Heat waves and record-breaking temperatures did not hold these University of Waterloo students back from excelling in their academics.  

Thanks to funds from the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute (CPI), the following scholars earned a CPI Undergraduate Award in their respective courses for the Spring 2025 term: 

Privacy, Cryptography, Network and Data Security (CS 459) – Palaksha Drolia 

Data and Society (GBDA 303) – Min Htet Naing  

Software and Systems Security (CS 453) – Renee Wang       

This notable award recognizes the top performing scholar(s) in any course that has a significant cybersecurity and privacy component, and each recipient will receive $1,000 courtesy of CPI funds. 

Through this initiative, CPI hopes to nurture aspiring cybersecurity professionals and in doing so, help address the talent gap that persists in the field. If you are interested in supporting this award program in any future term or wish to engage with world leading talent, please contact us at ccpi@uwaterloo.ca or go to sponsorships. 

The awardees will be honoured and recognized at CPI’s 7th Annual Conference on October 28th, 2025, along with the Winter 2025 term winners, and Graduate Excellence Scholarship recipient. 

To view past recipients and review the eligibility details of CPI awards, including applicable Fall 2025 courses, visit CPI’s scholarships page.