List of University of Waterloo people

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. It has grown into an institution of more than 42,000 students, faculty, and staff. 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, and to have the largest cooperative education program in the world. 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".

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.

Alumni and faculty

Fields with a "—" have unknown values.

Alumni

Name	Degree	Discipline	Known for
V. K. Aatre	Graduate	Electrical engineering	Scientist and former head of the Defence Research and Development Organisation
Michael H. Albert	Undergraduate	Mathematics	Rhodes Scholar, associate professor at University of Otago
Celeste Anderson	Undergraduate	Computer Science	King of the Nerds winner, competitive gamer
Gordon Stewart Anderson	Undergraduate	—	Writer
Mohammad H. Ansari	Graduate	Physics	Fundamental quantum theory research
Andy Anstett	Graduate	Politics	Ministry of Municipal Affairs
Paul Antrobus	Graduate	Psychology	Principal at Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada (India) and Psychology Professor at University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan (Canada)
Omer Arbel	Undergraduate	Environmental studies	Designer, sculptor, creative director of Bocci
Karen Autio	Undergraduate	Mathematics and computer science	Writer of children's fiction
Calvin Ayre	Undergraduate	Science and Business	Bodog founder
Ricardo Baeza-Yates	Graduate	Computer science	Director of Yahoo! Research labs
Bill Ballinger	Undergraduate	Political science	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Lisa Feldman Barrett	Graduate	Psychology	Northeastern University professor
Romesh Batra	Graduate	Mechanical engineering	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University professor
Keith Beavers	Undergraduate	Kinesiology	Competed in swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Gordon Bell	Undergraduate	Computer science	QNX co-creator
David Berman	Undergraduate	Computer science	Fellow of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada
Peter Besler	Undergraduate	Chemistry	Investment banker
Art Binkowski	Undergraduate	Psychology	Heavyweight boxer
Don Boudria	Undergraduate	Politics	Canadian Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister
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
Mark Bourrie	Undergraduate	History	Winner of the RBC Taylor Prize
Gail Bowen	Graduate	English	Playwright and writer of mystery novels
Mike Bradley	Undergraduate	Athletics	Canadian Football League running back
Peter Braid	Undergraduate	International relations	Member of Parliament
Andrew Brandt	Undergraduate	Business	Former Canadian cabinet minister
Fiona Brinkman	Undergraduate	Biochemistry	Associate professor at Simon Fraser University
Alison Brooks	Undergraduate	Architecture	Stirling Prize Award-winning Architect
Edward Burger	Graduate	Mathematics	Professor at Williams College
Amanda Burk	Undergraduate	Fine Arts	Artist, associate professor at Nipissing University
Vitalik Buterin	Dropout	Computer science	Co-founder of Ethereum, co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine
Wayne Cao	Undergraduate	Computer science	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Colin Carrie	Undergraduate	Politics	Member of Parliament
Jeromy Carriere	Undergraduate	Computer science	Computer architect
Bardish Chagger	Undergraduate	Science	Member of Parliament
David Cheriton	Graduate	Mathematics	Stanford University professor and Granite Systems co-founder
Václav Chvátal	Graduate	Mathematics	Canada Research Chair in Combinatorial Optimization and former professor at McGill and Stanford
Ian Clark	Graduate	Earth science	Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa
George Elliott Clarke	Undergraduate	Entertainment	Poet and playwright; Governor General's Award for poetry recipient
Rod Coutts	Undergraduate	Electrical Engineering	Founder of Teklogix; namesake of the Rod Coutts Engineering Lecture Building at University of Waterloo
Clifford Cunningham	Undergraduate	Physics & Classical studies	Astronomer
Julie E. Czerneda	Undergraduate	Literature	Science fiction and fantasy author
Heather Dale	Undergraduate	Entertainment	Celtic singer
Liane Davey	Graduate	Industrial/Organizational Psychology	Leadership consultant, public speaker, and New York Times bestselling author
Erik Demaine	Graduate	Computer science	Youngest professor ever at MIT
