Waterloo News - Community

Tasting the legacy of five Waterloo foodie founders

Angelica Sanchez — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 18:21:24 +0000

From bubble tea to craft beer and delicious bites, Waterloo entrepreneurs are serving up success stories of passion, purpose and community, one food venture at a time

Many of the world’s most vibrant culinary and food innovation scenes are rooted in strong academic communities and the University of Waterloo is no exception. Known for its legacy of entrepreneurship, Waterloo has also helped cultivate a new generation of food innovators who are transforming how we grow, prepare and experience food.

Across the Waterloo-Wellington area, alumni-founded food shops, cafés and breweries are redefining what it means to eat local. These five ventures are more than just places to grab a bite; they’re creating jobs, supporting local food producers and drawing visitors to vibrant, community-driven spaces that offer everything from handcrafted ice cream to bold Egyptian street food.

Elora Brewing Company

Jim Murphy (BASc ’95)
Alum, Faculty of Engineering
> CEO, chairman and co-founder, Elora Brewing Company

In 2015, Jim Murphy (BASc ’95) joined fellow Waterloo Engineering alum, Jonathan Laurencic (BA ’10), along with Matt Lawson, Don Smith and Alex Nicols, to turn a shared passion for home brewing into Elora Brewing Company. Housed in a 160-year-old limestone building, the brewery blends their love of craft beer and locally sourced food with a welcoming community space that’s alive from morning to night.

Murphy, now co-founder, chairman and CEO, has spent more than 25 years driving innovation — building exceptional teams, launching cutting-edge products and shaping the technology landscape. After selling his software design firm, Boltmade, to Shopify in 2016, he led their Waterloo office as director of Engineering.

In a spirited celebration of 100 years of the Iron Ring tradition, Elora Brewing Company partnered with Waterloo Engineering to release the limited-edition Ring Road Lager, with proceeds supporting future engineering students through the 100 Years of Canadian Engineering Fund.

Watch video on YouTube

Four All Ice Cream

Ajoa Mintah (BASc ’01)
Alum, Faculty of Engineering
> CEO and founder, Four All Ice Cream

Ajoa Mintah (BASc ’01) studied chemical engineering at Waterloo and went on to explore different careers from product developer to consultant before becoming an entrepreneur. After 15 years in engineering, she followed her creative instincts and founded Four All Ice Cream, becoming its chief ice cream maker.

Her journey began during a 2003 heatwave, when she bought an ice cream maker instead of an air conditioner — saving money and discovering a passion for hand-crafted, all-natural ice cream. Today, with two scoop shops in Kitchener-Waterloo, Mintah crafts ice cream made with locally sourced ingredients that’s both delicious and health conscious. Four All uses A2 milk — a natural and easy-to-digest option — and offers flavours in four categories: classic, vegan, childhood and foodie, delivering on its mission to bring “a taste of joy for everyone.”

For nearly a decade, Four All has partnered with local farmers and makers to invent fresh and seasonal flavours that celebrate the best of Waterloo region. In 2022, Four All received the Small Business of the Year award from the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce.

LenJo Bakes

Lenore Johnson (BA ’13)
Alum, Faculty of Arts
> Owner and cake maker extraordinaire, LenJo Bakes

Lenore Johnson (BA ’13) earned a degree in economics before training as a pastry chef, gaining experience in five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants in London, England. She started LenJo Bakes in 2017 as a pop-up boutique on Waiheke Island, New Zealand, before establishing her bakery in Kitchener.

Since 2020, LenJo Bakes has created local jobs, sourced ingredients from regional suppliers and supported fellow small businesses. With locations in midtown Kitchener and St. Jacobs, the bakery offers bespoke cakes, artisanal pastries and savory dishes that reflects their deep commitment to quality and creativity.

Rooted in values of sustainability, inclusivity and community, LenJo Bakes exemplifies how small businesses can drive both economic and social impact. She also served as a venture coach for the Caribbean Canadian Association of Waterloo Region's LiftOff Program, the region’s first Black-led incubator supporting early-stage and growth-focused Black entrepreneurs. She is currently a venture coach with Conestoga College's Entrepreneurship Collective.

Photo credit: Julie Baxter, JD Photography.

Sweet Dreams Teashop

Jin-Hee (Jinny) Song (BA ’02)
Alum, Faculty of Arts
> Founder of Sweet Dreams Teashop

Founded by Jin-Hee (Jinny) Song (BA ’02) while still a fourth-year student, Sweet Dreams Teashop quickly became Waterloo’s original bubble tea hotspot — known for its authentic Taiwanese tea flavours and East Asian bites. But Song’s vision went beyond drinks; she wanted to create a space where students and locals could relax, connect and feel at home.

