News

Talking about complex societal issues requires trusted experts to combat disinformation

This article originally appeared in the Global Futures report.

Water Institute member Dr. Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher is the Canada Research Chair in Science, Health and Technology Communication and leading expert on how communication practices shape how people engage with scientific and technical subject matters.

The growth of online platforms has changed the way information is being shared and has led to a rise in misinformation. However, informed societies are necessary in addressing critical issues that require collective action such as pandemics and climate change. Mehlenbacher was asked how we should communicate and share knowledge to positively advance society and ensure communities thrive.

Founder Fuel: Student startup develops novel thermochemical process to improve the world

By The Faculty of Engineering

The entrepreneurship ecosystem at Waterloo Engineering nurtures promising ideas into thriving enterprises. In their weekly Founder Fuel series, they look at new ventures and how they have benefited from that crucial early support.

Congratulations to Water Institute member Janusz Pawliszyn, Professor, Department of Chemistry, who is the 2023 winner of the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) Medal – the CIC’s top award!

Professor Pawliszyn, Canada Research Chair and NSERC Industrial Research Chair in New Analytical Methods and Technologies, was awarded this medal for his outstanding contribution to the science of chemistry in Canada.

The novel software and mapping method will yield both real-time and two-dimensional flood models

By Naomi Grosman, Velocity

As an environmental engineering undergraduate nearly a decade ago, Robert Chlumsky, now a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Engineering, forged a professional relationship with his professors, Dr. James Craig and Dr. Bryan Tolson.

It was fostering that relationship and the research it produced that resulted in the trio receiving funding for Blackbird, a software and a new method for floodplain mapping that could potentially impact flood mitigation and response.

The Water Institute is excited to announce that John Cherry, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Leader of the Groundwater Project, Recipient of the 2020 Stockholm Water Prize and Lee Kwan Yew Water Prize 2016, will be presenting the opening lecture of the 2023 WaterTalks series.

He will present “Groundwater is the Key to a Sustainable Earth” on January 18^th in person at the University of Waterloo Theatre of the Arts in the Modern Languages Building with a reception to follow.

Republished with permission from the forWater Network.

With the reopening of in-person conferences, this fall saw many forWater network members showcasing their research across North America. Over 15 presentations of critical research touching on many different aspects of source water protection were shared across four major international conferences. ​Researchers presented at National Water and Wastewater Conference (NWWC) in Halifax and American Water Works Association's Water Quality Technology Conference (WQTC) in Cincinnati as well as the Western Water Conference in Calgary. Several researchers will be participating in the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) fall meeting in Chicago on December 12-16.

Originally published by the Faculty of Environment.

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) have become one of the most important tools government and industry use to understand environmental risks associated with new development projects. But the environment is more than water and soil. And as practiced today, EIAs have many blind spots, often failing to include people and nature in meaningful ways.

By Nancy Goucher, Knowledge Mobilization Specialist, Water Institute

The Microplastics Fingerprinting project hosted its first in person, annual meeting recently in Waterloo. Over 40 researchers, students, and collaborating partners gathered to discuss ways to better support research integration, hear about the needs and perspectives of water practitioners, and to collectively fine-tune our communication and knowledge mobilization tactics.

Please consider submitting a manuscript to the upcoming Special Issue in the Journal of Hydrology on “Groundwater flow and reactive solute transport processes in hyporheic zone”.

Water Institute member Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Research Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, is serving as guest editor for the special issue together with Dr. Zhang Wen (China University of Geosciences), Dr. Stefan Krause (Birmingham University) and Dr. Hui Liu (China University of Geosciences).

The Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund, administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada, is allocating $15.8 million to six University of Waterloo research projects to identify solutions to environmental challenges.

Funded through the Climate Action and Awareness Fund (CAAF), the research supports building sustainable net-zero emissions in Canada by 2050.