News

A research group led by Professor Michael Tam has developed a new water-based pesticide delivery formulation that dramatically improves how pesticides stick to plant leaves even in wind and rain.

Early field trials conducted with an industrial partner in Singapore demonstrated the potential of the technology. Cabbage plots were seeded with insect pests and the water-based formulation outperformed conventional pesticide systems, delivering better pest control using less active ingredients.

Current pesticide delivery systems rely on chemicals and solvents to help pesticide droplets stay on plant leaves and spread, which can be harmful to the environment.

 Standard practice is crops are protected by pesticides via liquid sprays using nozzles, mist sprays or from airplanes as a result, pesticides do not always reach their intended target, bouncing off plant leaves, drifting into the air or washing into soil and waterways leading to economic loss for farmers and environmental contamination.

Professor Boxin Zhao has been elected as a Fellow by the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). CAE Fellows are nominated and elected by their peers in recognition of their outstanding achievements and lifelong contributions to the field of engineering.

“I’m honored to be elected as a CAE Fellow because this recognition goes beyond academia to engineering practice. I’m grateful that my work is acknowledged by engineers working in industry and across society,” says Zhao.

Zhao’s research centers on creating advanced functional materials aimed at addressing pressing industrial and environmental challenges, with a particular focus on understanding and engineering surface adhesion and interfacial interactions.

His research group has utilized polymer nanotechnology to create smart materials that interact with light, heat, and humidity, enabling novel applications in advanced manufacturing, including soft robotics and flexible electrical devices.

The Department of Chemical Engineering is proud to announce that Professor Milad Kamkar is one of the recipients of the 2026 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineering Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineering (SME).

This award recognizes early career engineers who have made exceptional contributions and accomplishments in the manufacturing industry.

“This award is deeply meaningful to me because my research group is focussed on fabricating advanced materials via novel manufacturing techniques. Manufacturing is the area where I hope my research will make a tangible real-life impact. Receiving this recognition from the most relevant society in the field affirms we are on the right track,” says Kamkar. “I was also humbled to be nominated by both my former supervisors, Professors Orlando Rojas and Uttandaraman Sundararaj.”

Kamkar’s group has developed several novel manufacturing techniques over the last several years. His research group has created the following novel manufacturing techniques:  droplet templating,  chaotic direct ink writing , Janus liquids/aerogels, liquid in liquid printing, and liquid streaming. In addition, his group also develops novel functional links for 3D printing.  

Professors Luis Ricardez-Sandoval and Pascal Poupart received $480K from the Bank of Montreal (BMO) and MITACS to design reinforcement learning tools for rare earth element (REE) recycling. The four-year interdisciplinary project between the Department of Chemical Engineering and Cheriton School of Computer Science will use reinforcement learning (RL) to design more efficient, sustainable recycling systems for REEs.

RREs are essential to global economies and used in a wide range of high-tech applications. They are used in the electronics, clean energy, aerospace, automotive, and defence industries to create products like cell phones, computers, batteries, MRI machines, jet craft, lasers, LEDs and more.

Canada is invested in being a global leader in critical‑mineral recycling and leveraging its resources to strengthen national security and promote economic growth. As demand for batteries, semiconductors, and clean‑energy technologies accelerates, Canada is looking beyond traditional mining.

“Eventually we’re going to run out of those mining resources, and we will need to recycle rare earth elements using advanced systems that can reduce waste, capital expenses and energy consumption,” says Ricardez-Sandoval, Director of the Chemical Process Optimization, Multiscale Modelling and Process Systems Group

Researchers at the University of Waterloo and industrial partner Center for Research on Environmental Microbiology (CREM Co Labs) have advanced research that uses bacteria to target cancer. The research group leveraged synthetic biology to prompt bacteria to “eat” tumors from the inside out to treat cancer. 

The idea began as PhD student Bahram Zargar’s dream to create a therapy that could attack cancer tumors from the inside. He studied under the supervision of Professors Brian Ingalls and Pu Chen. 

 The center of a cancer tumor is made of dead cells with no oxygen present. Clostridium sporogenes is a bacterium that can only grow in the absence of oxygen. These bacteria can grow in the dead, oxygen-free center of tumors and “eat” them from the inside.  