Now surrounded by more than 20 bubble tea spots in the region, Sweet Dreams still stands out. Loyal customers — including generations of Waterloo grads — return for the warm atmosphere, nostalgic memories and community spirit.

Since 1999, Sweet Dreams has proudly championed local makers, becoming a go-to spot for thoughtful gifts — from handmade goods to baked treats crafted by small businesses across the region. It’s also become a creative hub, hosting live music, spoken word and DJ nights that transform a cozy teashop into one of Waterloo’s most unexpected — and unforgettable — cultural hotspots.

Tut's Egyptian Street Food

Amr Elmazariky (MASc ’11)
Alum, Faculty of Engineering
> CEO and founder, Tut's Egyptian Street Food

After more than a decade as an electrical engineer, Amr Elmazariky (MASc ’11) traded circuits for spices to pursue his passion for food and hospitality. Founded in 2020 in downtown Toronto, Tut’s Egyptian Street Food brings the vibrant flavours of Cairo to Canadian streets, offering high-quality Egyptian dishes made fresh daily.

Despite launching during a global pandemic, Elmazariky’s resilience and innovation helped Tut’s grow rapidly, expanding to seven locations across Ontario — including a return to Waterloo, the city that helped shape his journey.

While students were adapting to online learning, Elmazariky was taking his own crash course — learning to bake traditional Egyptian bread over Zoom with guidance from an Egyptian consultant. Today, every item on Tut’s menu is made using authentic recipes and served on house-made bread, staying true to its roots while enriching Canada’s culinary landscape.

Photo credit: Amr Elmazariky.

Next time you’re craving something delicious, look no further than our alumni community — where Waterloo founders are not only feeding communities, but are also fueling local economies and tourism, celebrating culture and building a more sustainable future, one bite at a time.

Resilience and research in motion

Angie Docking — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:29:17 +0000

After rebuilding her academic path in Canada, graduate student Kseniia Buzko is advancing AI in sport with award-winning research.

When war disrupted her studies in Ukraine, Kseniia Buzko faced an uncertain future.

Determined not to let her education be derailed, she built a new future in Canada — earning top grades, forging international research collaborations and producing award-winning work in sports analytics at the University of Waterloo.

A new beginning in Canada

Buzko’s journey to Canada began in 2022, when studying at her home institution in Ukraine became untenable. She applied and was accepted into the first cohort of the summer program for students from Ukraine whose studies had been disrupted by the war, a joint initiative between the Waterloo and the University of Toronto. Buzko spent her first summer at the University of Toronto, and through the program, began to build early connections with the Waterloo community — an experience she describes as life-changing.

“The summer program gave me the chance to resume my education after the war disrupted my life,” says Buzko. “It offered academic stability, helped me refocus on my future and introduced what could be possible for me in the Canadian academic system.”

She later transferred to the Waterloo to complete her final undergraduate year in computer science, graduating with top marks. An internship at Waterloo.AI followed, and under the guidance of Dr. Paul Fieguth, a systems design engineering professor and Waterloo’s associate vice president – academic operations, she led a joint research project bridging her home university and Waterloo. That work became her undergraduate thesis and set the stage for her graduate research.

Inspired by that early momentum and a strong sense of belonging, Buzko knew Waterloo was the right place for her to continue her studies.

Breakthrough research in sports analytics

Now a master’s student in the Department of Systems Design Engineering’s Vision and Image Processing (VIP) Research Group — which is focused on visual processing, perception and responsible AI for real-world applications — Buzko is conducting research under the supervision of Professors David Clausi and Yuhao Chen focused on action recognition in ice hockey broadcasts.

Generic AI models often struggle with hockey, where players are smaller on screen, wear bulky gear and use sticks that standard systems don’t account for.

To improve accuracy, Buzko developed a custom pipeline called CP-Hockey. It helps the AI system better interpret hockey footage by adjusting for differences in player size on screen and by adding important visual details — like head position and stick movement — that most models ignore. These improvements make it possible to tell apart similar actions, such as different skating directions, quick stops, stickwork and puck strikes.

“These contextual priors significantly improve recognition accuracy and enable more reliable analysis of game strategies and player performance,” Buzko explains. “While developed for hockey, the methods show promise for other equipment-heavy sports as well.”

In June, her work earned the Best Paper Award at the Linköping Hockey Analytics Conference for her publication Ice Hockey Action Recognition via Contextual Priors.

Kseniia Buzko with fellow members of the Vision and Image Processing (VIP) Research Group, where she develops AI models to improve action recognition in ice hockey.

