Eliciting curiosity — the intrinsic desire to explore and to find new information — enhances learning, promotes information-seeking and improves memory. Understanding how to elicit and maintain curiosity in students could help us design educational robots that stimulate interest, engagement and a quest for knowledge.
Recent PhD graduates Mike Schaekermann, Hong Zhou and Fiodar Kazhamiaka have each received a Cheriton Distinguished Dissertation Award. Established in 2019, the dissertation award was created to recognize excellence in computer science doctoral research. In addition to the prestigious recognition, each awardee receives a cash prize of $1000.
PhD candidate Ahmed Alquraan is one of 16 recipients internationally and the only recipient from Canada to receive a prestigious 2021 IBM PhD Fellowship. Established in 1951, these intensely competitive fellowships have supported thousands of PhD students over seven decades.
Two teams from the University of Waterloo, each with a triad of exceptional programmers, competed virtually on April 22, 2021 at the East Division of the 2021 International Collegiate Programming Contest’s North America Division Championships.
Each year, the University of Waterloo honours and recognizes its dedicated faculty and staff by celebrating their milestones of distinguished service.
Waterloo faculty and staff who have served between 5 and 50 years were honoured across a series of virtual events to recognize their contributions and tireless efforts that have shaped the success of the university. These virtual events celebrated the 501 people who began employment at the University of Waterloo between 1971 and 2016.
Computer science students were among the finalists at Concept’s $5K pitch competition, an event held live but virtually on March 26, 2021.
Concept is Velocity’s experiential entrepreneurship and pre-incubator program at the University of Waterloo. Acting as a resource to students interested in entrepreneurship, Concept guides them on how to propel their start-up through programs, coaching and grant-funding opportunities.
Professor Mei Nagappan has received a 2020 Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award from CS-Can/Info-Can, the nation’s professional society dedicated to representing computer science and the interests of the discipline to Canadians. He is the ninth faculty member at the Cheriton School of Computer Science to receive this prestigious award.
Before landing in Waterloo, Lindsey Tulloch’s drive to make the world a better place took her around the globe, from tackling environmental sustainability initiatives in India to training teachers in Nigeria. When she returned, she was inspired to pursue an undergraduate degree in computer science from Brock University. “My experience abroad definitely shaped my thinking and perspective,” she said.
Recent master’s graduate Simeon Krastnikov has received one of two 2021 Huawei Prizes for Best Research Paper by a Mathematics Graduate Student. The prestigious annual award comes with a prize of $4,000 and is conferred to recognize exceptional papers that present original results with the potential to make a significant and lasting impact in the field.
Our bodies are made of trillions of cells that form tissues and organs. The genes inside the nucleus of each cell code for proteins that determine a cell’s structure and function, as well as instruct a cell when to grow, divide and die. Normally, our cells follow these instructions, but if a cell’s DNA mutates it can cause the cell to divide and grow out of control. Cancer is fundamentally a disease of uncontrolled cell growth and regulation, and all cancers ultimately are caused by mutations to the genes that regulate cell division, growth and differentiation.