“C. sporogenes will form spores that will grow under "good" growth conditions. These conditions exist in the core of a solid tumour. The challenge is that these organisms die when they reach the outer part of the tumour where oxygen still exists and are unable to complete the job of getting rid of the tumor fully,” says Marc Aucoin a professor in the department of chemical engineering who has continued this work with Ingalls. 

A chemical engineering research group led by Professor Tizazu Mekonnen has developed an eco-friendly super absorbent hydrogel that could dramatically reduce the environmental impact of personal hygiene products like diapers, menstrual pads and tampons.

Unlike current products, which take centuries to break down, this new material degrades harmlessly in soil within three months.

In North America, billions of disposable diapers end up in landfills annually, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) taking up to 450 years to decompose.

Around 1.8 billion women menstruate monthly, and most single-use menstrual pads and tampons also end up in landfills. These products are about 90 per cent plastic and can take up to 500 years to break down, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.

Chemical engineering professors are taking on the problem of plastic waste in the environment by leveraging synthetic biology to turn plastic waste into valuable resources.

“We’re stepping out of our silos to advance sustainability,” says Professor Marc Aucoin. “The question is: can we use biology—or can we tune biology—to aid us in tackling plastic pollution?”

The answer may well be yes. The research group recently co-authored an overview of strategies to leverage synthetic biology, microbial engineering and engineering design to degrade and upcycle plastic waste.

Professor Christian Euler, Waterloo’s lead for the Center for Innovative Recycling and Circular Economy (CIRCLE) in a recent study is investigating whether feedstocks derived from plastic waste could provide the energy to drive carbon dioxide (CO₂) conversion.

 The ScotiaBank Climate Action Research Fund is being awarded to Professor Christian Euler for a groundbreaking approach that aims to use bacteria to transform combined waste streams, including plastic-derived waste and CO2 into sustainable products such as bioplastics.

The ScotiaBank Climate Action Research Fund is granted to scientists and engineers whose research will advance climate-related initiatives.  Euler’s project offers a glimpse into a future where waste is not a problem to solve—it’s part of the solution.

“Innovation and research are important in the transition to a lower-carbon economy,” said Kim Brand, Vice President, Global Sustainable Business at Scotiabank. “At Scotiabank, we believe that research and collaboration can unlock practical solutions for businesses, communities, and individuals alike. The goal of the Climate Action Research Fund is to support initiatives, like the one underway at the University of Waterloo, to come to life in support of solutions for a more sustainable future.”

Euler’s research group could potentially create tailored biopolymers with specific properties by adjusting the bacteria’s feedstock. For instance, biopolymers could be created for use as biodegradable packaging. 

New research shows a smarter way to build artificial muscles for soft robots

A research group led by Chemical Engineering Professor Hamed Shahsavan has developed a method to reinforce smart, rubber-like materials—paving the way for their use as artificial muscles in robots, potentially replacing traditional rigid motors and pumps.

“Artificial muscles are essential for unlocking the true potential of soft robots. Unlike rigid components, they allow robots to move flexibly, safely, and with precision. This is especially important for applications like micromedical robots,” said Shahsavan.

The research group mixed liquid crystals (LCs) often used in displays for electronics and sensors into liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) which are promising building blocks for soft robots.

LCEs are rubbers that experience massive shape-change when heated, in a reversable but programmable manner. When a tiny amount of LCs were mixed with LCEs, they became much stiffer, up to nine times stronger than before.

Professor Maxime Van der Heijden is a new faculty member in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Her research focuses on electrochemistry and electrochemical systems, using a combination of computational modelling, 3D printing and laboratory experimentation.

She was inspired to pursue this area of research by her PhD supervisor at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.

“At the time, I had no background in electrochemistry or computational modeling. My supervisor, however, was very enthusiastic about both fields. I was not the obvious choice for his project, but I was eager to take on the challenge—and that’s where my passion for electrochemistry began,” said Van der Heijden.

Van der Heijden now has expertise in engineering porous electrodes for redox flow batteries through modeling, optimization and lab experimentation. Redox flow batteries are not well known in Ontario and Van der Heijden hopes to raise awareness about their potential.