Building a community

For Buzko, Waterloo has become much more than an academic home. It’s also a place where she’s found belonging and support.

“I love being part of the VIP Lab where I can engage in meaningful research and collaborate with brilliant peers and mentors,” she says. “Beyond academics, I’m grateful to continue here my lifelong passion for playing badminton. It’s helped me build close friendships that make me feel truly at home here.”

She is equally grateful for the space that Waterloo has offered for her to heal and thrive.

“The environment at Waterloo supports not only my academic development but also my personal well-being,” Buzko says. “I feel incredibly motivated here, and I look forward to continuing my journey at Waterloo as a PhD student.”

Keep calm, adapt and carry on

Sam Charles — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 12:10:09 +0000

University of Waterloo economist breaks down the current economic situation in Canada, and says there is light at the end of the tunnel

After emerging from the pandemic on a relatively strong footing, the Canadian economy is now dealing with considerable trade and investment uncertainty because of U.S. policies, including tariffs.

“Coming out of the pandemic, our economy was already facing a cost-of-living crisis, labour market struggling to adapt to demographic and immigration changes, business under-investment and slow-growing productivity, in addition to high inflation,” says Dr. Horatiu Rus, a professor of Economics who specializes in international trade, political economy and the environment. “Starting early this year, and due to policy changes in our largest economic partner, Canada’s challenging economic outlook has become substantially more challenging.”

Faced with this economic instability, Rus says individuals would be well-advised to take a precautionary stance when planning all spending, investments and savings, and should consider in the short to medium run potentially significant swings in prices, interest rates, the exchange rate and employment opportunities economy wide.

There are indications that all sides will renegotiate the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the successor of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was already set to be reviewed in 2026. “Limiting the amount of tariffs faced by Canadian exporters to the U.S. is the focus of these negotiations, but more importantly, so is reducing the massive levels of uncertainty dragging down investment and thus economic growth.”

According to Rus, American protectionism is making it even more imperative for Canada to diversify its trade relations to reduce its reliance on the U.S. “On the policy side, the government is taking steps to find a negotiated solution, while, simultaneously promising to cushion the blow for exporters experiencing sharp declines in their main export market due to tariffs and working to diversify Canada’s international trade flows.”

“As a trade economist, I do not support a policy of broad tariffs,” Rus says. “The academic literature is clear on the effects of protectionism – tariffs increase prices for consumers, make intermediate goods more expensive for businesses, diminish the efficiency gains from specialization and production at scale, decrease product variety and ultimately reduce the economic potential of the economy over the long run.”

Canada and the U.S. have one of the largest economic partnerships in the world, and this latest economic squabble may have additional implications. Rus says the significant U.S. policy shift is building further divides between the two countries, including in the environmental realm. “Based on my research that investigates the interaction between trade and pollution, and trade and renewable resource exploitation, I believe there are many sustainability-related policy areas in Canada — many of them in fact under provincial jurisdiction — which will have to adapt to the new policy regime south of the border.”

The economic relationship between Canada and the U.S. has fluctuated throughout its history. More recently, the border thinned following NAFTA in the 1990s then thickened following September 11, 2001. “Like a marriage, the relationship between Canada and US will continue to weather its ups and downs, but the North American economy is highly integrated and geography dictates close trade ties going forward: it's hard to fight gravity.”

Structured exercise significantly improves survival in colon cancer patients

Eugenia Xenos Anderson — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Landmark study is a collaboration between Canadian Cancer Trials Group, WRHN and UW WELL-FIT program

Patients in a structured exercise program experienced a 37 per cent lower risk of death and a 28 per cent reduction in recurrence or development of new cancers compared to those who received only health education materials, a recent study found.

The study, called CO.21 (Challenge), was led by the Canadian Cancer Trials Group and the Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) in partnership with the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Community, Clinical and Applied Research Excellence (CCCARE) and other clinical sites.

This unique collaboration with the UW WELL-FIT program at CCCARE enabled patients to access supervised, evidence-based exercise interventions tailored specifically to individuals recovering from cancer treatment.

“This is a model of how regional hospitals can shape international research and how local partnerships, like ours with CCCARE, can deliver global impact. We are proud to be part of the solution,” says Carla Girolametto, director of Research Operations at WRHN.

WRHN’s Cancer Centre assisted 33 cancer patients from Waterloo Region since 2009 to contribute to the research findings. A total of 889 patients across 55 clinical sites comprised the study’s findings that determined integrating exercise into survivorship care positively transforms outcomes for patients.

“This is a transformative moment in oncology and we’re proud to have played a key role in this global research,” says Dr. Stacey Hubay, medical oncologist and principal investigator at WRHN, who led WRHN’s contribution to the global study.

