News

Philippe Van Cappellen has been featured on Research2Reality’s water research focused video (below), as a part of a larger campaign to bridge the gap between Canadian research and the public. Additional videos and focused interviews will be airing over the coming months, including nine University of Waterloo researchers discussing the future potential of their research.

Philippe Van Cappellen presents the annual Woo Lecture at the Joint CGU-AGU Meeting in Montreal on May 6. The invited lecture highlights outstanding contributions within Canadian geophysical research. Dr. Van Cappellen`s lecture was entitled, "Rivers in the Anthropocene: Global Modification of Nutrient Cycles by River Damming", co-authored by PhD Candidate, Taylor Maavara. 

Thirteen members of the Ecohydrology Research Group will be presenting their research at the Joint cgu-agu-gac-mac Assembly May 3-7 in Montreal.

On Wednesday April 22, Ecohydrology Group members visited the KW Bilingual School to spread awareness and demonstrate support for environmental protection. Canada Excellence Research Chair, Philippe Van Cappellen, opened the event with a lecture on the availability and human impact on freshwater resources in Canada and around the globe. Afterwards, students participated in dynamic demonstrations on the web of life and ocean circulation, followed by interactive activity stations.

Canada Excellence Research Chairholders (CERC) from the Waterloo, Quebec City, Ottawa, Kingston, Calgary, Montreal, Hamilton, Toronto, Vancouver, Charlottetown, Edmonton, Sherbrooke, Winnipeg and Saskatoon met this week at the University of Waterloo to discuss recent advances within their research groups and goals for future research directions. This event marked the 5^th annual meeting of CERCs, chaired by Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen of the Ecohydrology Group (CERC in Ecohydrology) and Dr. David Cory (CERC in Quantum Information).

Taylor Maavara and Tariq Aziz, two PhD students in the Ecohydrology Research Group, were awarded CGU (Canada Geophysical Union) travel awards to present their research at the 2015 Joint Assembly (CGU-AGU-GAC-MAC) Conference in Montreal in May. Taylor will be presenting her research entitled, “A long-term sink for nutrient silicon in Canada’s most threatened river system”, and Tariq will be presenting on “Economic valuation of five water-related ecosystem services in the Grand River watershed”.  

The recent paper, Plastic debris in the Laurentian Great Lakes, published in the March Issue of the Journal of Great Lakes Research has received extensive media coverage this week by 570 News, CBC National News and Michigan Radio. Authors, Alex Driedger, Hans Durr, Kristen Mitchell and Philippe Van Cappellen have highlighted the lack of research and imminent hazard of plastic debris pollution in the Great Lakes.

Certain areas of the Great Lakes have suspended plastics concentrations as high as those found in the so-called garbage patches accumulating within large oceanic gyres.

Fereidoun Rezanezhad of the Ecohydrology Research Group is a recipient of a Water Institute Seed Grant. The Water Institute launched its Seed Grant Program in November 2014, with the aim to facilitate international collaborations and encourage the development of joint research proposals. In the first round of the new program, six projects are being funded, including the project entitled “Capacity building in hydrobiogeophysics (HBGP) at the University of Waterloo” submitted by Fereidoun Rezanezhad.

Dr. Charles Vorosmarty, professor in the Department of Civil and