Dan Dodge	Undergraduate	Computer science	QNX co-creator
Andrew Drummond	Undergraduate	Arts	Frances Hodgkins Fellow
Richard Ducharme	Undergraduate	Civil engineering	General Manager of Transportation for Edmonton
Tom Duff	Undergraduate	Computer science	Computer scientist
Garfield Dunlop	Undergraduate	Politics	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Fred Eisenberger	Undergraduate	—	Politician
Jon Evans	Undergraduate	Engineering	Arthur Ellis Awards winner
Anne Fleming	Undergraduate	English	Fiction writer
Joe Fontana	Undergraduate	Chemistry	Member of Parliament
John Friedlander	Graduate	Mathematics	Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and American Mathematical Society and winner of the CRM-Fields-PIMS prize
Curwin Friesen	Undergraduate	Economics	Chief executive officer of Friesens
James Alan Gardner	Graduate	Mathematics	Science fiction author
J. Alan George	Graduate	Computer science	Dean of the University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics
Garth A. Gibson	Undergraduate	Computer Science	Computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University
Brad Goddard	Undergraduate	Theatre	Actor
W. G. Godfrey	Graduate	Canadian history	Canadian historian
Gaston Gonnet	Graduate	Computer science	Computer scientist and entrepreneur
Gary Goodyear	Undergraduate	Politics	Canadian Member of Parliament
Rick Green	Undergraduate	Entertainment	Comedian and member of The Frantics
Chris Hadfield	Graduate	Mechanical engineering	Astronaut
Fariborz Haghighat	Graduate	System Design Engineering	Professor at the Concordia University
Ann Hansen	Undergraduate	—	Urban guerrilla
Dianne Haskett	Undergraduate	Arts	Mayor of London, Ontario
Deen Hergott	Undergraduate	—	Chess International Master
Cyd Ho	Undergraduate	Politics	Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Glenn Howard	Undergraduate	Environmental studies	Three-time World Curling Champion
Kimmo Innanen	Graduate	Mathematics	Astronomer and professor
David Johnson	Graduate	Mathematics	Mayor of East York, Ontario
Rupi Kaur	Undergraduate	English	Poet, illustrator, and author; best known for her debut book, Milk and Honey
Humayun Akhtar Khan	Undergraduate	Business mathematics	Commerce Minister of Pakistan
Arounna Khounnoraj	Graduate	Fine arts	Multi-disciplinary artist, teacher, author and co-founder of Bookhou
Don Knight	Undergraduate	Accounting	Former member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Tony Knowles	Graduate	Physical chemistry	President of the British Columbia Institute of Technology
Michelle Lam	Graduate/undergraduate	Accounting	Founder and CEO of True & Co., a direct-to-consumer digital intimate apparel brand, headquartered in San Francisco, California
Mike Lazaridis	Undergraduate	Electrical engineering	Research in Motion founder
William Lawrence Kocay	Graduate	Mathematics	Professor of mathematics
Serge LeClerc	Undergraduate	Sociology	Co-author of Untwisted
William C. Leggett	Graduate	Zoology	Principal of Queen's University
Martha Lenio	Undergraduate	Mechanical Engineering	Commander of the NASA human performance study Hawai‘i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS)
Rasmus Lerdorf	Undergraduate	Systems Design Engineering	PHP creator
David X Li	Graduate	Actuarial science	Pioneer of Gaussian copula pricing models for collateralized debt obligations
Michael Lysko		—	Former Canadian Football League commissioner
Rob MacIsaac	Undergraduate	Economics	Former Mayor of Burlington, Ontario; President of Hamilton Health Sciences
Manas K. Mandal	Graduate	Biology	Director of the Defence Institute of Psychological Research
Scott Manning	Undergraduate	—	Stunt pilot and CFL veteran
Peter Masak	Undergraduate	Mechanical engineering	Glider pilot
Ingrid Mattson	Undergraduate	—	Islamic Society of North America president
Konris Maynard	Undergraduate	—	Winner of the Saint Kitts and Nevis National Calypso Show
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
Peter McLaren	Undergraduate	English literature	Critical pedagogy
Nenad Medić	Undergraduate	—	Professional poker player
Stella Meghie	Undergraduate	—	Film director and screenwriter
James G. Mitchell	Undergraduate	Computer science	Computer scientist
Parker Mitchell	Undergraduate	—	Engineers Without Borders co-founder
Faron Moller	Graduate	Computer science	Computer scientist
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
Michele Mosca	Undergraduate	Computer science	Co-founder of the IQC and the PITP
