News

Newly joined faculty member Professor Anamaria Crisan was recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)’s Computer Graphics and Applications (CG&A) for her trailblazing research on data design practices and tools for novice users.

Professor Crisan was part of a team that received the runner-up recognition from the journal, an award conferred to a research paper for its novelty, number of downloads, citations and impact. They were recognized for their paper, Finding Their Data Voice: Practices and Challenges of Dashboard Users.

Imagine controlling apps with your feet while you walk. This concept is the focus of new research which explores using gait gestures — intentional variations in how you walk — as controls for augmented reality devices.

Chris Trevisan, a fourth-year computer science student, is one of eight recipients — and the only recipient from a Canadian university — to receive the 2025 Computing Research Association Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award. The association’s top recognition honours exceptional undergraduate students from universities across North America who demonstrate outstanding research potential in the field of computing.

2024 marked a year of research breakthroughs, entrepreneurship, and community building for the Cheriton School of Computer Science. From revolutionizing mental health care to unravelling the secrets of artificial intelligence, our staff, faculty, students and alumni continue to push the boundaries of human curiosity. To celebrate, we have composed a list of our most noteworthy stories from each month.

Freda Shi joined the Cheriton School of Computer Science as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in July 2024. In September 2024 she was named a CIFAR AI Chair and a faculty member at the Vector Institute.

What follows is a lightly edited transcript of a conversation with Professor Shi, where she shares insights into her research, advice for aspiring computer scientists, and her enthusiasm for joining the Cheriton School of Computer Science.

A multidisciplinary team of computer science researchers has been awarded $2 million from the Ontario Research Fund–Research Excellence (ORF–RE) program to develop key infrastructure technology for next-generation mobile networks. ORF–RE provides funding to support the costs of major research projects of strategic value to the province.

The project is led by principal investigator Raouf Boutaba, University Professor and Director of the Cheriton School of Computer Science, with Cheriton co-investigators Professors Martin Karsten, Samer Al-Kiswany and Kate Larson, along with Professor Chui Min Yeum of Waterloo’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Professors Khuzaima Daudjee and Sujaya Maiyya of the Cheriton School of Computer Science have been awarded $220,000 from the Ontario Research Fund–Research Infrastructure (ORF-RI) program. This amount was matched by the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (CFI-JELF), bringing total funding to $440,000.

The project, titled Scalable Infrastructure for Data-Intensive Systems, will address foundational challenges in managing and analyzing large-scale data.

Jason Amri (he/him) is a fifth-year Computer Science and Business student. In this Q&A, he discusses how he started a social venture called 3cycle and his experience having a co-op term in Dubai.

Professor Jimmy Lin has been named a 2024 Fellow of the Association for Computational Linguistics in recognition of his significant contributions to question answering and information retrieval.

Established in 2011 by the Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL fellowships are conferred annually to members whose contributions to the field have been extraordinary through their scientific and technical excellence, service to the association and the community, along with broader educational and outreach activities.

University of Waterloo students and alumni are changing the game by launching companies with global impact for humanity and our planet. Their remarkable achievements have earned them spots on this year’s illustrious Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.  

The annual list highlights young entrepreneurs who are making a difference in their fields. Waterloo-linked founders were named in artificial intelligence (AI), green tech, education, food and drink and manufacturing categories.