Breaking boundaries in water research

A team of Waterloo students, including two from the Water Institute’s Collaborative Water Program, earned international recognition this fall as they represented Waterloo at the Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC). WEFTEC is North America’s largest annual gathering for water-quality professionals and a major international showcase for wastewater technology and design, where they won second place in the Student Design Competition.

After more than four decades supporting water research, teaching and student success in the Faculty of Science, long-time staff member Marianne Vandergriendt has been named an Honorary Member of the University of Waterloo. From her early days in Dr. James Barker’s Organic Geochemistry Lab to her key role in establishing the Ecohydrology Research Group (ERG) with Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Marianne’s career has been defined by technical excellence, compassion and mentorship. Her colleagues and students describe her as a role model whose kindness and dedication shaped generations of researchers.

From modelling floods and droughts to managing watersheds and tracking climate change, today’s environmental challenges require faster, more powerful computing. Now, researchers at the University of Waterloo and across Canada have a new tool to help solve them: Nibi, Waterloo’s newest high-performance supercomputer.