News

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Distance between water molecules key for future quantum devices

Published by the Faculty of Science.

Water has many unique properties. An interdisciplinary team of Waterloo scientists has discovered a one-dimensional chain of water molecules could produce a quantum phase transition. This breakthrough is a key development for future water-based quantum devices.

Friday, March 24, 2023

Joel Wretborn and colleagues win award for water simulation toolset used in Avatar: The Way of Water

Published by the Cheriton School of Computer Science.

PhD candidate Joel Wretborn and his colleagues Alexey Stomakhin and Steve Lesser at the New Zealand–based visual effects studio WētāDigital x Unity and Douglas McHale at WētāFX have won an Emerging Technology Award at the 21^st annual Visual Effects Society Awards for their water simulation toolset used in Avatar: The Way of Water.

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Water Institute delegation preparing for UN 2023 Water Conference in New York

A delegation from the Water Institute at the University of Waterloo, headed by Roy Brouwer, Executive Director of the Water Institute, is preparing for the UN 2023 Water Conference taking place at UN Headquarters in New York, 22-24 March.

Monday, March 13, 2023

Water Institute welcomes author, water expert and climate scientist Giulio Boccaletti March 22

For the past two decades, author, water expert and climate scientist Giulio Boccaletti has been fascinated by the nexus between science and politics, and the central role water has played in civilizations and political institutions.

Thursday, March 2, 2023

Moths are the new tool to protect Canada's wetlands

Originally published by the Faculty of Science.

Waterloo biologists, in partnership with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the University of Toronto, are working on a North American pilot program that uses moths as a management tool to control the invasive plant threatening Canadian wetlands.

Monday, February 27, 2023

Q and A with the experts: Who owns the map?

By Media Relations

Within the rapidly changing landscape of data providers, governments must address concerns over who collects and uses data to support the public interest. Water Institute member Dr. Peter Johnson, a geographer at the University of Waterloo, is an expert on spatial data and navigating the complexities of this evolving landscape.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Inaugural John Parish Memorial Graduate Scholarship awarded to Faculty of Environment student

Waterloo graduate student Rafaela de Freitas Maltauro, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, has been awarded a scholarship honouring one of the pioneers of fluvial geomorphology.

Monday, February 6, 2023

Meet the 2023 GRADflix finalists

Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) has announced their winners and finalists for the 2022-2023 GRADflix competition, which included a strong turnout of grad students from the water sector!

If you are not familiar with the competition, GRADflix is an annual research communication competition where participants create a video or animation no longer than 60 seconds that describes their research.

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Rebecca Rooney on threats to Canada’s wetlands

Water Institute member Rebecca Rooney discusses the value of wetlands and the risk they face in Ontario

By Angelica Marie Sanchez, University Relations

Thursday, February 2 marks World Wetlands Day, an international government agreement acknowledging the importance of wetlands and their ecological role in conserving our ecosystems.

“Wetlands are these climate change superheroes,” says Water institute member Dr. Rebecca Rooney, a wetland ecologist and professor in the Department of Biology. “Wetlands are a portfolio of ecosystem services: including flood prevention, breaking down pesticides, storing large amounts of carbon, and provide habitat for more than 32 per cent of Ontario species at risk who rely on these wetlands to mitigate climate change.”

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Small isolated wetlands are pollution-catching powerhouses

A University of Waterloo press resease.

Small, isolated wetlands that are full for only part of the year are often the first to be removed for development or agriculture, but a new study shows that they can be twice as effective in protecting downstream lake or river ecosystems than if they were connected to them.

Using a new method involving satellite imagery and computer modelling, researchers from the University of Waterloo found that since these small wetlands are disconnected, pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorous get trapped. This is the first study to use satellite data for estimating nutrient retention.