Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · 1h

🎉 Congratulations to Datacurve, which was founded by former CS students Serena Ge and Charley Lee 🎉

TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 6d

Datacurve uses a “bounty hunter” system to attract skilled software engineers to complete the hardest-to-source datasets.

Datacurve raises $15 million to take on ScaleAI | TechCrunch

Datacurve uses a “bounty hunter” system to attract skilled software engineers to complete the hardest-to-source datasets.

techcrunch.com

Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · 8d

Congrats to Postdoctoral Research Besat Kassaie, Dr. Andrew Kane and Distinguished Professor Emeritus Frank Tompa, winners of the Best Paper Award at DocEng’25. Their work combines LLMs for query reformulation with reciprocal rank fusion to improve mathematical IR.

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/besat-k...

L to R: Andrew Kane, Frank Tompa and Besat Kassaie pose with a Best Paper Award certificate the research team received for "Exploiting Query Reformulation and Reciprocal Rank Fusion in Math-Aware Search Engines," research presented at DocEng'25.

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · 12d

Congrats to CS Prof Edith Law, who has been named the Google Chair in the Future of Work and Learning. This Chair is situated within a broader initiative, the Future of Work Institute, in which she’ll lead research on how AI is transforming education & career readiness.

uwaterloo.ca/news/media/g...

L to R: Raouf Boutaba, Charmaine Dean, Edith Law, Jochen Koenemann, Vivek Goel, Nolan Quinn, Sabrina Geremia, Jules Walter

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · 15d

CS Prof Maura Grossman comments on a recent California case, thought to be one of the first to involve a genAI–fabricated recording submitted as evidence, highlighting the difficulty courts face in verifying authenticity of digital evidence.

Free, subscription required: www.law.com/therecorder/...

Research Professor Maura R. Grossman in the Davis Centre

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · 16d

PhD student Anudeep Das awarded $58.1k USD from Open Philanthropy to lead research on stealthy and resilient backdoors in LLMs. Working with Prach Chantasantitam & Gurjot Singh, he will uncover vulnerabilities in LLMs and develop strategies to improve their security.

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/anudeep...

L to R: Prach Chantasantitam, Anudeep Das and Gurjot Singh (inset) in the University of Waterloo's Davis Centre.

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · 22d

🤖 #UWaterloo researchers have discovered major privacy weaknesses in collaborative robots— calling for stronger defenses.

🏆 This study won the Best Research Paper Award at ARES 2025, one of the biggest conferences in #cybersecurity.

🔗 Read more: uwaterloo.ca/news/robots-...

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Sep 4

Shai Ben-David has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the highest national recognition for researchers. His work spans an impressive breadth, from ML theory and computational complexity to logic in computer science, mathematical logic and set theory.

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/shai-be...

Professor Shai Ben David stands in front of a blackboard

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Sep 2

🎮 PhD student Yuzhe You is using video games to make AI more accessible to non-technical users.

🏆 She has received $145K from various scholarships to support her game-changing plan.

🔗 Read more at: uwaterloo.ca/computer-sci...

#womeninstem #UWaterloo #XAI

A person in a black velvet dress and gloves sits at a long wooden table in a historical-looking building

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Reposted by Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science

💚🧡💙Oakbrook❤️💛💜 @oakbrook.bsky.social · Jul 25

This is so great, and in part because it's so heartening to see that real scientific research is still alive elsewhere in the world!
⭐🧪

Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 25

🎮 PhD student Yue Lyu is creating AR-based games to equip children with autism spectrum disorder with social and emotional skills.

⭐ Her visionary plan could save $1.4 billion in educational expenses for Ontario.

🔗 Read more: uwaterloo.ca/computer-sci...

#womeninstem #UWaterloo

Two women stand together near a yellow railing in a modern indoor space. A smaller image of a man is inset in the corner.

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Aug 1

Enjoy the long weekend.

Waterloo sign and Dana Porter Library in mid summer as the sunsets

Reposted by Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science

Waterloo Math @waterloomath.bsky.social · Jul 29

At the University of Waterloo, co-op is more than a stepping stone, it’s a launchpad for future leaders 🚀

Two Faculty of Math Co-op Student of the Year alumni shed light on their careers after graduation: uwaterloo.ca/co-operative...

Math Co-op Students of the Year reflect on career-defining moments and paying it forward | Co-operative Education | University of Waterloo

Two Faculty of Math Co-op Student of the Year alumni shed light on their careers after graduation.

uwaterloo.ca

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Reposted by Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science

University of Waterloo @uwaterloo.ca · Jul 9

Dr. Don Cowan (MSc ’61, PhD ’65) and Ian McPhee (BMath ’73, MMath ’79) were among key Waterloo pioneers that transformed the computing world with the creation of WATCOM - Waterloo's first software spinoff.

Today, the technology is still a game-changer.

More: uwaterloo.ca/news/magazin...

Dr. Don Cowan standing by a van with a license plate that says WATCOM

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Reposted by Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science

Vidman 📺 Dan Lauckner @vidman.bsky.social · Jul 23

University of Waterloo researchers have built a tool that can quickly remove watermarks identifying content as artificially generated — and they say it proves that global efforts to combat deepfakes are most likely on the wrong track.

www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/art...