“We’ve long known anecdotally that exercise benefits cancer patients, but to see such clear improvements in disease-free and overall survival, confirmed by rigorous data, is extraordinary. These results suggest that exercise should be incorporated into cancer care, not just as a recommendation, but as an integral part of the treatment plan from diagnosis through survivorship.”

What began as an initiative to support individuals undergoing cancer treatment more than two decades ago, UW WELL-FIT has expanded to serve a broader patient population and offer ongoing exercise options, with clear evidence that exercise supports physical and mental well-being across the cancer experience.

Following the study’s results, additional work is being done at CCCARE, in partnership with EXE-COPP, led by principal investigator Dr. Anupam Batra, who is currently examining how exercise can offset physical and cognitive decline in men with metastatic prostate cancer.

“It’s the natural evolution of what CO.21 helped to prove: exercise is medicine,” says Julia Fraser, PhD candidate, co-investigator and research and operations manager with CCCARE.

For patients, the impact is deeply personal and transformative.

“I was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, and Dr. Hubay introduced me to the CO.21 study while I was undergoing chemotherapy. At the time, I was still quite active, running and exercising, but I waited to formally join the study until I had completed treatment,” said Russel Espiritu, one of WRHN’s CO.21 study participants.

“The exercise program at the University of Waterloo gave me the motivation and energy I needed to recover from the harsh effects of chemotherapy. It also connected me with other cancer patients who truly understood the journey. After the study, I was able to return to practicing karate. Staying active during and after treatment helped me manage the side effects, physically and mentally. I truly hope these study results will encourage physicians to prescribe exercise as part of standard cancer care.”

Dr. Nicole Thomson, vice-president of quality, research and patient experience at WRHN, reflects on the broader impact. “The CO.21 study is a powerful example of how community hospitals can meaningfully contribute to high-impact research. Our participation demonstrates that with the right partnerships and infrastructure, community-based cancer programs can drive innovation, improve outcomes, and help shape the future of care, not just locally, but nationally and beyond.”

Looking back with pride, looking ahead with purpose

Anne Galang — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 12:15:00 +0000

President Goel reflects on the academic year as we head into the summer months

As we head into the Canada Day long weekend and summer months (a reminder that the University will be closed for an additional day this Monday), I want to take a moment to reflect on the incredible year we’ve had at the University of Waterloo. It has been a year of progress and momentum, marked by the creativity, commitment, and care that define our community.Across our campuses, in our labs and studios, and in communities around the world, UWaterloo continues to be guided by our values as we’ve celebrated major milestones and laid the groundwork for the future.

Thanks to the hard work of our Community Relations and Events team who organize Convocation, this June, thousands of graduates from multiple classes crossed the stage to receive their degrees, diplomas, and certificates. As I shared the stage with Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the University of Waterloo’s committed new Chancellor, we couldn’t help but see that for some, this moment had been years in the making—and for all, it was their entrance into the exclusive club of 255,000+ members of the UWaterloo global alumni network.

This year we continued to make important investments in our physical spaces and long-term vision of being Canada’s leading university in health technology innovation. The announcement that our North Campus will be home to the region’s new hospital signals an exciting new chapter of collaboration between healthcare providers, researchers, and educators.

That vision is already taking shape at our Health Sciences Campus in downtown Kitchener, where we celebrated the opening of the Innovation Arena. This new space is equipped with cutting‑edge labs, workshops, and collaboration zones, and has become home to Velocity, enabling our flagship incubator to grow beyond its original garage footprint.

These health-related investments also connect to our leadership in digital-health scale-up and applied research. Hosting the Times Higher Education Digital Health 2025 summit in April brought more than 200 global leaders to campus, highlighting Waterloo’s ability to shape the future of patient-care innovation through research, entrepreneurship, and partnerships.

As the weather warms, I’ve noticed the new Indigenous Outdoor Gathering Space being used as it was intended—a shady stop on the way between classes, work, and meals, where students and employees can pause, relax, and reflect.

The launch of the new Warriors logo, designed by Indigenous artist Kyle Joedicke, is another example of what it means to act with purpose in our efforts to decolonize campus. Ten per cent of revenue from merchandise sales featuring the new logo goes directly to the Indigenous Student Development Fund, supporting the next generation of leaders.

Throughout the year, our community has continued to engage with complex and often difficult conversations, from affordability and mental health to free expression and belonging. These dialogues are central to our academic mission and are essential to our growth. They remind us that being a values-based institution means not shying away from hard questions, but approaching them with openness, care, and a willingness to listen and learn.

