Cory Zurell, PEng

Cory Zurell is an Associate Professor-Teaching Stream in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo, supporting the Architectural Engineering program. He is a licenced Professional Engineer in Ontario and is also a Principal at Blackwell Structural Engineers.

Dr. Zurell has extensive experience in building design as well as bridge design, and has been involved in many architectural- and engineering-award-winning projects. While experienced with a variety of structural materials, he is particularly experienced in timber design, and has lectured at various industry events on adaptive reuse of historic buildings and the use of heavy/mass timber in large, non-residential buildings.

Prior to joining UW full-time, Dr. Zurell was an adjunct instructor for over ten years, teaching structural design courses to architecture and engineering students at UW as well as at Laurentian University’s School of Architecture.

Dr. Zurell is a member of the Technical Committee for CSA S6, the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code, for which he chairs the Timber Design Sub-committee.

Dr. Zurell does not have an active research program and does not accept graduate students.

• Structural Engineering

• Structural Design of Buildings

• Structural Timber Design

• Adaptive Reuse of Historic Building Structures

• Reinforced Concrete Design

• Structural Steel Design

• Heritage Structures

• Timber Bridge Design

• 2004, Doctorate Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Canada

• 1997, Bachelor of Applied Science Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada

• AE 125 - Structural Design Studio
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• AE 303 - Structural Analysis
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• AE 315 - Building Structural Systems
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• AE 325 - Project 1 Studio
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• AE 377 - Structural Timber Design
  • Taught in 2023
• CIVE 224 - Probability and Statistics
  • Taught in 2025
• CIVE 303 - Structural Analysis
  • Taught in 2020, 2021
• CIVE 495 - Design Intensive Special Topics in Civil Engineering
  • Taught in 2020, 2021
• CIVE 497 - Special Topics in Civil Engineering
  • Taught in 2020
• CIVE 517 - Structural Wood Design
  • Taught in 2025
• CIVE 700 - Topics in Structural Engineering
  • Taught in 2021

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Milligan G.J., Polak M.A., and Zurell C., FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF SHEAR BEHAVIOUR OF RC SLABS SUPPORTED ON WALLS, American Concrete Institute ACI Special Publication, 1-16, Canada, 2025.

• Milligan G.J., Polak M.A., and Zurell C., Finite element analysis of punching shear behavior of reinforced concrete slabs supported on walls, Structural Concrete, Volume 23, 1118-1133, Canada, 2022.

• Milligan G.J., Anna Polak M., and Zurell C., Impact of Column Rectangularity on Punching Shear Strength: Code Predictions versus Finite Element Analysis, Journal of Structural Engineering United States, Volume 127, Canada, 2021.

• Milligan G.J., Polak M.A., and Zurell C., Finite element analysis of punching shear behaviour of concrete slabs supported on rectangular columns, Engineering Structures, Volume 127, Canada, 2020.

• Milligan G.J., Polak M.A., and Zurell C., Alternative Punching Shear Design Methods for Concrete Slabs on Rectangular Columns, ACI Structural Journal, Volume 122, 21-36, Canada.