News

Two Science students will be recognized for their outstanding academic achievements at the Spring 2022 Faculty of Science Convocation. Physics and Astronomy student Aviv Shaya Padawer-Blatt will receive the Governor General Academic Silver Medal for being one of the top undergraduate students with the highest academic standing upon graduation. Biology student Taylor Lynn Virgin will receive the Alumni Gold Medal Award for her outstanding academic achievement.

A single-photon detector and counting module (SPODECT) recently designed and built by Waterloo’s Quantum Photonics Lab for the International Space Station (ISS) will be used to verify quantum entanglement and test its survivability in space as part of the Space Entanglement and Annealing QUantum Experiment (SEAQUE) mission, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ADVR Inc, and the National University of Singapore.

Quantum physicist Christine Muschik and vision scientist Ben Thompson were each named a 2022 University Research Chair at the last University Senate meeting.

Researchers from vastly different disciplines — quantum physics and vision science — collaborate on new device that may one day prevent vision loss.

Designing nano electrocatalysts, quantum simulations of particle interactions and trapped ions are three Waterloo Science research projects broadening disciplinary horizons and delivering real-world impact. Waterloo scientists Anna Klinkova, Christine Muschik and Crystal Senko each received funding through the Government of Ontario's 2022 Early Researcher Awards program. 

Donna Strickland, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo and Nobel laureate in physics, was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), considered the most prestigious honorary scientific society in the United States.

Three years ago, history was made when the first image of a black hole inspired wonder and awe around the world as we glimpsed the shadow of light escaping from the supermassive black hole M87*. Today, history is being made again as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration releases the image of a second black hole — Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) — the one at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy.

A major hurdle for work at the forefront of fundamental physics is the inability to test cutting-edge theories in a laboratory setting. But a recent discovery opens the door for scientists to see ideas in action that were previously only understood in theory or represented in science fiction and advances our understanding of theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.

The Amit & Meena Chakma Awards for Exceptional Teaching by a Student recognize up to four students from across the University of Waterloo for excellence in teaching of all kinds (e.g., teaching assistant, laboratory demonstrator, sessional lecturer) by registered students.

Two researchers in the Faculty of Science have received funding from the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF): Holger Kleinke from the Department of Chemistry and Will Percival from the Department of Physics and Astronomy.