List of University of Waterloo people

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The University of Waterloo, located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, is a comprehensive public university that was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles.^[1] It has grown into an institution of more than 42,000 students, faculty, and staff.^[2] The school is notable for being the first accredited university in North America to create a Faculty of Mathematics, which is now the world's largest,^[3][4] and to have the largest cooperative education program in the world.^[5] The school is also known for having more companies formed by its faculty, students, and alumni than any other Canadian university, and as such, the university has been called the "MIT of the North".^[6]

The list includes notable faculty, alumni, staff, and former university presidents. The enrollment for 2020 was 36,057 undergraduate and 6,231 graduate students, with 1,350 faculty members and 2,596 staff. About 221,000 people have graduated from the university, and now reside in over 150 countries.^[2]

Alumni and faculty

Fields with a "—" have unknown values.

Alumni

Name	Degree	Discipline	Known for	Notes
V. K. Aatre	Graduate	Electrical engineering	Scientist and former head of the Defence Research and Development Organisation	[7]
Michael H. Albert	Undergraduate	Mathematics	Rhodes Scholar, professor at University of Otago	[8]
Celeste Anderson	Undergraduate	Computer Science	King of the Nerds winner, competitive gamer	[9]
Gordon Stewart Anderson	Undergraduate	—	Writer	[10]
Mohammad H. Ansari	Graduate	Physics	Fundamental quantum theory research	[11]
Andy Anstett	Graduate	Politics	Ministry of Municipal Affairs	[12]
Paul Antrobus	Graduate	Psychology	Principal at Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada (India) and Psychology Professor at University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan (Canada)	[13]
Omer Arbel	Undergraduate	Environmental studies	Designer, sculptor, creative director of Bocci	[14]
Karen Autio	Undergraduate	Mathematics and computer science	Writer of children's fiction	[15]
Calvin Ayre	Undergraduate	Science and Business	Bodog founder	[16]
Ricardo Baeza-Yates	Graduate	Computer science	Director of Yahoo! Research labs	[17]
Bill Ballinger	Undergraduate	Political science	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario	[18]
Lisa Feldman Barrett	Graduate	Psychology	Northeastern University professor	[19]
Romesh Batra	Graduate	Mechanical engineering	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University professor	[20]
Keith Beavers	Undergraduate	Kinesiology	Competed in swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics	[21]
Gordon Bell	Undergraduate	Computer science	QNX co-creator	[22]
David Berman	Undergraduate	Computer science	Fellow of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada	[23]
Peter Besler	Undergraduate	Chemistry	Investment banker	[24]
Art Binkowski	Undergraduate	Psychology	Heavyweight boxer	[25]
Don Boudria	Undergraduate	Politics	Canadian Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister	[26]
Marie Bountrogianni	Undergraduate	Arts	Member of Ontario Parliament, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, and dean of the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University	[27]
Mark Bourrie	Undergraduate	History	Lawyer, author, and winner of the RBC Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction	[28]
Gail Bowen	Graduate	English	Playwright and writer of mystery novels	[29]
Brad Bradford	Graduate	Planning	Toronto City Councillor	[30]
Mike Bradley	Undergraduate	Athletics	Canadian Football League running back	[31]
Peter Braid	Undergraduate	International relations	Member of Parliament	[32]
Andrew Brandt	Undergraduate	Business	Former Canadian cabinet minister	[33]
Fiona Brinkman	Undergraduate	Biochemistry	Associate professor at Simon Fraser University	[34]
Alison Brooks	Undergraduate	Architecture	Stirling Prize Award-winning Architect	[35]
Edward Burger	Graduate	Mathematics	Professor at Williams College	[36]
Amanda Burk	Undergraduate	Fine Arts	Artist, associate professor at Nipissing University	[37]
Vitalik Buterin	Dropout	Computer science	Co-founder of Ethereum, co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine	[38]
Wayne Cao	Undergraduate	Computer science	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta	[39]
Colin Carrie	Undergraduate	Politics	Member of Parliament	[40]
Jeromy Carriere	Undergraduate	Computer science	Computer architect	[41]
Bardish Chagger	Undergraduate	Science	Member of Parliament	[42]
David Cheriton	Graduate	Mathematics	Stanford University professor and Granite Systems co-founder	[43]
Václav Chvátal	Graduate	Mathematics	Canada Research Chair in Combinatorial Optimization and former professor at McGill and Stanford	[44]
Ian Clark	Graduate	Earth science	Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa	[45]
George Elliott Clarke	Undergraduate	Entertainment	Poet and playwright; Governor General's Award for poetry recipient	[46]
Rod Coutts	Undergraduate	Electrical Engineering	Founder of Teklogix; namesake of the Rod Coutts Engineering Lecture Building at University of Waterloo	[47]
Clifford Cunningham	Undergraduate	Physics & Classical studies	Astronomer	[48]
Julie E. Czerneda	Undergraduate	Literature	Science fiction and fantasy author	[49]
Heather Dale	Undergraduate	Entertainment	Celtic singer	[50]
Liane Davey	Graduate	Industrial/Organizational Psychology	Leadership consultant, public speaker, and New York Times bestselling author	[51]
