A University of Waterloo professor has been recognized with a national award for her decades of dedication to graduate students.
Dr. Catherine Burns, a professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Human Factors in Healthcare Systems, has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 Dr. Suning Wang Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship, presented by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS). Burns was chosen from 17 nominations submitted across the country. She is the first person from the University of Waterloo to receive this award.
"[This recognition] still feels a little unreal to me," said Burns, also the Director of Waterloo's Advanced Interface Design Lab. "The key thing that makes it so special is that it starts with the nomination by your students. That they took that effort, when they are all so busy doing amazing things, and felt strongly about the nomination, is tremendously humbling."
This award caps a milestone year of recognition for her. Burns, who earned her own undergraduate degree in systems design engineering at Waterloo in 1992, was named the recipient of the University's own Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision earlier in 2026, a decade after winning the Faculty of Engineering's version of the award in 2016.
Students first
In 26 years at Waterloo, Burns has supervised 17 doctoral and 42 master's students, attracted more than $27 million in research funding and produced more than 330 publications; her graduates now hold senior roles at organizations including Google, IBM and Airbnb.
She achieved this while also holding some of Waterloo's biggest administrative positions: Founding Director of the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, which she grew into a research hub spanning six faculties; then Executive Director of Sponsored Research and Health Initiatives; then Associate Vice-President, Health Initiatives.
Through it all, Burns says her calendar has one fixed rule.
"I always schedule my students first, before booking other meetings," Burns said. "We are a university, and anytime our priority is not our students, it seems to me we are off track.
So [my philosophy is], put your students first and figure the rest out from there."
Coaching through the hard parts
When an acquisition suddenly wiped out the industry partnership her thesis depended on, PhD graduate Krizia Francisco recalled in her nomination letter that Burns made herself immediately available and reminded her that "...PhD journeys are far from linear." Within a month, Francisco had redirected her research work she later published as a peer-reviewed protocol.
It's this kind of moment that Burns points to when asked what makes three decades of mentorship worth it.
"The moments that stick with me are the small moments of transformation and reframing," Burns said. "The rejected paper that really had good, constructive reviews and went on to be published, the scary conference presentation that turned into a love of sharing their work at more conferences, the 'failed' study that didn't achieve significance but was informative in so many other ways. It's fun to coach and mentor as [my students] navigate those challenges."
The Dr. Suning Wang Award was established by CAGS in 2017 and renamed in 2020 for its inaugural recipient, the late Dr. Suning Wang of Queen's University. Burns will receive the award November 5, 2026, in Regina, Saskatchewan, at the CAGS 64th Annual Conference.
Learn more about Dr. Catherine Burns' Advanced Interface Design Lab.