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
Walt Neubrand	Undergraduate	—	Keeper of the Stanley Cup
Kevin O'Leary	Undergraduate	Environmental studies	Canadian businessman, author, politician, and television personality
Paul van Oorschot	Graduate	Cryptography	Carleton University professor
Chamath Palihapitiya	Undergraduate	Electrical engineering	Venture capitalist, engineer, SPAC sponsor and the founder and CEO of Social Capital
Steve Paul-Ambrose	Undergraduate	Science and Business	Poker player
Cole Pearn	Graduate	Mechanical engineering	NASCAR crew chief
Jean Poirier	Undergraduate	Environmental studies	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Yuri Quintana	Graduate	Engineering	Chief Division of Clinical Informatics, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School
Karen Redman	Undergraduate	Politics	Canadian Member of Parliament
William Reeves	Undergraduate	Entertainment	Academy Award recipient for Toy Story
John Reimer	Undergraduate	Education	Member of Parliament
Neil Robertson	Graduate	Mathematics	Professor at the Ohio State University
Robert Rosehart	Graduate	Engineering	President of Wilfrid Laurier University
George Roter	Undergraduate	Engineering	Co-CEO of Engineers Without Borders (Canada)
Bimal Kumar Roy	Graduate	Mathematics	Cryptologist
Sandra Sabatini	Graduate	English literature	Writer
Khaled Al Sabawi	Undergraduate	Computer science	Canadian entrepreneur; named one of the "World's Top Energy Entrepreneurs" by Global Post in 2010
Reihaneh Safavi-Naini	Graduate	Cryptography	University of Wollongong professor
George Samis	Graduate	Political science	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Liz Sandals	Graduate	Mathematics	Member of Ontario Parliament
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
Jonathan Schaeffer	Graduate	Researcher	Professor at the University of Alberta
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
Jonathan Seet	Undergraduate		Singer-songwriter; released albums Melatonin and Arousal Disasters
Hersh Shefrin	Graduate	Mathematics	Behavioral finance
Ron Sider	Undergraduate	Theology	Founder of Evangelicals for Social Action
Bruce Smith	Undergraduate	Arts	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
James K. A. Smith	Undergraduate	Philosophy	Associate professor of philosophy at Calvin College
Steve Smith	Undergraduate	Entertainment	Actor in The Red Green Show
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
Kevin Strain	Graduate/undergraduate	Accounting	President & CEO of Sun Life Financial
Thomas Strothotte	Graduate	Computer science	Rector of the University of Rostock
John Sullivan	Undergraduate	—	Canadian Football League player
Vahid Tarokh	Graduate	Engineering	Professor at Harvard University
Andrew Telegdi	Undergraduate	Politics	Canadian Member of Parliament
Brad Templeton	Undergraduate	Software	Software engineer and entrepreneur
Disguised Toast	Graduate	Computer Science/Mathematics	Gamer, influencer
Carsten Thomassen	Graduate	Mathematics	Professor of graph theory at the Technical University of Denmark
Susan Tighe	Graduate	Civil engineering	Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Pavement and Infrastructure Management
Claire J. Tomlin	Undergraduate	Science	Researcher
Douglas N. Walton	Undergraduate	Arts	Author on argumentation, logical fallacies, and informal logic
Judy Wasylycia-Leis	Undergraduate	Political science	Manitoba cabinet minister
Elizabeth Weir	Undergraduate	Political science	Leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party
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
Jeff Wincott	Undergraduate	Kinesiology	Actor and athlete
Elizabeth Witmer	Graduate	Politics	Member of Ontario provincial parliament
Alexander Wong	Graduate/undergraduate	Computer Science	Scientist
Bob Wong	Undergraduate	Science	Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Ardeth Wood	Graduate	Philosophy	Died in a forcible drowning; the two-year search for her killer was one of the largest manhunts in Canada
Steven Woods	Graduate/undergraduate	Mathematics	Founder of Quack.com
John Wynne	Undergraduate	Sports	Ice hockey defenceman
Tim Wynne-Jones	Undergraduate	Literature	Author of children's literature
Fangjin Yang	Undergraduate	Electrical engineering	Co-founder and CEO of Imply; co-creator of Druid
Catalina Yue	Undergraduate	Arts	Miss Universe Canada
Matei Zaharia	Undergraduate	Computer science	Co-founder and CTO of Databricks, creator of Apache Spark, and co-creator of Apache Mesos

