Faculty profile

Donald Cowan

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Distinguished Professor EmeritusCheriton School of Computer ScienceUniversity of Waterloo

Donald Cowan

Distinguished Professor Emeritus

Cheriton School of Computer Science

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Supervision signals

Emeritus professors are retired and rarely take new students.
7 publications in the last five years, latest in 2025.
Senior (last) author on 2 recent papers, a sign of leading a research group.
Principal investigator on 8 research grants (6 NSERC, 1 SSHRC, 1 ONTARIO), most recently in 2012.

These signals come from public records, including federal and provincial funding decisions. Ask the professor or the graduate program whether they are taking new students.

Academic metrics

Publications

292

Citations

Collaborators

Grants

Publications by year

Counts cover the publications linked to this profile. Citations and the h-index appear when the source records them.

Profiles and links

University Profile

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Signals and details

Research

Read how they describe their research on their University of Waterloo profile.

Latest papers

Assessing ML classification algorithms and NLP techniques for depression detection: An experimental case study.
PloS one · 2025 · senior author
Leveraging mHealth Technologies for Public Health.
JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024
Application of a mobile health data platform for public health surveillance: A case study in stress monitoring and prediction.
Digital health · 2024

All 11 publications

Latest funding

#CitiSciWater - Exploring the potential of scalable, user-centric citizen science platforms and tools to co-create actionable knowledge and transform water governance
SSHRC · 2019 · Co-investigator
$198,569
From subarctic Ontario, Canada, to the subtropics of New South Wales, Australia: the potential use of strategic environmental assessment to protect the core elements of Indigenous culture
SSHRC · 2016 · Co-investigator
$305,045
Decreasing the vulnerability of Subarctic and Arctic Aboriginal people to environmental change through an innovative decision-support tool
SSHRC · 2016 · Co-investigator
$198,523

All 21 grants and awards

11 publications.

Assessing ML classification algorithms and NLP techniques for depression detection: An experimental case study.

Lorenzoni G, Tavares C, Nascimento N, Alencar P, Cowan D

PloS one202515 citationsSenior authorOpen Access

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322299 PMID: 40435349

Leveraging mHealth Technologies for Public Health.

Velmovitsky PE, Kirolos M, Alencar P, Leatherdale S, Cowan D, Morita PP

JMIR public health and surveillance20245 citationsOpen Access

DOI: 10.2196/49719 PMID: 39265164

Application of a mobile health data platform for public health surveillance: A case study in stress monitoring and prediction.

Velmovitsky PE, Alencar P, Leatherdale ST, Cowan D, Morita PP

Digital health20244 citationsOpen Access

DOI: 10.1177/20552076241249931 PMID: 39281042

A framework for spatial-temporal cluster evolution representation and analysis based on graphs.

Portugal I, Alencar P, Cowan D

Scientific reports20244 citationsSenior authorOpen Access

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-72504-x PMID: 39333181

Can heart rate variability data from the Apple Watch electrocardiogram quantify stress?

Velmovitsky PE, Lotto M, Alencar P, Leatherdale ST, Cowan D, Morita PP

Frontiers in public health20236 citationsOpen Access

DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1178491 PMID: 37475772

A conceptual IoT-based early-warning architecture for remote monitoring of COVID-19 patients in wards and at home.

Paganelli AI, Velmovitsky PE, Miranda P, Branco A, Alencar P, Cowan D, Endler M, Morita PP

Internet of things (Amsterdam, Netherlands)2022109 citationsOpen Access

DOI: 10.1016/j.iot.2021.100399 PMID: 38620637

Using apple watch ECG data for heart rate variability monitoring and stress prediction: A pilot study.

Velmovitsky PE, Alencar P, Leatherdale ST, Cowan D, Morita PP

Frontiers in digital health202233 citationsOpen Access

DOI: 10.3389/fdgth.2022.1058826 PMID: 36569803

Convergence of Precision Medicine and Public Health Into Precision Public Health: Toward a Big Data Perspective.

Velmovitsky PE, Bevilacqua T, Alencar P, Cowan D, Morita PP

Frontiers in public health202184 citationsOpen Access

DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.561873 PMID: 33889555

A face recognition software framework based on principal component analysis.

Peng P, Portugal I, Alencar P, Cowan D

PloS one202129 citationsSenior authorOpen Access

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254965 PMID: 34293012

Knowledge reuse in software projects: Retrieving software development Q&A posts based on project task similarity.

Melo G, Oliveira T, Alencar P, Cowan D

PloS one20203 citationsSenior authorOpen Access

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243852 PMID: 33332398

#CitiSciWater - Exploring the potential of scalable, user-centric citizen science platforms and tools to co-create actionable knowledge and transform water governance

Co-investigatorSSHRC2019Partnership Development Grants

Principal investigators: Adamowski, Jan F.

Keywords: water governance; actionable knowledge co-creation; web based digital systems and tools; citizen science platforms and tools; decision making

$198,569

From subarctic Ontario, Canada, to the subtropics of New South Wales, Australia: the potential use of strategic environmental assessment to protect the core elements of Indigenous culture

Co-investigatorSSHRC2016Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Tsuji, Leonard J.S.

