News

Fourth-year student Keiara Raitt grew up in a hockey family, hitting the ice for the first time at the age of four. Now, seventeen years later, she not only skates with the precision of a seasoned athlete but also navigates the rigorous demands of an architectural engineering program at the University of Waterloo.

This April, the @waterloosteelbridge team represented Canada in the American Society of Civil Engineers Competition in Troy, NY. Amidst fierce competition the team constructed a bridge that would go over a river in just 25.5 minutes, all while adhering to strict guidelines and problem statement.

The team excelled this year and won the following awards:

2nd in Cost Estimation
2nd in Aesthetics
3rd in Stiffness
3rd in Structural Efficiency

They are now set on the upcoming competition in Quebec City from May 8-12, where they aim to overcome last year’s 4th place finish and shoot for a spot on the podium. 💪🏆

Congratulations & we wish you the best of luck in May!

Congratulations to the winning Capstone teams!!!

Congratulations to A5 - Exquisite Engineers - Joeseph Jiang, Julia Jean, Sarena Zhang, and Hannah Gao - on winning the MTE Capstone Design Symposium Award valued at $1000. Their project is a proposed building on the main Waterloo campus (Engineering 8) for the Architecture and Architectural Engineering programs.

Congratulations also to the top teams in each program for winning the Sustainable Development Award. Each team was awarded $500.

ENVE/GEOE Winners - Floatovoltaic Pioneers - Antonia Crass, Kiridan Munro, Frances Hallen, Kathleen Devenny

AE Winners - DesignED Studios - Ashley Juraschka, Gina Shivani Singh, Joanna Rywak, Ralph Snabian

Civil Winners - Envolved Design - Naomie Cecyl Seh Abomo, Paige Ackerman, Garnet Zhao, Stanley Lee

We had 58 teams participating (19 AE, 12 ENVE, 3 GEO, 24 CIVE), 33 judges, and 7 @mte_consultants. Thank you to everyone who helped support this event & to those who stopped by!

That's a wrap on the Civil and Environmental Engineering Capstone Symposium 2024!

We had 58 teams across 4 programs participating in the event and had lots of people stopping by to ask questions. Congratulations to the 4B students on finishing these projects after putting in so much hard work and dedication. Your efforts in your posters & presentations not go unnoticed and the CEE team wishes you all the best.

Thank you to everyone who supported this event - faculty, staff, students, industry partners, and MTE Consultants. We could not have done this without you!

CEE & Engineering Outreach's Green Office Team's came together over the past couple months to collect clothing items for our first ever FREE STORE! This event took place March 5th at 11:30am and we had a crowd by 11:15am. It was so nice to see everyone come by to find new treasures for their closet.

We wanted to reduce the impact of the fast fashion industry while giving our students the opportunity to save money as well. A win win situation!

Thank you to everyone who donated, supported, and shopped at our free store.

The Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race (GNCTR) is the largest and longest running engineering student competition in Canada.  400 engineering students from 20 institutions are required to design and construct a toboggan with concrete running surface(s), a roll cage, and mechanical steering and braking systems that combine to safely glide the toboggans down a steep snow-covered hill.

This year, the competition was hosted in St. John’s, NL from Feb 7th to 11th, which marks the 50th anniversary of the competition and Waterloo’s 40th year competing! 17 Waterloo engineers travelled to race down the hill in their golf-themed “Tee-Bog” and took home the Sustainability Award, as well as scoring highly in multiple Civil-focused categories!
 

AE 200 & 208 project facade taught by Professor Amy Li and Professor Basheer Algohi!

For this project, students were tasked with a small-scale field experiment that explored the connection between thermal dynamics and building enclosure design. They had to keep in mind window-to-wall ratio (WWR), cladding systems, shading devices, and building energy performance.

These students designed and created a south-facing facade for an 'apartment' that minimizes the heating demand and has a comfortable temperature inside.

Shoutout to the wonderful tech team who helped students create these amazing facades!! CEE is wishing these students the best of luck keeping their apartments nice and cozy!

Congratulations to Matthew, Nathan, and Alan on winning 1st place AND Best Design in the 2024 Expand Your Empire (EYE) competition!!!

On Wednesday December 6th, MTE & Faculty judges evaluated the top 6 presentations from ENVE and GEOE student design teams.

A few weeks ago, MASc student, Thiruni Thirimanne presented at the Latornell Convservation Symposium. Take a look at how amazing this is!!!

Title: Assessing Erosion Risk in Urban Watersheds: A Stream Power-Based Approach with SPINpy 1

Abstract: Managing the increasing erosion risk in urban watersheds and mitigating its adverse effects on infrastructure and river systems necessitates a watershed-scale approach. Stream power, or the rate of energy expenditure of flowing water per unit length, is related to river erosion, channel instability and morphologic change.

The Stream Power Index for Networks (SPIN), a Geographical Information System (GIS)-based toolbox, is valuable for assessing the potential impact of land use changes on river networks. By leveraging straightforward inputs, SPIN computes total and specific stream power (stream power per channel width) across river networks, utilizing digital elevation models (DEM), land-use data, and HEC-RAS information. This versatile tool currently aids decision-making processes for conservation authorities and municipalities in Ontario, where it has been integrated into the Credit Valley Conservation's Risk and Return on Investment Tool (RROIT) for estimating damage costs due to erosion. The latest iteration, SPINpy 1, brings refinements that enhance processing speed and expand the tool's capabilities.
 
Preliminary case studies in Southern Ontario employing SPINpy 1 have yielded promising results. This poster aims to 1) outline how SPINpy 1 calculates stream power metrics at the watershed scale, 2) provide insights into recent enhancements and anticipated future capabilities, and 3) present results from an urban river within the Greater Toronto Area. 

Incredible work, Thiruni!!!