Erik Demaine	Graduate	Computer science	Youngest professor ever at MIT	[52]
Dan Dodge	Undergraduate	Computer science	QNX co-creator	[53]
Andrew Drummond	Undergraduate	Arts	Frances Hodgkins Fellow	[54]
Richard Ducharme	Undergraduate	Civil engineering	General Manager of Transportation for Edmonton	[55]
Tom Duff	Undergraduate	Computer science	Computer scientist	[56]
Garfield Dunlop	Undergraduate	Politics	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario	[57]
David Eby	Undergraduate	English	Premier of British Columbia	[58]
Fred Eisenberger	Undergraduate	—	Politician	[59]
Jon Evans	Undergraduate	Engineering	Arthur Ellis Awards winner	[60]
Anne Fleming	Undergraduate	English	Fiction writer	[61]
Joe Fontana	Undergraduate	Chemistry	Member of Parliament	[62]
John Friedlander	Graduate	Mathematics	Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and American Mathematical Society and winner of the CRM-Fields-PIMS prize	[63]
Curwin Friesen	Undergraduate	Economics	Chief executive officer of Friesens	[64]
James Alan Gardner	Graduate	Mathematics	Science fiction author	[65]
J. Alan George	Graduate	Computer science	Dean of the University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics	[66]
Garth A. Gibson	Undergraduate	Computer Science	Computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University	[67]
Brad Goddard	Undergraduate	Theatre	Actor	[68]
W. G. Godfrey	Graduate	Canadian history	Canadian historian	[69]
Gaston Gonnet	Graduate	Computer science	Computer scientist and entrepreneur	[70]
Gary Goodyear	Undergraduate	Politics	Canadian Member of Parliament	[71]
Rick Green	Undergraduate	Entertainment	Comedian and member of The Frantics	[72]
Chris Hadfield	Graduate	Mechanical engineering	Astronaut, Commander of the International Space Station (2013)	[73]
Fariborz Haghighat	Graduate	System Design Engineering	Professor at the Concordia University	[74]
Ann Hansen	Undergraduate	—	Urban guerrilla	[75]
Dianne Haskett	Undergraduate	Arts	Mayor of London, Ontario	[76]
Deen Hergott	Undergraduate	—	Chess International Master	[77]
Cyd Ho	Undergraduate	Politics	Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong	[78]
Glenn Howard	Undergraduate	Environmental studies	Three-time World Curling Champion	[79]
Kimmo Innanen	Graduate	Mathematics	Astronomer and professor
David Johnson	Graduate	Mathematics	Mayor of East York, Ontario	[80]
Rupi Kaur	Undergraduate	English	Poet, illustrator, and author; best known for her debut book, Milk and Honey	[81]
Humayun Akhtar Khan	Undergraduate	Business mathematics	Commerce Minister of Pakistan	[82]
Arounna Khounnoraj	Graduate	Fine arts	Multi-disciplinary artist, teacher, author and co-founder of Bookhou	[83]
Don Knight	Undergraduate	Accounting	Former member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario	[84]
Tony Knowles	Graduate	Physical chemistry	President of the British Columbia Institute of Technology	[85]
Michelle Lam	Graduate/undergraduate	Accounting	Founder and CEO of True & Co., a direct-to-consumer digital intimate apparel brand, headquartered in San Francisco, California	[86]
Steven Lee	Undergraduate	Science	Founder of Visibly/Opternative, CEO of VisionPros	[87]
Mike Lazaridis	Undergraduate	Electrical engineering	Research in Motion founder	[88]
William Lawrence Kocay	Graduate	Mathematics	Professor of mathematics	[89]
Serge LeClerc	Undergraduate	Sociology	Co-author of Untwisted	[90]
William C. Leggett	Graduate	Zoology	Principal of Queen's University	[91]
Martha Lenio	Undergraduate	Mechanical Engineering	Commander of the NASA human performance study Hawaiʻi Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS)
Rasmus Lerdorf	Undergraduate	Systems Design Engineering	PHP creator	[92]
David X Li	Graduate	Actuarial science	Pioneer of Gaussian copula pricing models for collateralized debt obligations	[93]
Michael Lysko		—	Former Canadian Football League commissioner	[94]
Rob MacIsaac	Undergraduate	Economics	Former Mayor of Burlington, Ontario; President of Hamilton Health Sciences	[95]
Manas K. Mandal	Graduate	Biology	Director of the Defence Institute of Psychological Research	[96]
Scott Manning	Undergraduate	—	Stunt pilot and CFL veteran	[97]
Peter Masak	Undergraduate	Mechanical engineering	Glider pilot	[98]
Ingrid Mattson	Undergraduate	—	Islamic Society of North America president	[99]
Konris Maynard	Undergraduate	—	Winner of the Saint Kitts and Nevis National Calypso Show	[100]
E. J. McGuire	Graduate	Psychology	Former director of the NHL Central Scouting Services
David I. McKay	Undergraduate	Mathematics	Current President & CEO of Royal Bank of Canada	[101]
Peter McLaren	Undergraduate	English literature	Critical pedagogy	[102]
Nenad Medić	Undergraduate	—	Professional poker player	[103]
Stella Meghie	Undergraduate	—	Film director and screenwriter	[104]
James G. Mitchell	Undergraduate	Computer science	Computer scientist	[105]
Parker Mitchell	Undergraduate	—	Engineers Without Borders co-founder	[106]
Faron Moller	Graduate	Computer science	Computer scientist	[107]
David Morrell	Undergraduate	Arts	Novelist for First Blood and the creator of the character John Rambo.; the book was adapted into the 1982 film of the same name	[108]
Michele Mosca	Undergraduate	Computer science	Co-founder of the IQC and the PITP	[109]
Heather Moyse	Undergraduate	Kinesiology	Two-time Olympic gold medalist in bobsleigh; represented Canada's national rugby team at both the 2006 and 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup	[110]
Walt Neubrand	Undergraduate	—	Keeper of the Stanley Cup	[111]
Kevin O'Leary	Undergraduate	Environmental studies	Canadian businessman, author, politician, and television personality	[112]