Keywords: Aboriginal peoples; subarctic Canada; subtropical Australia; cultural wellbeing; strategic environmental assessment; planning; innovative technology

$305,045

Decreasing the vulnerability of Subarctic and Arctic Aboriginal people to environmental change through an innovative decision-support tool

Co-investigatorSSHRC2016Partnership Development Grants

Principal investigators: Tsuji, Leonard J.S.

Keywords: Aboriginal people; environmental change; climate change; glacial isostatic adjustment; Subarctic and Arctic Canada; sea-level change; sea-level decision-support tool; Indigenous knowledge; information technology; vulnerability; adaptive capacity; planning

$198,523

Resource development in the Kamilaroi region of New South Wales, Australia: the potential use of the collaborative geomatics informatics tool

Co-investigatorSSHRC2012Connection Grants

Principal investigators: Tsuji, Leonard J.S.

Keywords: outreach; Aboriginals; Kamilaroi; resource development; digital media; collaborative geomatics informatics tool; New South Wales, Australia

$42,330

Dreamcatcher: a web-based/mobile information system for Aboriginal land management, consultation, and preservation of history, culture and traditional ecological knowledge

Principal investigatorSSHRC2012

Principal investigators: Cowan, Donald D.

Keywords: Aboriginal; history; culture; land use; planning; occupancy; resource management; duty to consult; Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation; social history; social history; political history; Canadian history; multi-media; interdisciplinary

$198,822

Youth outreach in the Mushkegowuk Territory of sub-Arctic Ontario, Canada: collaborative geomatics

Co-investigatorSSHRC2010Public Outreach Grants - Canadian Environmental Issues

Principal investigators: Tsuji, Leonard J.S.

Keywords: youth outreach; First Nations; environmental change; digital media; collaborative geomatics; Northern Ontario

$77,009

Land use planning and resource development at the community level in the Mushkegowuk territory: the use of traditional environmental knowledge - TEK and western science as complementary forms of knowledge

Co-investigatorSSHRC2010Partnership Development Grants

Principal investigators: Tsuji, Leonard J.S.

Keywords: First Nations; bill 191 far north initiative; Mushkegowuk territory; community-based land use plan; resource development; socio-economic benefits; collaborative geomatics; participatory research; traditional environmental knowledge

$258,620

Next Generation Web Approaches and Tools

Principal investigatorONTARIO2010Ontario Research Fund - Research Excellence: Research Excellence - Round 004

Principal investigators: Cowan, Donald

$2,096,538

An architecture, meta-model and easy-to-use toolkit for the creation of web-based geomatics information

Principal investigatorNSERC2009Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Principal investigators: Cowan, Donald

$448,500

Collaborative geomatics in remote First Nations communities: tracking environmental change and fostering continuous learning in the Mushkegowuk Territory

Co-investigatorSSHRC2009Public Outreach Grants - Canadian Environmental Issues

Principal investigators: McCarthy, Daniel

Keywords: collaborative geomatics; community-based monitoring of environmental change; community capacity; continuous learning

$86,935

From public funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998 with their latest competition results, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Genome Canada, the Canadian Space Agency, Canada Research Chairs, the Fonds de recherche du Québec, Ontario research funding, Michael Smith Health Research BC, the Canadian Cancer Society, Heart & Stroke and Brain Canada.

Profile data last refreshed on September 29, 2026 from the university directory, publication records and public research funding records.

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Donald Cowan

Research

Latest papers

Latest funding

Assessing ML classification algorithms and NLP techniques for depression detection: An experimental case study.

Leveraging mHealth Technologies for Public Health.

Application of a mobile health data platform for public health surveillance: A case study in stress monitoring and prediction.

A framework for spatial-temporal cluster evolution representation and analysis based on graphs.

Can heart rate variability data from the Apple Watch electrocardiogram quantify stress?

A conceptual IoT-based early-warning architecture for remote monitoring of COVID-19 patients in wards and at home.

Using apple watch ECG data for heart rate variability monitoring and stress prediction: A pilot study.

Convergence of Precision Medicine and Public Health Into Precision Public Health: Toward a Big Data Perspective.

A face recognition software framework based on principal component analysis.

Knowledge reuse in software projects: Retrieving software development Q&A posts based on project task similarity.

#CitiSciWater - Exploring the potential of scalable, user-centric citizen science platforms and tools to co-create actionable knowledge and transform water governance

From subarctic Ontario, Canada, to the subtropics of New South Wales, Australia: the potential use of strategic environmental assessment to protect the core elements of Indigenous culture

Decreasing the vulnerability of Subarctic and Arctic Aboriginal people to environmental change through an innovative decision-support tool

Resource development in the Kamilaroi region of New South Wales, Australia: the potential use of the collaborative geomatics informatics tool

Dreamcatcher: a web-based/mobile information system for Aboriginal land management, consultation, and preservation of history, culture and traditional ecological knowledge

Youth outreach in the Mushkegowuk Territory of sub-Arctic Ontario, Canada: collaborative geomatics

Land use planning and resource development at the community level in the Mushkegowuk territory: the use of traditional environmental knowledge - TEK and western science as complementary forms of knowledge

Next Generation Web Approaches and Tools

An architecture, meta-model and easy-to-use toolkit for the creation of web-based geomatics information

Collaborative geomatics in remote First Nations communities: tracking environmental change and fostering continuous learning in the Mushkegowuk Territory

Frequent collaborators

Paulo Alencar

Plinio Morita

Scott Leatherdale

Peng Peng