferromagnetic. The overall objective of this research is to quantitatively describe the correlation between the degrees of freedom of ferroelectric nanocrystals (NCs) with respect to their crystal and electronic structure, at the nanoscale and ensemble level, when interfaced with ferromagnetic NCs, in multiferroic nanocomposites.

The end of the constitutional protection of abortion rights in the United States has catalyzed a re-examination of the role of the state and international organizations in the regulation of abortion.

Newly-imposed restrictions have drawn attention to self-managed abortions (SMA) — the termination of pregnancy outside of medical settings — and recently, this practice has largely taken place using abortion pills (e.g., mifepristone and misoprostol) through the support of telehealth services, the use of which is recommended by the World Health Organization (2022). SMA activism has mitigated the negative effects of anti-abortion laws and has proven that illegal abortions can be safe, offering important lessons for the provision of abortion care.

Creating painless, minimally invasive, and rapid techniques for identifying biomarkers like antibiotics and cancer-related indicators holds significant importance in the fields of personalized medicine and clinical utilization. In the course of my research, I am dedicated to the innovation of microneedle-based patches with the capability to discern the existence and levels of diverse biomarkers. This approach enables the simultaneous monitoring of multiple biomarkers through these patches. Additionally, we are actively engaged in pioneering methodologies for detecting biomarkers by converting their presence into an electrical signal.

In my research project, I delve into the health and safety consequences related to digital labour platforms for domestic workers engaged in direct or indirect caregiving tasks. The global surge in demand for paid care services has triggered the swift emergence of digital labour platforms, acting as intermediaries between various users like businesses, workers, and consumers. My objective is to examine how the work organization within the digital platform-based care economy influences the safety, health, and overall welfare of domestic workers

The project is focused on the development of point-of-need bioanalytical methods for the quality control of food and water.  Currently, quality control is performed in laboratories using sophisticated and expensive methods. The high cost of testing, extended analysis time (2-3 hours), the requirements of bulky stationary equipment, and qualified personnel restrict the applications of these methods only to professional laboratories.  Our goal is to bring quality control of food and water to the users at point-of-need.