Paul van Oorschot	Graduate	Cryptography	Carleton University professor	[113]
Chamath Palihapitiya	Undergraduate	Electrical engineering	Venture capitalist, engineer, SPAC sponsor and the founder and CEO of Social Capital	[114][115]
Steve Paul-Ambrose	Undergraduate	Science and Business	Poker player	[116][117]
Cole Pearn	Graduate	Mechanical engineering	NASCAR crew chief	[118]
Jean Poirier	Undergraduate	Environmental studies	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario	[119]
Yuri Quintana	Graduate	Engineering	Chief Division of Clinical Informatics, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School	[120]
Karen Redman	Undergraduate	Politics	Canadian Member of Parliament	[121]
William Reeves	Undergraduate	Entertainment	Academy Award recipient for Toy Story	[122]
John Reimer	Undergraduate	Education	Member of Parliament	[123]
Neil Robertson	Graduate	Mathematics	Professor at the Ohio State University	[124]
Robert Rosehart	Graduate	Engineering	President of Wilfrid Laurier University	[125]
George Roter	Undergraduate	Engineering	Co-CEO of Engineers Without Borders (Canada)	[126]
Bimal Kumar Roy	Graduate	Mathematics	Cryptologist	[127]
Sandra Sabatini	Graduate	English literature	Writer	[128]
Khaled Al Sabawi	Undergraduate	Computer science	Canadian entrepreneur; named one of the "World's Top Energy Entrepreneurs" by Global Post in 2010	[129]
Reihaneh Safavi-Naini	Graduate	Cryptography	University of Wollongong professor	[130]
George Samis	Graduate	Political science	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario	[131]
Liz Sandals	Graduate	Mathematics	Member of Ontario Parliament	[132]
Prem Saran Satsangi	Graduate	Electrical engineering	Spiritual leader of Radhasoami faith, Dayalbagh, chairman (ACE), Dayalbagh Educational Institute, ex-vice-chancellor of Dayalbagh Educational Institute, dean (academics) at IIT Delhi, system scientist, physicist	[133][134][135]
Jonathan Schaeffer	Graduate	Researcher	Professor at the University of Alberta	[136]
Beckie Scott	Undergraduate	English	Olympic gold medalist, the first Canadian and first North American woman to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing; Officer of the Order of Canada and Chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency	[137]
Jonathan Seet	Undergraduate		Singer-songwriter; released albums Melatonin and Arousal Disasters	[138]
Hersh Shefrin	Graduate	Mathematics	Behavioral finance	[139]
Ron Sider	Undergraduate	Theology	Founder of Evangelicals for Social Action	[140]
Bruce Smith	Undergraduate	Arts	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario	[141]
James K. A. Smith	Undergraduate	Philosophy	Associate professor of philosophy at Calvin College	[142]
Steve Smith	Undergraduate	Entertainment	Actor in The Red Green Show	[72]
Moustafa Aly Soliman	Graduate	Chemical Engineering	Pioneered the use of sulfur compounds in thermochemical cycles for hydrogen production and the use of nano-palladium to catalyze partial oxidation of ethane to acetic acid	[143]
Kevin Strain	Graduate/undergraduate	Accounting	President & CEO of Sun Life Financial	[144]
Thomas Strothotte	Graduate	Computer science	Rector of the University of Rostock	[145]
John Sullivan	Undergraduate	—	Canadian Football League player	[146]
Vahid Tarokh	Graduate	Engineering	Professor at Harvard University	[147]
Andrew Telegdi	Undergraduate	Politics	Canadian Member of Parliament	[121]
Brad Templeton	Undergraduate	Software	Software engineer and entrepreneur	[148]
Disguised Toast	Undergraduate	Computer Science/Mathematics	Gamer, influencer	[149]
Carsten Thomassen	Graduate	Mathematics	Professor of graph theory at the Technical University of Denmark	[150]
Susan Tighe	Graduate	Civil engineering	Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Pavement and Infrastructure Management
Claire J. Tomlin	Undergraduate	Science	Researcher	[55]
Eric Veach	Undergraduate	Computer Science	Computer Graphics	[151]
Douglas N. Walton	Undergraduate	Arts	Author on argumentation, logical fallacies, and informal logic	[152]
Judy Wasylycia-Leis	Undergraduate	Political science	Manitoba cabinet minister	[153]
Elizabeth Weir	Undergraduate	Political science	Leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party	[154]
David A. Weitz	Undergraduate	Physics	Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics & Applied Physics and professor of Systems Biology at Harvard University and director of the Harvard Materials Research Science & Engineering Center
Chris Williams	Undergraduate	Fine arts	Animator, film director, screenwriter, and voice actor	[155]
Jeff Wincott	Undergraduate	Kinesiology	Actor and athlete	[156]
Elizabeth Witmer	Graduate	Politics	Member of Ontario provincial parliament	[157]
Alexander Wong	Graduate/undergraduate	Computer Science	Scientist	[158]
Bob Wong	Undergraduate	Science	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario	[159]
Ardeth Wood	Graduate	Philosophy	Died in a forcible drowning; the two-year search for her killer was one of the largest manhunts in Canada	[160]
Steven Woods	Graduate/undergraduate	Mathematics	Founder of Quack.com	[161]
John Wynne	Undergraduate	Sports	Ice hockey defenceman	[162]
Tim Wynne-Jones	Undergraduate	Literature	Author of children's literature	[163]
Fangjin Yang	Undergraduate	Electrical engineering	Co-founder and CEO of Imply; co-creator of Druid	[164]
Catalina Yue	Undergraduate	Arts	Miss Universe Canada	[165]
Matei Zaharia	Undergraduate	Computer science	Co-founder and CTO of Databricks, creator of Apache Spark, and co-creator of Apache Mesos	[166]