While this year has also brought financial challenges that required tough decisions and collective resilience, I have been encouraged by the way our community has responded—with creativity, care, and a shared commitment to our mission.

I want to acknowledge the enormous contributions of our faculty and staff this year. Even in these challenging circumstances our Advancement team raised a total of $66.7 million last year. This achievement highlights the kind of dedication and creativity shaping every success we’ve celebrated, and I know many of you are looking forward to well‑deserved time off this summer.

For those with children, I know many of you will be staying connected to campus through our growing slate of summer programs for kids, creating new ways for families to engage with Waterloo.

To our students, thank you for your curiosity, leadership, and resilience. Whether you are taking summer courses, travelling, enjoying time off, or continuing your co‑op work terms, your energy and ideas are what drive this institution forward. The co‑op experience remains one of Waterloo’s most distinctive strengths, and each of you taking part in work terms this summer are experiencing a somewhat unique opportunity to learn and gain job experience by doing.

As we continue the community engagement work on the new Campus Plan, I encourage everyone to participate in the Open Houses and surveys taking place this summer. Your input and collaboration will ensure our physical spaces reflect the future we’re building together.

Looking ahead, we will carry this momentum into what will be an exciting and productive fall. Thank you for everything you have done this year. I wish each of you a restful, safe, and joyful summer.

Community

University President

Natural disasters are increasingly putting the value of properties at risk

Sam Charles — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 11:45:00 +0000

Experts say homeowners and governments need to be more proactive as they face the increasing risk of wildfires and flooding

Whether it’s flooding in Toronto or forest fires raging in Alberta and Manitoba, climate change is pushing natural disasters into populated areas and having a dire impact on communities.

The threat to many homeowners extends beyond property damage and risk of life. The value of their homes and properties could be at risk.

“In Canada right now, few property owners actually know if their property is exposed to any type of climate risk, whether flooding, wildfires or landslides,” says Dr. Jason Thistlethwaite, professor in the Faculty of Environment and co-lead of the Climate Risk Research Group at the University of Waterloo. “We very much like to keep our heads buried in the sand on this. But information and data are powerful tools that can help us direct our community resources towards prevention and preparedness.”

Watch video on YouTube

Recent events around the world, including the fires in Los Angeles and the flooding in the North Coast of Australia, should serve as a further reminder that Canada is not immune from the catastrophic impact of major climate influenced events.

While governments around the world have put in place response teams and protocols, according to researchers there has not been a focus on preparedness. Governments are also off-loading responsibilities to regional and local governments.

“Every dollar governments spend building a community to withstand a disaster like a flood or wildfire has a tremendous return on investment, but it is not rewarded with voters,” Thistlethwaite says. “It’s the opposite in the aftermath of a disaster when a government knows it will lose votes if it doesn’t spend enough on recovery to help people get back on their feet.”

Thistlethwaite says there are many similarities within health care. He says our health-care systems struggle to allocate resources, policy and people to preventative medicine, but when someone gets sick or injured the system responds well.

“Canada is about 10 to 15 years behind its G7 counterparts when it comes to pro-active disaster management,” Thistlethwaite says. “The U.S. has the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which, despite its critics, has a huge budget and tends to be a lot more proactive and experimental than Canadian authorities. The U.K. even has a property address lookup to measure your risk.”

Waterloo researchers from across disciplines are collaborating to analyze and innovate in the areas of preparedness, mitigation and recovery. In the most recent survey conducted by Waterloo researchers about natural disaster awareness in Canada, it was found that only six per cent of Canadians who live in a high-risk flood area were aware of the danger. Insurers and governments have the tools to inform Canadians about these risks, but are reticent to do so because of a fear of influencing property values.

According to Thistlethwaite, it comes down to a lack of data. “I’m working on a project to improve the efficiency of risk assessment so it doesn’t take a bunch of supercomputers or expensive consultants for a municipality to understand whether they can safely build needed housing near a floodplain or wildfire zone safely,” he says. “This involves collaboration with engineers, geospatial specialists, actuaries and policy people.”

Thistlethwaite says you should be able to use your address to access comprehensive information on your property’s exposure to any type of risk.

“You should be able to access the implications for insurance related to that risk and disaster recovery systems in place in your area, and you should know about subsidies and local services that could support you in making informed choices to help protect your property.”

Currently, none of that information is readily available.

He has also explored other policy approaches, including whether or not government-initiated buyout programs would be an effective approach to reducing the flood and fire risk for people and property.

“It is imperative that we consider every option when it comes to resiliency, preparedness and mitigation, so that our communities stay safe.”