Faculty

Mark Tilden, robotics researcher

Name	Relationship	Discipline	Known for	Notes
Gordon Agnew	Professor	Cryptography	Professor
George Alfred Barnard	Lecturer	Mathematics	Statistics and quality control
Walter Benz	Professor	Mathematics	Geometer
Vijay Bhargava	Professor	Electrical engineering	Professor at the University of British Columbia
Jonathan Borwein	Researcher	Mathematics	Mathematics researcher
Phelim Boyle	Chairman	—	J Page R Wadsworth chairman at the University of Waterloo
Tim Bray	Manager	—	Software developer and entrepreneur
Thomas Brzustowski	Professor	Mechanical engineering	Engineer, academic, and civil servant
Arthur Carty	Professor	Chemistry	National Science Advisor to the Government of Canada
Ken Coates	Dean	History	Dean of the Faculty of Arts
C. B. Collins	Professor	Mathematics	Professor at the University of Texas at Dallas
Gordon Cormack	Professor	Computer science	Dynamic Markov Compression co-creator
David G. Cory	Professor	Chemistry	Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Information Processing
Douglas E. Cowan	Professor	Religious studies	Professor at the University of Waterloo
Purdy Crawford	Governor	—	Governor of the University of Waterloo
Paul H. Cress	Lecturer	Computer science	WATFIV creator
Kenneth Davidson	Professor	Mathematics	Fields Institute director
Jon Dellandrea	Professor	Literature	Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Oxford
Jack Edmonds	Professor	Mathematics	Mathematician
Mohamed Elmasry	Professor	Engineering	Writer for The Globe and Mail
John R. English	Professor	Politics	Liberal Member of Parliament for Kitchener
Carla Fehr	Professor	Philosophy
Eugene Forsey	Professor	History	Member of the Canadian Senate
Bertram Fraser-Reid	Professor	Chemistry	2007 Musgrave gold medal winner from the Institute of Jamaica
Keith Geddes	Professor	Mathematics	Maple co-creator
Ian Goldberg	Professor	Cryptography	Radialpoint chief scientist
Ian Goulden	Dean	Mathematics	Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics
Art Green	Professor	Arts	Professor at the University of Waterloo
Richard Gwyn	Chancellor	—	Chancellor of St. Jerome's University at the University of Waterloo
Peter L. Hammer	Professor	Mathematics	Operations research and applied discrete mathematics
Hiroshi Haruki	Professor	Mathematics	Mathematician
Geraldine Heaney	Coach	—	Head coach for the University of Waterloo women's hockey team
Ric Holt	Professor	Computer science	Turing creator
Thomas Homer-Dixon	Professor	Environmental studies	Professor at the University of Waterloo
Harold Horwood	Writer	—	Novelist and non-fiction writer
David M. Jackson	Professor	Mathematics	Professor of combinatorics and optimization
James Jupp	Professor	Political science	Political scientist and author
James J. Kay	Associate professor	Ecology	Associate professor of environment and research studies
Bryce Kendrick	Assistant professor	Biology	Assistant professor at the University of Waterloo
Murray S. Klamkin	Professor	Mathematics	Mathematician
Tuffy Knight	Coach	—	Football coach at the University of Waterloo
Neal Koblitz	Professor	Cryptography	Professor at the University of Washington
Maurice Kugler	Professor	Anthropology	Social anthropology
Ziva Kunda	Professor	Arts	Psychologist
Anita Layton	Professor	Applied Mathematics	Researcher and professor
Anthony James Leggett	Researcher	Physics	Physics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Melvin J. Lerner	Professor	Psychology	Just-world phenomenon	-
Robert J. LeRoy	Professor	Chemistry	Chemist
Kenneth D. Mackenzie	Professor	Mathematics	Author of Organizational Hologram
Lorenzo Magnani	Researcher	Philosophy	Philosopher
Charles Malik	Lecturer	Philosophy	Diplomat