Faculty

Mark Tilden, robotics researcher

Name	Relationship	Discipline	Known for	Notes
Gordon Agnew	Professor	Cryptography	Professor	[167]
George Alfred Barnard	Lecturer	Mathematics	Statistics and quality control	[168]
Walter Benz	Professor	Mathematics	Geometer	[169]
Vijay Bhargava	Professor	Electrical engineering	Professor at the University of British Columbia	[170]
Jonathan Borwein	Researcher	Mathematics	Mathematics researcher	[171]
Phelim Boyle	Chairman	—	J Page R Wadsworth chairman at the University of Waterloo	[172]
Tim Bray	Manager	—	Software developer and entrepreneur	[173]
Thomas Brzustowski	Professor	Mechanical engineering	Engineer, academic, and civil servant	[174]
Arthur Carty	Professor	Chemistry	National Science Advisor to the Government of Canada	[175]
Ken Coates	Dean	History	Dean of the Faculty of Arts	[176]
C. B. Collins	Professor	Mathematics	Professor at the University of Texas at Dallas	[177]
Gordon Cormack	Professor	Computer science	Dynamic Markov Compression co-creator	[178]
David G. Cory	Professor	Chemistry	Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Information Processing	[179]
Douglas E. Cowan	Professor	Religious studies	Professor at the University of Waterloo	[180]
Purdy Crawford	Governor	—	Governor of the University of Waterloo	[181]
Paul H. Cress	Lecturer	Computer science	WATFIV creator	[182]
Kenneth Davidson	Professor	Mathematics	Fields Institute director	[183]
Jon Dellandrea	Professor	Literature	Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Oxford	[184]
Jack Edmonds	Professor	Mathematics	Mathematician	[185]
Mohamed Elmasry	Professor	Engineering	Writer for The Globe and Mail	[186]
John R. English	Professor	Politics	Liberal Member of Parliament for Kitchener	[187]
Carla Fehr	Professor	Philosophy
Eugene Forsey	Professor	History	Member of the Canadian Senate	[188]
Bertram Fraser-Reid	Professor	Chemistry	2007 Musgrave gold medal winner from the Institute of Jamaica	[189]
Keith Geddes	Professor	Mathematics	Maple co-creator	[190]
Ian Goldberg	Professor	Cryptography	Radialpoint chief scientist	[191]
Ian Goulden	Dean	Mathematics	Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics	[192]
Art Green	Professor	Arts	Professor at the University of Waterloo	[193]
Richard Gwyn	Chancellor	—	Chancellor of St. Jerome's University at the University of Waterloo	[194]
Peter L. Hammer	Professor	Mathematics	Operations research and applied discrete mathematics	[195]
Hiroshi Haruki	Professor	Mathematics	Mathematician	[196]
Geraldine Heaney	Coach	—	Head coach for the University of Waterloo women's hockey team	[197]
Ric Holt	Professor	Computer science	Turing creator	[198]
Thomas Homer-Dixon	Professor	Environmental studies	Professor at the University of Waterloo	[199]
Harold Horwood	Writer	—	Novelist and non-fiction writer	[200]
David M. Jackson	Professor	Mathematics	Professor of combinatorics and optimization	[201]
James Jupp	Professor	Political science	Political scientist and author	[202]
James J. Kay	Associate professor	Ecology	Associate professor of environment and research studies	[203]
Bryce Kendrick	Assistant professor	Biology	Assistant professor at the University of Waterloo	[204]
Murray S. Klamkin	Professor	Mathematics	Mathematician	[205]
Tuffy Knight	Coach	—	Football coach at the University of Waterloo	[206]
Neal Koblitz	Professor	Cryptography	Professor at the University of Washington	[207]
Maurice Kugler	Professor	Anthropology	Social anthropology	[208]
Ziva Kunda	Professor	Arts	Psychologist	[209]
Anita Layton	Professor	Applied Mathematics	Researcher and professor	[210]
Anthony James Leggett	Researcher	Physics	Physics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign	[211]
Melvin J. Lerner	Professor	Psychology	Just-world phenomenon	-
Robert J. LeRoy	Professor	Chemistry	Chemist	[212]
Kenneth D. Mackenzie	Professor	Mathematics	Author of Organizational Hologram	[213]
