News

A lot of recent headlines have proclaimed the end of software engineering as a profession because of AI, and current and prospective computer science and software engineering students are understandably concerned about their careers.

We sat down with Professor Mei Nagappan to separate fact from fiction.

Do actions in the virtual world stay in the virtual world? A new performance directed by postdoctoral fellow Dr. Zach McKendrick explores dark themes relevant to today’s rapidly advancing digital technologies.

“If we do this well, the audience isn’t just watching a story about immersive technology. They’re experiencing what it’s like to navigate overlapping realities and recognizing that choices made in virtual spaces still belong to us, long after they take off the headset,” says Dr. McKendrick.

Continuing a long tradition of excellence in competitive programming, a trio of Waterloo students won a silver medal at the 2026 International Collegiate Programming Contest North America Championship, held on March 22, 2026 at the University of Central Florida.

Comprised of Kelly Dance, a graduate student in Combinatorics and Optimization, along with Kevin Guo and Kevin Yang, both fourth-year Computer Science students, Waterloo had an exceptional performance, solving 10 out of 13 problems, to finish second out of 52 teams at the prestigious annual competition.

Modern health care support patients at crisis points: during a visit, around a procedure and after discharge. However, the gaps between care can fuel readmissions, emergencies and preventable decline. Velocity startup Doro is developing clinically guided AI tools to ensure that connection with patients continues long after appointments end, filling the gap health practitioners do not have the capacity to reach.

Pulkit Sinha, a PhD candidate at the Cheriton School of Computer Science, specializing in quantum information, has received a 2026 Faculty of Mathematics Graduate Research Excellence Award.

Funded through alumni and community support, the $5,000 award celebrates outstanding research by emerging scholars in the Faculty of Mathematics.

New research from the University of Waterloo shows that artificial intelligence still struggles with some basic software development tasks, raising questions about how reliably AI systems can assist developers.

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre has awarded resources equivalent to $250,000 to Professor Ana Crisan through its Cancer Digital Intelligence team, supporting her research under the 2025–26 Grand Challenge: From AI Algorithm to Implementation.

The resources will support MedDataOS: A Human-Centered Multi-Agent Framework for Biomedical Data Analysis, a research project led by Professor Crisan that aims to develop a multi-agent AI system to integrate and analyze clinical data on head and neck cancers.

Marina Meila has been named a Canada CIFAR AI Chair, recognizing her expertise in advancing the theoretical foundations of interpretable and explainable machine learning.

This Sunday, March 8 is International Women’s Day, a global event that recognizes the achievements of women around the world.

To celebrate, the Cheriton School of Computer Science is highlighting the research discoveries, achievements and entrepreneurial successes of women students, faculty members and alumni over the past year.

Professors Pascal Poupart of the Cheriton School of Computer Science and Luis Ricardez-Sandoval of the Department of Chemical Engineering have received $480,000 to strengthen Canada’s supply of critical minerals by applying artificial intelligence to the recycling of rare earth elements.