It can be challenging to look beyond the fear of disaster and what it can mean to one’s business and property values, but according to Thistlethwaite, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“We need to start treating property owners as adults, by providing clear and transparent information about disaster risk, then we can start coming up with solutions to protect and prepare for what’s ahead.”

Technological Futures

Waterloo partnership aims to build 10,000 ‘missing middle homes’ by 2030

Darren Mc Almont — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 13:18:36 +0000

A new partnership between the FCI and BUILD NOW is reimagining affordable home ownership across Waterloo Region and Canada

The Future Cities Institute founded by CAIVAN (FCI) at the University of Waterloo is teaming up with BUILD NOW to redefine what affordable, attainable housing looks like in Waterloo Region, and beyond.

At the heart of this ambitious collaboration is an urgent question with national attention: how can Canada create affordable and sustainable paths to home ownership, especially for the next generation?

Through BUILD NOW, a $500-million initiative led by Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region, the Region is aiming to build 10,000 new “missing middle” homes by 2030. These homes, made up of townhouses, walk-ups, mid-rises, and high-rises will fill the gap between single family homes and high-rise condos. Setting this initiative apart is the fact that 70 per cent of these homes are designed for ownership, using a legal model that keeps them affordable in perpetuity.

As part of the development, FCI is embedding a living lab in the first 25-acre development site near RIM Park, where more than 1,000 homes will be built. The parcel of land for this development was recently transferred from the City of Waterloo to BUILD NOW.

“What makes this transformational is not just the size, but the mix of what we are going to build,” says Philip Mills, CEO of Habitat Waterloo Region and BUILD NOW. “It’s ownership housing, and it’s family-sized units. With a 70 per cent ownership to 30 per cent rental split and a committed focus on three- and four-bedroom units, we are prioritizing what the community needs to continue to grow and thrive.”

It’s here that the FCI’s interdisciplinary researchers will closely track and help shape the evolution of these neighbourhoods, studying everything from health and mobility to inclusive design.

“This isn’t just about housing,” says Dr. Leia Minaker, director of the FCI. “It’s about building new systems of opportunity as well as resilience. Our living lab will bring rigorous, real-time research into how these homes and communities change lives, for the people who will live here, and the region itself.”

This partnership draws on FCI’s strengths and expertise across applied research, data modelling and community engagement. Already, more than 40 researchers from all six faculties at the University of Waterloo are contributing their knowledge. Local and international partners will also support the living lab’s ability to assess and amplify the economic, health, technological and societal impacts of community-led housing that prioritizes affordable homeownership.

Over the past decade, Canadian home prices have surged by more than 77 per cent, with the average house reaching more than $710,000, far outpacing income growth and widening generational inequities. This lack of access to ownership has even been framed by the RCMP as a potential national security risk.

With the rising cost of home ownership, current affordable housing initiatives in Canada prioritize rentals, often overlooking the social and economic value of home ownership. At the same time, the environmental footprint of housing remains a major challenge due to construction emissions and car-dependent community designs.

“The FCI was founded to tackle the most pressing urban challenges using data and evidence,” Minaker says. “This project gives us a great chance to study a major housing initiative in real time. Our role is to track what works, what doesn’t, and find ways to share those evidence-based learnings with other municipalities.”

The living lab also reflects the University of Waterloo’s Global Futures, bringing together academia, industry, government and the public to address the world’s most pressing challenges. It’s a powerful example of Waterloo’s strengths in applied education, interdisciplinary learning and entrepreneurship.

BUILD NOW’s first homes will break ground soon, but the impact of this partnership with the FCI will extend far beyond that. Through evidence-based models, stakeholder engagement and shared learning, the FCI-BUILD NOW collaboration aims to shift not only how we build these new homes in Waterloo Region, but how we talk about and imagine the future of housing in Canada.

As Minaker puts it, “What we’re doing here is building a blueprint for transformation, backed by research and designed to scale.”

Environment

Community

Societal Futures

Waterloo mourns the loss of Dr. Raymond Laflamme

Bernice Ma — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 21:03:46 +0000

A trailblazer in quantum information processing and a pioneer of the Institute for Quantum Computing, Laflamme was pivotal in building Canada's reputation in quantum science

Dr. Raymond Laflamme, a trailblazer in quantum information processing and pioneer of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo, died on June 19 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

A legacy of quantum research excellence

Originally from Québec City, Canada, where he studied Physics as an undergraduate at the Université Laval, his curious mind led him to England. At Cambridge University, Laflamme earned his PhD under the supervision of Stephen Hawking and then moved to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where his interests shifted from cosmology to quantum computing.

In 2001, he was attracted back to Canada where he joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo, and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He served as the founding executive director of IQC from 2002 to 2017. Through his leadership, IQC became a world-class research hub, positioning Canada at the forefront of the quantum revolution.