Lorenzo Magnani	Researcher	Philosophy	Philosopher	[214]
Charles Malik	Lecturer	Philosophy	Diplomat	[215]
Lee Maracle	Professor	Canadian culture	First Nations poet and author	[216]
Fotini Markopoulou-Kalamara	Professor	Physics	Theoretical physicist	[217]
Alfred Menezes	Professor	Cryptography	Certicom research associate, MQV co-inventor	[218]
Wendy Mitchinson	Chairman	History	Canada Research Chair in gender history and medicine history	[219]
John Moffat	Professor	Physics	Professor emeritus at the University of Toronto	[220]
Bruce Muirhead	Professor	Arts	Historian	[221]
Robert Mundell	Chairman	Economics	Nobel laureate in economics (1999), known for the Mundell–Fleming model. Was the Chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Waterloo, 1972–1974	[222]
Barton Myers	Professor	Architecture	President of Barton Myers Associates	[223]
Robert Myers	Professor	Physics	Theoretical physicist, Royal Society of Canada Fellow	[224]
Jan Narveson	Professor	Arts	Philosopher	[225]
Crispin Nash-Williams	Professor	Combinatorics	Mathematician	[226]
Brian Orend	Professor	Arts	Philosopher	[227]
Josef Paldus	Professor	Mathematics	Professor of mathematics at the University of Waterloo	[228]
Joe Paopao	Coach	—	Offensive coordinator for the Waterloo Warriors	[229]
François Paré	Chairman	French literature	Chair of French Studies	[230]
Raj Pathria	Professor (retired)	Physics	Distinguished Professor Emeritus	[231]
William Richard Peltier	Professor	Earth sciences	Physics professor at the University of Toronto	[232]
Vladimir Platonov	Professor	Mathematics	Professor of mathematics	[233]
Victor Hugo Quintana	Professor (retired)	Engineering	Distinguished Professor Emeritus	[234]
Ronald C. Read	Professor	Mathematics	Professor of mathematics at the University of Waterloo	[235]
A. James Reimer	Professor	Theology	Professor at Conrad Grebel University College at UW	[236]
Giacinto Scoles	Professor	Chemistry	Molecular beam methods for studying weak van der Waals forces	[237]
Adel Sedra	Dean	Engineering	Dean of the University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering	[238]
Jeffrey Shallit	Professor	Computer science	Professor	[239]
Gordon Slethaug	Professor	English	Professor of English at the University of Southern Denmark	[240]
Lee Smolin	Professor	Physics	Theoretical physicist	[241]
Paul G. Socken	Professor	Jewish studies	Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo	[242]
Doug Stinson	Professor	Mathematics	Member of Centre for Applied Cryptographic Research	[243]
Donna Strickland	Professor	Physics	Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, together with Gérard Mourou, for the practical implementation of chirped pulse amplification	[244]
John Stubbs	Professor	History	President of Trent University and Simon Fraser University	[245]
Paul Thagard	Professor	Arts	Philosopher and cognitive scientist	[246]
Robert Tibshirani	Undergraduate	Mathematics	Stanford professor and fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Mark Tilden	Professor	—	Robotics researcher	[247]
Frank Tompa	Professor	Computer Science	Database researcher	[248]
W. T. Tutte	Professor	Mathematics	World War II code breaker and founder of the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization at the University of Waterloo
Robert Jan van Pelt	Professor	History	Architectural historian	[249]
Scott Vanstone	Professor	Cryptography	Certicom founder, MQV co-inventor	[250]
Sally Weaver	Professor	Anthropology	Chair of Anthropology	[251]
Paul S. Wesson	Professor	Physics	Professor of physics at the University of Waterloo	[252]
Lynne Woolstencroft	Professor	Political science	Former mayor of Waterloo, Ontario	[253]
Douglas T. Wright	Professor	Civil engineering	Civil engineer, UW President emeritus	[254]
Karen Yeats	Professor/undergraduate	Mathematics	Mathematical physicist
Mark Zanna	Professor	Arts	Social psychologist	[255]
Anne Zeller	Professor	Anthropology	Chair of Anthropology	[251]