Lee Maracle	Professor	Canadian culture	First Nations poet and author
Fotini Markopoulou-Kalamara	Professor	Physics	Theoretical physicist
Alfred Menezes	Professor	Cryptography	Certicom research associate, MQV co-inventor
Wendy Mitchinson	Chairman	History	Canada Research Chair in gender history and medicine history
John Moffat	Professor	Physics	Professor emeritus at the University of Toronto
Bruce Muirhead	Professor	Arts	Historian
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
Barton Myers	Professor	Architecture	President of Barton Myers Associates
Robert Myers	Professor	Physics	Theoretical physicist, Royal Society of Canada Fellow
Jan Narveson	Professor	Arts	Philosopher
Crispin Nash-Williams	Professor	Combinatorics	Mathematician
Brian Orend	Professor	Arts	Philosopher
Josef Paldus	Professor	Mathematics	Professor of mathematics at the University of Waterloo
Joe Paopao	Coach	—	Offensive coordinator for the Waterloo Warriors
François Paré	Chairman	French literature	Chair of French Studies
Raj Pathria	Professor (retired)	Physics	Distinguished Professor Emeritus
William Richard Peltier	Professor	Earth sciences	Physics professor at the University of Toronto
Vladimir Platonov	Professor	Mathematics	Professor of mathematics
Victor Hugo Quintana	Professor (retired)	Engineering	Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Ronald C. Read	Professor	Mathematics	Professor of mathematics at the University of Waterloo
A. James Reimer	Professor	Theology	Professor at Conrad Grebel University College at UW
Giacinto Scoles	Professor	Chemistry	Molecular beam methods for studying weak van der Waals forces
Adel Sedra	Dean	Engineering	Dean of the University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering
Jeffrey Shallit	Professor	Computer science	Professor
Gordon Slethaug	Professor	English	Professor of English at the University of Southern Denmark
Lee Smolin	Professor	Physics	Theoretical physicist
Paul G. Socken	Professor	Jewish studies	Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo
Doug Stinson	Professor	Mathematics	Member of Centre for Applied Cryptographic Research
Donna Strickland	Professor	Physics	Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, together with Gérard Mourou, for the practical implementation of chirped pulse amplification
John Stubbs	Professor	History	President of Trent University and Simon Fraser University
Paul Thagard	Professor	Arts	Philosopher and cognitive scientist
Robert Tibshirani	Undergraduate	Mathematics	Stanford professor and fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Mark Tilden	Professor	—	Robotics researcher
Frank Tompa	Professor	Computer Science	Database researcher
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
Scott Vanstone	Professor	Cryptography	Certicom founder, MQV co-inventor
Sally Weaver	Professor	Anthropology	Chair of Anthropology
Paul S. Wesson	Professor	Physics	Professor of physics at the University of Waterloo
Lynne Woolstencroft	Professor	Political science	Former mayor of Waterloo, Ontario
Douglas T. Wright	Professor	Civil engineering	Civil engineer, UW President emeritus
Mark Zanna	Professor	Arts	Social psychologist
Anne Zeller	Professor	Anthropology	Chair of Anthropology

Administration

Chancellors

Dana Porter, the university's first chancellor

#	Name	Term
1	Dana Porter	1960–1966
2	Ira G. Needles	1966–1975
3	Carl Arthur Pollock	1975–1978
4	Josef Kates	1979–1985
5	J. Page Wadsworth	1985–1991
6	Sylvia Ostry	1991–1997
7	Val O'Donovan	1997–2003
8	Mike Lazaridis	2003–2009
9	Prem Watsa	2009–2014
10	Tom Jenkins	2014–2018
11	Dominic Barton	2018–present

Presidents

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