Dr. Raymond Laflamme presents a gift to his former PhD supervisor Dr. Stephen Hawking during a visit to the IQC.

In his scientific research, Laflamme pioneered theoretical and experimental approaches to quantum information processing and quantum error correction. Laflamme and colleagues developed an innovative approach to quantum information processing using linear optics, the results of which became one of the most referenced works in quantum computing. He devised and implemented new methods to make quantum information robust against corruption in both cryptographic and computational settings. Laflamme coauthored two textbooks on quantum computing: Building Quantum Computers: A Practical Introduction and An Introduction to Quantum Computing.

Laflamme received many national and international awards in recognition of his remarkable scientific accomplishments and leadership. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada and was awarded the Canadian Association of Physicists CAP-CRM Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics. He received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, was recognized in the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s inaugural Top 50 Discoveries list for 2006, received a Premier Research Award from the Government of Ontario, and held a Canada Research Chair from 2002 to 2023. Laflamme was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He held the inaugural Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis “John von Neumann” Chair in Quantum Information.

Building IQC and Canada’s quantum strategy

Laflamme played a pivotal role in building Canada’s global reputation in quantum information science and technology. In his 15 years as executive director, IQC grew from an idea to a world-leading centre for multidisciplinary research and attracted $530 million in funding to realize this vision, including generous donations from Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis. Today, IQC has 30 faculty members, and a community of over 300 researchers, making IQC and the University of Waterloo one of the largest centres for quantum research in the world.

Dr. Raymond Laflamme sits with Mike Lazaridis.

Laflamme’s impact in quantum technology extended beyond the University of Waterloo. Laflamme was named co-lead of the National Quantum Strategy Advisory Council, was the scientific director of QuantumWorks, led the Quantum Information Processing program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the NSERC-funded QuantumWorks.

In 2020, Laflamme and his wife established the Raymond Laflamme and Janice Gregson Graduate Scholarship for Women in Quantum Information Science, awarded annually to recognize top women entering Waterloo’s quantum graduate programs.

Research driven by community and curiosity

Throughout his career, he found ways to bring people together. This was accomplished on an international scale by leading networks and organizing conferences, and within the local community through pick-up hockey games and sharing his insights generously with students and colleagues. In 2023, his former students and postdoctoral fellows held a conference in his honour.

Laflamme had an adventurous spirit and a light-hearted sense of humour. His curiosity about the world never dimmed. When he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he turned something tragic into a new research avenue. He started a project with researchers at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener to investigate quantum technologies for cancer research and treatment.

The IQC, Science and Waterloo community has lost a leader, teacher, mentor, and friend. We offer our deepest condolences to Laflamme’s family.

Campus

Science

Community

Waterloo represents within BetaKit Most Ambitious List of 2025

Sam Charles — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 19:38:24 +0000

More than 20 founders from Waterloo highlight the newly unveiled list that celebrates those making the biggest impact inside Canadian tech and innovation

As a hub of entrepreneurship and innovation, it’s no surprise that companies and founders linked to the University of Waterloo have a noticeable presence among those featured within BetaKit’s Most Ambitious List.

Waterloo ranks as the top university in Canada for startup founders and 21st in the world according to the Pitchbook University Rankings. Recently released data shows that Velocity, Waterloo’s core entrepreneurship incubator, has more than 500 companies with a combined enterprise value of $40 billion.

The Most Ambitious List includes several categories including the “Moon Shots” (Canadians reaching for the stars), “Deep Tech,” “World Savers,” “Category Challengers,” “Expats,” “The Products,” and “The Next Generation.”

From student leaders to established founders and companies, the BetaKit list featured some of Waterloo’s best and brightest. Of the four organizations listed among the next generation of Canadian tech was Socratica. The social entrepreneurship collective recently hosted an event in Waterloo that brought together nearly 2500 people to collaborate and share ideas.

"We’re proud to show how when we bring people in, hand them real responsibility and resources, and believe in them, we can do more as an ecosystem," says Jake Rudolph, an engineering student and one of the Socratica’s organizers.

Jetson recognized in the “World Savers” category

Co-founded by Stephen Lake (BASc ’12), Aaron Grant (BASc ’12) and Matt Bailey (BASc ’12), Vancouver-based Jetson is a climate tech product manufacturer that is developing new ways to install heat pumps in residential buildings and homes.

Challengers are breaking open markets and making Canada more competitive

Rachel Bartholomew (MBET ’14), Float, and MappedIn are listed as challengers for reshaping Canadian markets. Bartholomew is the founder and CEO of Hyivy, a company focused on creating therapeutic and remote monitoring devices for gynecological conditions. She is also the founder and lead advisor for Femtech Canada, an advocacy organization for women working in the innovation space.