Administration

Chancellors

Dana Porter, the university's first chancellor

#	Name	Term	References
1	Dana Porter	1960–1966	[256]
2	Ira G. Needles	1966–1975	[257]
3	Carl Arthur Pollock	1975–1978	[258]
4	Josef Kates	1979–1985	[259]
5	J. Page Wadsworth	1985–1991	[260]
6	Sylvia Ostry	1991–1997	[261]
7	Val O'Donovan	1997–2003	[262]
8	Mike Lazaridis	2003–2009	[88]
9	Prem Watsa	2009–2014	[263]
10	Tom Jenkins	2014–2018	[264]
11	Dominic Barton	2018–2024	[265]
12	Jagdeep Singh Bachher	2024–present	[266]

Presidents

#	Name	Term	Note	References
1	Gerry Hagey	July 1, 1957 – January 31, 1969		[267]
	Howard Petch	February 1, 1969 – June 30, 1970	President pro tem	[267]
2	Burt Matthews	July 1, 1970 – June 30, 1981		[267]
3	Douglas T. Wright	July 1, 1981 – April 14, 1993		[267]
4	James Downey	April 15, 1993 – May 31, 1999		[267]
5	David Lloyd Johnston	June 1, 1999 – September 30, 2010		[267]
6	Feridun Hamdullahpur	October 1, 2010 – June 30, 2021		[268]
7	Vivek Goel	July 1, 2021 – present	Current President	[269]