Thursday, August 6, 2026

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• New Associate Vice-Presidents announced in the Office of the Vice-President, Research and International

• The shy caterpillar says hi!

• Simantic scales from Waterloo startup to global AI hardware innovator  

New Associate Vice-Presidents announced in the Office of the Vice-President, Research and International

A message from Charmaine Dean, Vice-President, Research and International.

The Office of the Vice-President, Research is pleased to announce the appointments of the Associate Vice-President, Research Oversight and Integrity and the Associate Vice-President, Research Partnerships, Entrepreneurship and Commercialization. 

Associate Vice-President, Research Oversight and Integrity 

Professor Mathieu Doucet has been appointed Associate Vice-President, Research Oversight and Integrity, effective August 1. Dr. Doucet brings significant relevant experience to the role, including serving as Chair of the Philosophy Department for the past three years and as a member of the Clinical Research Ethics Board (CREB), where he also served as Acting Chair. 

Dr. Doucet views supporting Waterloo researchers in conducting high-quality, ethical research with meaningful impact as a key responsibility of the role. He also emphasizes that ethical research is essential to protecting research participants, the University and the broader community. His research in ethics further deepens his expertise in this area. 

Dr. Doucet is an Associate Professor of Philosophy. His research explores ethics, moral psychology and bioethics. His scholarly work has appeared in leading journals including Bioethics, The Cambridge Law Journal, Journal of Medical Ethics, Synthese, Utilitas, and Philosophical Psychology. Professionally, he has served on SSHRC adjudication and review committees and the Board of Governors of the Canadian Philosophical Association.  

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Ian Milligan for his exemplary service as AVP, Research Oversight and Integrity over the past five years. Professor Milligan provided outstanding leadership both within the Office of the Vice-President Research portfolio and across the University. He played a pivotal role in advancing important University-wide initiatives and strengthening collaboration across the institution. His commitment to fostering a culture of research integrity and his thoughtful stewardship of key institutional processes have had a lasting and meaningful impact on our community. 

Associate Vice-President, Research Partnerships, Entrepreneurship and Commercialization

Professor Hassan Baaj has been appointed to the role of Associate Vice-President, Research Partnerships, Entrepreneurship and Commercialization, effective October 1. Professor Baaj currently serves as Associate Dean, Research and External Partnerships in Engineering and as Special Advisor on International Research Partnerships.

Dr. Baaj has laid out a clear, forward-thinking vision for how he intends to fulfill his mandate. In his first year, he will focus on building shared direction within the Office of the Vice-President, Research team, strengthening Waterloo’s external partnership strategy in a way that builds on the strong work already underway, and raising institutional fluency in commercialization and entrepreneurship. Additionally, Dr. Baaj has expressed his commitment to expanding inclusive entrepreneurship across all faculties and supporting an integrated and cohesive innovation ecosystem.  

Dr. Baaj has already worked closely with many units across the Office of the Vice-President, Research portfolio and looks forward to leading collaboratively with teams in corporate research partnerships, agreements, international partnerships, Velocity, WatCo and beyond. 

Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to outgoing Interim Associate Vice-President, Research Partnerships, Entrepreneurship and Commercialization, Alfred Yu. Dr. Yu brought exceptional energy and ambition to the role and was instrumental in the restructuring of a very complex portfolio and in expanding our partnerships. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Dr. Yu brought a thoughtful and holistic leadership approach that will continue to have a lasting impact.  

Please join me in thanking Dr. Yu and Dr. Milligan for their service in these critical roles, and please also join me in welcoming Dr. Doucet and Dr. Baaj to their new roles.

The shy caterpillar says hi!

A postcard from a visit to the reassuring road where the houses of hospitality, happiness, and hope exist!

Started this past January by an anonymous graduate student, the shy caterpillar says hi! Is a tiny art initiative that involves sharing illustrated, poetic postcards with different offices and organizations on campus. This project began as a gentle way for the student to navigate social anxiety and connect with others on campus in a positive, simple way.

While the student only expected to reach a few people, he is genuinely grateful and surprised by the wonderful support and encouragement from so many at the university. One place to see the artwork is on the bulletin board for the Centre for Career Development on the second floor of the Tatham Centre.

To date, artwork has been shared with close to 100 places across campus, from the Student Success Office to the Bike Centre to Brubacher House (and many other wonderful places!). An especially touching moment was sharing postcards with the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, who made their own thoughtful and lovely cards in return, creating a really meaningful sense of connection.

The postcards often feature whimsical, colourful doodles and short, nature-themed poems along with a simple drawing of a caterpillar. The caterpillar is a small personal emblem of growth and healing.

Simantic scales from Waterloo startup to global AI hardware innovator

Seungmin Hong and Ahnaf Shahriar.

This is an excerpt from an article that was originally published on Waterloo News.

As artificial intelligence (AI) learns to write code, it still struggles to test firmware without access to physical hardware. For University of Waterloo founders Seungmin Hong (BASc ’26) and Ahnaf Shahriar (BASc in progress), that challenge represented an opportunity.

That insight became Simantic, a  startup developing simulation technology that allows engineers and AI systems to build, test and validate firmware in virtual environments long before physical hardware exists.

Hong launched Simantic in September 2025 as a solo venture aimed at modernizing hardware development workflows. The company gained momentum when Shahriar joined as a co-founder in early 2026. The two computer engineering students had known each other for years through Waterloo's engineering community and shared experience working in the hardware sector.

Their company was shaped by co-op experiences at Tesla, Neuralink and other hardware-focused organizations. Through those work terms, they repeatedly encountered the same bottleneck: engineers often spent weeks or months waiting for physical hardware before they could fully test firmware and embedded systems.

Those experiences exposed a challenge affecting teams across industries, from automotive and robotics to consumer electronics and semiconductor development.

The company's name reflects its mission. Hong came up with "Simantic" by combining "simulation" and "semantic," reflecting his belief that hardware simulation tools must evolve alongside AI-driven engineering.

While AI can increasingly help design hardware and write firmware, testing often remains dependent on costly and time-consuming physical devices. Simantic changes that by enabling testing in realistic virtual environments before hardware is manufactured.

"Today, AI can already help write hardware and firmware code, but testing remains largely manual and dependent on physical devices," Hong says. "We're building the infrastructure that lets engineers and AI validate those systems in simulation before hardware is ever manufactured."

Less than a year after launching, Simantic has earned spots in both the Velocity incubator and Y Combinator, rapidly raising its profile within the startup ecosystem. The company joined Velocity's startup program in 2026 and was recently accepted into Y Combinator's Fall 2026 cohort.

Read the full story on Waterloo News.