News

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.

Professor Philippe Van Cappellen from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and a Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Ecohydrology, has been awarded the J.

We are pleased to announce that the winners of this year’s Faculty of Science Excellence in Science Teaching Awards are Professor Keith Delaney from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Professor Stefan Idziak from the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

A study of more than 2,000 streams around North America found that those altered by human activity are at greater risk of flooding.

The study from the University of Waterloo analyzed the seasonal flow patterns of 2,272 streams in Canada and the U.S. and found that human-managed streams – those impacted by developments like dams, canals, or heavy urbanization – had significantly different flow patterns compared to streams in natural watersheds.

Nitrogen fertilizers are critical for growing crops to feed the world, yet when applied in excess can pollute our water for decades. A new study provides six steps to address nitrogen pollution and improve water quality.

Past and present members of the Faculty of Science community are saddened by the news that William David Taylor passed away on January 24, 2022. Bill had a long and distinguished career of service inside and outside the University of Waterloo. He will be remembered with great affection by the many professionals that he trained as students, and by the many colleagues who had the pleasure to work with him in research and administration.

Southern Ontario wetlands provide $4.2 billion worth of sediment filtration and phosphorus removal services each year, keeping our drinking water sources clean and helping to mitigate harmful and nuisance algal blooms in our lakes and rivers.

A new study from the University of Waterloo uses economic valuation to help us understand the importance of Southern Ontario’s wetlands for water filtration – particularly as these sensitive ecosystems continue to be lost by conversion to agriculture or urban development.

The Earth Sciences Museum is excited to announce the launch of our newest project, a virtual tour of the museum!

On November 11, the University of Waterloo is honoured to take part in the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, UK.

From October 31 – November 12, 2021, more than 190 world leaders are expected to arrive in Scotland together with tens of thousands of negotiators, government representatives, businesses and citizens for twelve days of talks aimed at accelerating action on climate change.