Ranked among the top 50 engineering schools worldwide, Waterloo Engineering is committed to leading engineering education and research.
We are the largest engineering school in Canada, with over 10,500 students enrolled in 2021. In 2019/20, external research funding from Canadian and international partners exceeded $86.8 million, a strong indication of our extensive industry partnerships and the excellence of our engineering research programs.
News
Dean Wells on the urgent need to humanize engineering
This is an excerpt of an opinion piece by Dr. Mary Wells, dean of Waterloo Engineering, and Dr. Suzanne Kresta, former dean of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, published today in the Toronto Star.
34 years ago, 14 women lost their lives because a man who had not been accepted into the École Polytechnique de Montréal was convinced that he had the right to kill women who had earned their place. This killing was an act of unprecedented violence against women and our profession.
We are two deans of engineering faculties and we each have a daughter in engineering; We pause together on December 6 to remember this tragedy, celebrate the present and reflect on the future.
Students, staff and faculty commemorate the National Day of Remembrance
December 6 marks the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada.
Each year, the University of Waterloo hosts a ceremony of remembrance to reflect on and respond to the murder of 14 female engineering students who were murdered at École Polytechnique de Montréal (now Polytechnique Montréal) in an act of gender-based violence on this day in 1989.
Researchers use AI to improve microplastic identification
An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Waterloo is using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify microplastics faster and more accurately than ever before.
Led by Dr. Wayne Parker, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, the research team’s advanced imaging identification system could help wastewater treatment plants and food production industries make informed decisions to mitigate the potential impact of microplastics on the environment and human health.
Events
Workshop: History and Culture through Traditional Games
This workshop hosted by Dallas Squire of Onkwehonwe Games offers participants the opportunity to learn about the history and culture of the people of the Six Nations (also called Haudenosaunee) through Traditional Games.
Interactive and hands-on, their approach to teaching is indigenous in its foundation. While learning about traditional games of the Six Nations of the Grand River, participants will simultaneously be learning about and experiencing local First Nations culture. In Kanyen'keha Onkwehonwe translates to ‘the original or first people’. The traditional way of many Onkwehonwe is to live in harmony with Mother Earth. Living in this good way requires a balance of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. Games were and are still used as a way to stay healthy and connected to a person’s community. Six Nations traditional games are used to enhance individual and team skills, as well as create sportsmanship, connection and laughter.
This event is part of the “ADE for Game Communities: Enculturing Anti-Racism, Decolonization, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ADE) in Games Research and Creation” series from the ADE Committee of the Games Institute, University of Waterloo, and is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
WaterTalk: What’s public about public water?
As part of the Water Institute's WaterTalks lecture series, Dr. David McDonald, Professor, Department of Global Development Studies, Queen’s University, will present: What’s public about public water?
This event is in person in DC 1302 with a lunch reception to follow in DC 1301 (The Fishbowl).
Debates about water privatization have tended to construct a simplistic binary of public versus private. In reality, ‘public’ water is varied and complex in its institutional and ideological make-up, illustrated in part by the rise of very different types of ‘remunicipalized’ water services over the past ten years as well as the growth of ‘corporatized’ public utilities. Drawing on two decades of empirical and theoretical work on this topic, Dr McDonald will highlight key tensions and synergies in the emerging debates about the nature of public water services.
David McDonald is Professor of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University and Director of the Municipal Services Project. He has conducted research on public services in more than 50 countries and has written extensively in academic and popular formats. His most recent book is “Meanings of Public and the Future of Public Services”
Engineer the Earth for a better future: Explore the Geological & Environmental Engineering programs at the University of Waterloo
In geological engineering and environmental engineering, the world is your classroom! On Monday, December 11 at 8:30PM ET, learn how students in these two programs are engineering our earth for a better future.