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Strategic Initiatives: Research Partnerships
- Canada Research Chair Janusz Pawliszyn partners with Concordia University and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to develop a new probe to study the living brain.
- A Faculty of Science delegation participated in the second series of bilateral workshops with Soochow University (China) to explore new research partnerships.
- Velocity Science startup Qidni Labs partners with the Canadian Space Agency to develop nano filters that filter out viruses and bacteria to clean spacecraft air and ensure astronaut food safety.
- Chemists and earth scientists participated in a Water Institute delegation which visited four universities in China and the first Sino-Canadian Water Environment Workshop in Shanghai.
- Science's Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC), David Cory and Phillippe Van Cappellen, hosted the two-day annual meeting that brings together all of the CERC chairholders in Canada.
Strategic Initiatives: Research Areas
- Optometrist and vision scientist Kristine Dalton established Waterloo's Sports Vision Clinic, it is among the first in Canada and uniquely housed in a university setting. Vision training can help improve athletic performance.
- Waterloo biologists Kim Cuddington, Kirsten Müller, Michael Power, Rebecca Rooney, Ralph Smith, and Heidi Swanson were highlighted in digital and print series on invasive species to support the 2015 TD Walter Bean Visiting Professorship in the Environment, hosted by Science.
- Waterloo scientists published at least seven papers in the prestigious journals, Science and Nature.
- Research in the Faculty of Science continues to be recognized globally through international awards, honours and by the media (Time Magazine, Yahoo!, Discovery Channel, Scientific American), including:
- Materials chemist Linda Nazar named a 2014 Thomson Reuters' Highly Cited Researcher and is on their list of 2014's Most Influential Scientific Minds;
- Waterloo scientists received more than 20 local, national and international awards;
- Astrophysicists Michael Hudson, Jonathan Carrick and Stephen Turnbull with Guilhelm Lavaux, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, created a 3D master map of the universe;
- Phillippe Van Cappellen, Raymond Laflamme and Melanie Campbell partnered with Research2Reality, a national campaign to raise awareness about Canadian research;
- School of Pharmacy researcher Paul Spagnuolo found molecules derived from avocados could be effective in treating acute myeloid leukemia, advancing the fight against cancer; and
- Physicists Robert Mann and Niayesh Afshordi proposed a new theory on the Big Bang.
- The Faculty of Science continues to play an important role in several Waterloo research institutes:
- One-third of the members in the Institute for Quantum Computing are Science researchers;
- At 40%, Science’s researchers represent the largest stakeholder of the Water Institute; and
- Thirty-one of 78 faculty members that make up the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology are from Science.
Strategic Initiatives: Industrial Partnerships
- In 2014/15, Science established 77 new industrial collaborations, representing more than $8.5M in direct industry partner investment.
- Canada Research Chair David Blowes won his second NSERC Synergy Award for his partnership with Diavik Diamond Mines. This is Science's second Synergy Award in two years.
- Industrial Research Chair Janusz Pawliszyn partnered with the World-Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to develop a fully automated urine drug testing method.
Strategic Initiatives: Research Commercialization
- Velocity Science, a partnership between the Waterloo entrepreneurship program Velocity and the Faculty of Science, has grown during its first year to fifteen startups and counting. Some award-winning startups include:
- Suncayr, which was named a runner-up for the international James Dyson Award;
- Vitameter, Suncayr and Kue which won $65K at the 2015 Winter Velocity Fund Finals; and
- Ourotech, the only Canadian entry, won $50K US at the Wolves Summit in Poland for their soft tissue 3D printer.
- Science students won prestigious awards that support research commercialization, including:
- Harry Gandhi, a Science and Business student, Velocity Science student community co-founder, and Medella Health CEO, won a $100K Peter Thiel Fellowship; and
- Mark Kryshtalskyj, Science and Business student and founder of Rockstar Café, named a Canada's Next 36 Top Entrepreneur.
Strategic Initiatives: New Academic Programs
- A new Bioinformatics option was introduced to provide an academic path for students interested in biological data analysis using computational methods.
- The School of Pharmacy's Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program received full accreditation status from the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs.
Strategic Initiatives: Strengthen Excellence in Teaching
- Five introductory biology, chemistry and physics online courses are now part of the Ontario Universities Online Consortium to meet rising interest in online B.Sc. programs.
- Two new Chinese universities, Northwest University and Chang'an University, signed agreements with the 2+2 collaborative University of Waterloo-China undergraduate education program. In 2015, the number of 2+2 students in Waterloo Science doubled to 142.
- Earth scientist David Blowes awarded and leads the $1.65M TERRE CREATE training program for Highly Qualified Persons in sustainable mineral extraction.
- Science developed “e-valuate”, a completely online student course evaluation tool for all course evaluations which has been adopted by three Faculties — Applied Health Sciences, Mathematics and Arts. Engineering is using it for exit surveys for graduating students.
- Science Outreach celebrated its 20th Science Open House, and together with the Earth Sciences Museum, both continue to expand their outreach to the community and local classrooms.
- The School of Pharmacy partnered with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine to increase the capacity for experiential training of pharmacy students in northern Ontario.
- Waterloo’s iGEM (Internationally Genetically Engineered Machine) student team won their first Gold medal and Best Model Award at the 2014 International Jamboree.
