News archive - 2020

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

ChE Buddy Program helps first-year students find success

When faced with a new challenge, it never hurts to call a friend for advice. But, as many first-year students discover, it can be difficult to find someone who can relate. Fortunately, this year’s new chemical engineering students have exactly that – an experienced buddy to steer them in the right direction.

Friday, November 13, 2020

NTU ranks UWaterloo ChE number one in Canada, again

The University of Waterloo’s Department of Chemical Engineering ranks first in Canada in the latest National Taiwan University Ranking, which measures universities’ research output and impact.

This is the eighth consecutive year in which our department has been ranked first among all of the chemical engineering departments in Canada, an honour it has held for 9 of the 11 years that NTU has ranked the top 300 universities in 10 subjects.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Aiping Yu awarded NSERC’s Steacie Memorial Fellowship

The Department of Chemical Engineering’s Aiping Yu has been awarded a prestigious 2020 E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship.

Each year, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) recognizes six highly promising early-stage researchers in the natural sciences and engineering with an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, in recognition of their efforts and to enhance their research capacity so that they can become leaders in their field and inspire others.

Friday, November 6, 2020

Professor Tam awarded $800,000 in support for COVID project

Professor Michael Tam has been awarded $800,000 in federal funding to develop compostable personal protective equipment (PPE) and antimicrobial coatings to help fight COVID-19.

He hopes to produce face masks and other PPE from natural rather than synthetic materials, and develop coatings and sprays to protect PPE and high-touch surfaces from contamination by the virus.

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Remembering Ken O’Driscoll, department chair and inspirational professor

Ken O'Driscoll working in the Polymer Synthesis Lab, in the early eighties.

Professor Emeritus Ken O’Driscoll passed away on August 4, 2020, at the age of 89.

O’Driscoll was an internationally respected polymer science researcher, a talented teacher, and a kind and inspirational mentor who worked in the Department of Chemical Engineering between 1970 and 1992. His research in polymerization kinetics and polymer synthesis and characterization influenced many products we know and still use today, including hydrophilic contact lenses (also known as ‘soft contact lenses’), which he developed in 1971.