The Cheriton School of Computer Science is named for David R. Cheriton, who earned his PhD in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo in 1978. In 2005, Professor Cheriton made a transformational gift to the school that supports named chairs, faculty fellowships, and graduate scholarships.
News
Yizhou Zhang receives the 2026 AITO Dahl–Nygaard Prize
Professor Yizhou Zhang has been awarded the 2026 AITO Dahl–Nygaard Junior Prize. The award recognizes a junior researcher who has demonstrated exceptional promise in programming languages research through impactful early-career contributions.
Meet Santhoshini Velusamy, a computer scientist who explores streaming algorithms and algorithmic game theory
Santhoshini Velusamy joined the Cheriton School of Computer Science as an Assistant Professor in December 2025.
What follows is a lightly edited transcript of a conversation with Professor Velusamy, where she discusses her research, advice for aspiring computer scientists, and what excites her about joining the Cheriton School of Computer Science.
Vasisht Duddu named MLCommons Rising Star for 2026
PhD candidate Vasisht Duddu has been selected as one of 39 outstanding early-career researchers from institutions across the globe to be named a 2026 MLCommons Rising Star, an honour recognizing his contributions to machine learning and systems research.
Events
PhD Defence • Systems and Networking • Improving Reliability for Networked Systems and Software Execution
Please note: This PhD defence will take place in DC 2310.
Haoyu Gu, PhD candidate
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
Supervisor: Professor Ali Mashtizadeh
Master’s Thesis Presentation • Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning • Visual Segmentation with Explanations for Medical Decision Making: A CNN Architecture with a Transformer-Attention Extension
Please note: This master’s thesis presentation will take place online.
Mahmoud Khalaf, Master’s candidate
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
Supervisor: Professor Robin Cohen
PhD Seminar • Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning • Catalyst GFlowNet for Electrocatalyst Design
Please note: This PhD seminar will take place in DC 2314.
Lena Podina, PhD candidate
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
Supervisors: Professors Mohammad Kohandel, Ali Ghodsi