News

Electrical and computer engineering professor, En-Hui Yang, has been designated "University Professor" by the University of Waterloo's Tenure & Promotion Committee. 

The University of Waterloo owes much of its international reputation and stature to the quality of its eminent professors.  The designation "University Professor" is the way Waterloo recognizes exceptional scholarly achievement and international pre-eminence. Once appointed, a faculty member retains the designation until retirement. Not counting retirees, it is anticipated there will be one University Professor for approximately every 60 full-time regular faculty members, with at most two appointments each year.

Toronto-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Ideogram has raised $80 million in Series A funding to accelerate the company’s growth in generative AI.

Waterloo Engineering alum William Chan (BASc ’11, computer engineering) co-founded Ideogram in 2022 “to help people become more creative”. The company officially launched just six months ago with $22.3 million in seed funding.

Ideogram is an AI text-to-image generator — much like DALL-E. Users type a prompt, click “generate” and within 30 seconds can choose between four image interpretations of the prompt. Users can generate more images using refined prompts until they get the one they like. All generated images are downloadable and users can use them freely.

Congratulations to ECE PhD student, Nada Gohider!  Out of 162 entrants in the GRADflix competition, Nada took fourth place! 

GRADflix is an annual competition that gives graduate students an opportunity to communicate their amazing and complex research to a broader public audience. They can create a video, moving slide show or animation of no longer than 60 seconds. 

 

Originally published on the Faculty of Engineering website.

Biomedical Engineering student Christy Lee’s experience volunteering at busy hospitals and long-term care homes inspired her startup venture PatientCompanion, a communication app meant to improve patient experience and help reduce workload and stress for nurses.

Originally published December 20, 2023 on CTV News Kitchener 

University of Waterloo researchers say they’ve developed a method to detect breast cancer in women early enough for them to receive lifesaving treatment.

The technology aims to be more accurate, cheaper and safer than common diagnostic tools used now, such as X-ray mammography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

“Mammography is not fully effective, especially for women with dense breasts,” said Omar Ramahi, lead researcher and a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering.

Ramahi has been looking at ways to enhance early detection since 2001. He’s noticed the gaps that exist in current practices. For starters, he says X-ray mammography can only be performed on a patient once a year or every other year.

Watch the full story.

Electrical and computer engineering professor and Assistant Vice-President, Research and International, Alfred Yu, has been elevated to Fellow of the IEEE for his contributions to ultrasound imaging technology and therapy.

Each year, Clarivate™, a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation, identifies a small fraction of global research scientists and social scientists who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their field(s) of research. This select group contributes disproportionately to extending the frontiers of knowledge and gaining for society innovations that make the world healthier, more sustainable and more secure.

Electrical and computer engineering professor, Shesha Jayaram, received IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS) Outstanding Achievement Award. This award honors an individual who has made an outstanding contribution in the application of electricity to industry in accordance with the scope of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. This award was first presented in 1969. She is the first female to win this award in 54 years!

Having weathered the COVID-19 pandemic far from home, Waterloo Engineering alum and Muay Thai instructor, Qianshu Wang (BASc ‘19, Nanotechnology Engineering) is back in Waterloo figuring out his next move. 

Born in China, Wang and his family moved to the Waterloo Region when he was in Grade 7. After completing his degree, Wang spent three years working in Newfoundland as a process designer in next-generation holographic display development. That experience, as well as his recent travels in Thailand and Switzerland, helped him learn more about himself and who he wants to be. 

As he reboots for his next adventure (he’s interested in semi-conductor engineering in Germany or the Netherlands), Wang highlights his involvement with the Recent Engineering Alumni Council (REAC) for helping him through some challenging times over the past couple of years.  

Electrical and computer engineering professor, Hiren Patel, and his colleagues were awarded the Test of Time Award for their work "Predictable Programming on a Precision Timed Architecture" (CASES 2008) at Embedded Systems Week (ESWEEK).