Former engineering student Hongwei Liu co-founded MappedIn’ while at Waterloo along with Toby Gu (BASc ’15), Mitch Butler and Leander Lee (BCS ’13). Waterloo alum Edward Wei (BCS ’06) is MappedIn’s CTO. The Velocity-linked company is an indoor maps wayfinding platform.

Another Velocity-linked company to make the list is Float which is making waves in the corporate credit card market. Last year, Float co-founders Ruslan Nikolaev (BCS ‘20) and Griffin Keglevich secured $50 million to expand its financial products and innovate business-to-business financial services.

Wealthsimple also made the challenger category. Its Chief Legal Officer is Waterloo arts alum Blair Wiley (BA ’04).

Most ambitious products that have people talking

Among the list of ambitious products are Able Innovations. Able Innovations is a Velocity company that develops solutions for lifting and moving patients within health care settings.

"Being recognized in BetaKit's Most Ambitious list is a great affirmation that Canadian innovation can compete on the global stage when we're willing to take calculated risks and push boundaries,” says Jayiesh Singh, CEO of Able Innovations. “This recognition isn't just about what we've accomplished, it's about the responsibility we have to continue driving solutions that are improving lives and creating better systems."

Rounding out the list are Core Devices, Ideogram, Wave View Imaging and 1Password. Smartware company Core Devices was founded by Eric Migicovsky (BASc ’09). The company recently announced a pair of new smartwatches that run on open-source PebbleOS. Ideogram, a text-to-image platform, was co-founded by William Chan (BASc ’11) in 2022. The following year, it received $16.5 million in seed funding. Wave View Imaging, a non-intrusive imaging system designed to enhance early detection, was co-founded by Elise Fear (BASc ’95) who now serves as CSO.

The CEO of the Waterloo-led unicorn, 1Password, is Jeff Shiner (BMath ’92). The global cybersecurity company protects more than 150,000 businesses and millions of consumers around the world.

The moon shots reaching for the stars

Two companies with Waterloo connections were featured for their Canadian-made innovations that are literally reaching for the stars. Canadian Space Mining Corporation (CSMC) is led by COO Adam Gryfe (MBET ’11). CSMC is an infrastructure and technology company focused on filling key gaps in future space exploration in areas that address Earth’s immediate challenges. The CEO of MDA Space is Mike Greenley (MSc ’97). The space mission partner supports communications satellites, Earth and space observation, space exploration and infrastructure.

Deep tech working on the next big breakthrough

Photonic and Xanadu were among the companies included within the deep tech category. Photonic was founded by Stephanie Simmons (BMath ’08). Today, she serves as the company’s Chief Quantum Officer. The company is building one of the first scalable, distributed, fault-tolerant and unified quantum computing and networking platforms based on optically-linked silicon spin qubits.

Xanadu recently unveiled the world’s first scalable, networked and modular quantum computer. The company’s CTO is Nathan Killoran (PhD ’12, physics).

Since its founding, the University of Waterloo has always been bold and unconventional. It continues to be a place where ambitious innovators and ideas take root. Through transformational research and inspired learning, Waterloo is helping to identify and solve the complex challenges facing humanity and our planet.

The Betakit’s Toronto Tech Week Special Issue also includes an interview with Waterloo professor Larry Smith.

Technological Futures

PODCAST: Revolutionizing baseball training

Jennifer Ferguson — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 18:59:45 +0000

Joshua Pope (BASc ’19) and Rowan Ferrabee (BASc ’19) are changing the game for professional baseball players with a pitching robot

Listen to this UWaterloo Alumni Podcast episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Buzzsprout or wherever you get your podcasts.

Joshua Pope (BASc ’19) came to Waterloo with a big idea to change how people play and train for sports. With the right support at Waterloo, the right partner — Rowan Ferrabee (BASc ’19) — and plenty of grit and perseverance, that dream is now a reality.

The Trajekt Arc is a pitching robot that replicates pro players and is being used by dozens of professional teams. Josh and Rowan came back to campus to chat about how they’re changing the game for professional baseball players.

Show notes

(2:04) What is Trajekt Sports?

(2:52) Getting started

(6:40) How they’ve grown and the first pro team

(11:23) Hitting big milestones

(12:51) Proudest accomplishments

(16:02) What’s next?

(22:05) Favourite student memories from campus

(25:39) Advice for students and alumni

Mentioned in this podcast

Read more about Joshua and Rowan in Waterloo Magazine.

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