Electrical and computer engineering professor, Dr. Alfred Yu, has been named the 2026 recipient of the IEEE Canada Outstanding Engineer Award, one of the organization’s highest honours recognizing excellence and impact in electrical and electronics engineering.
The award citation recognizes Dr. Yu:
“For transformative innovations in next-generation ultrasound imaging technology that have advanced clinical scanners and enhanced cardiovascular diagnostics.”
Dr. Yu is a pioneer of high-frame-rate ultrasound imaging technology that has transformed clinical ultrasound scanners and cardiovascular diagnostics. His discoveries in therapeutic ultrasound have established the mechanistic basis of ultrasound-mediated drug delivery.
Since joining the University of Waterloo in 2015, Dr. Yu has built an internationally recognized research program in biomedical ultrasound and imaging science. In addition to his role as Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, he currently serves as the University’s Associate Vice-President (Partnerships, Entrepreneurship and Commercialization), and also as the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.
Dr. Yu also leads the Laboratory on Innovative Technology in Medical UltraSound (LITMUS), a research group based at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging.
This latest recognition adds to a growing list of honours acknowledging Dr. Yu’s contributions to the field, including the IEEE Carl Hellmuth Hertz Award, the ISTU Frederic Lizzi Award, the IEEE Ultrasonics Early Career Investigator Award, and the Ontario Early Researcher Award. In 2021, Dr. Yu was recognized as one of Canada’s most promising researchers by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada when he was selected as one of six national recipients of the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering congratulates Dr. Yu on this outstanding achievement and the continued global impact of his research and leadership.