Canadian researchers create tool to remove anti-deepfake watermarks from AI content

University of Waterloo researchers have built a tool that can quickly remove watermarks identifying content as artificially generated — and they say it proves that global efforts to combat deepfakes a...

www.ctvnews.ca

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 28

Diogo Barradas has won the FOCI Rising Star Award for his contributions to censorship-resistant communications. Presented at the Free and Open Communications on the Internet conference, the award honours early-career researchers whose work advances Internet freedom.

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/diogo-b...

Professor Diogo Barradas in Waterloo's Davis Centre

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 25

🎮 PhD student Yue Lyu is creating AR-based games to equip children with autism spectrum disorder with social and emotional skills.

⭐ Her visionary plan could save $1.4 billion in educational expenses for Ontario.

🔗 Read more: uwaterloo.ca/computer-sci...

#womeninstem #UWaterloo

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 22

🚀 From Co-op Student of the Year to Silicon Valley.

🧳 Henry Shi (BCS '14), the co-founder of travel app Super.com, discusses how #UWaterloo's co-op shaped his career journey.

🔗 Read more: uwaterloo.ca/co-operative...

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 16

Chengnian Sun and Hongyang Zhang have each received $60k USD through the Google Research Scholar Program. Professor Sun’s project will focus on enhancing compiler optimizations; Professor Zhang’s project aims to improve the speed and efficiency of reasoning in LLMs.

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/chengni...

L to R: Chengnian Sun and Hongyang Zhang in the Davis Centre

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 14

Aseem Baranwal has received the 2025 Cheriton Distinguished Dissertation Award. His PhD thesis, Statistical Foundations for Learning on Graphs, explores the theoretical underpinnings of machine learning methods for graph-structured data.

Congrats, Aseem!

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/aseem-b...

Aseem Baranwal with Professor Fountoulakis at spring 2025 convocation

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 11

A US federal judge has fined 2 lawyers $3k each for filing a court document with hallucinated cases generated by AI. Research Prof Maura R. Grossman warns that as gen AI becomes more common, so too do the risks. Her advice to lawyers? “Trust nothing — verify everything.”

www.npr.org/2025/07/10/n...

Maura R. Grossman in Waterloo's Davis Centre. She is a Research Professor at the Cheriton School of Computer Science and an adjunct law professor at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School.

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Reposted by Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science

Gautam Kamath @gautamkamath.com · Jul 10

Congratulations to my PhD student Matthew Regehr (@matt19234.bsky.social) on winning the University of Waterloo CPI Graduate Excellence Scholarship!
This $10,000 prize recognizes his incredible achievements and potential in privacy research.
@uwcheritoncs.bsky.social
cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/matthew...

Matthew Regehr awarded 2025 CPI Graduate Excellence Scholarship | Cheriton School of Computer Science | University of Waterloo

A new article about Matthew Regehr, a PhD student who has been awarded the 2025 Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute Graduate Excellence Scholarship.

cs.uwaterloo.ca

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 8

Congratulations to Toshiya Hachisuka, Xi He, Florian Kerschbaum, Ondřej Lhoták, Shane McIntosh, Victoria Sakhnini and Jian Zhao, recipients of 2024 Outstanding Performance Awards.

The recognition honours faculty who demonstrate exceptional teaching and scholarship.

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/cherito...

A banner showing the seven Outstanding Performance Award recipients.

Top row (L to R): Toshiya Hachisuka, Xi He, Florian Kerschbaum, Ondřej Lhoták

Bottom row (L to R): Shane McIntosh, Victoria Sakhnini, Jian Zhao

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 7

Professor Xiao Hu and her collaborators Binyang Dai and Ke Yi at HKUST have received a 2025 SIGMOD Research Highlight Award for their paper, Reservoir Sampling over Joins. This award marks the third recognition of her research excellence this year!

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/xiao-hu...

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 2

Congrats to Liam Hebert, recipient of the 2025 Nick Cercone Graduate Scholarship in Computer Science. The $7,500 award recognizes doctoral students at a Canadian university who demonstrate exceptional, far-reaching research and a strong commitment to helping others.

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/liam-he...

PhD candidate Liam Hebert discusses his research with Professor Justin Wan, a poster judge at the Cheriton Research Symposium.

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jul 2

Professor Sepehr Assadi has won the 2025 Presburger Award, a prestigious honour recognizing his exceptional contributions to theoretical computer science, in particular his pioneering work on establishing lower bounds for multi-pass streaming algorithms.

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/sepehr-...

Professor Sepehr Assadi stands by a bench in Waterloo's Peter Russell Rock Garden.

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Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science @uwcheritoncs.bsky.social · Jun 27

Great news as we head into the long weekend ... Professor Craig S. Kaplan has been named a 2025 Fields Institute Fellow, an honour that recognizes his exceptional contributions to math, computational geometry and computer graphics, and their intersections with art.

cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/craig-k...

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