Canada's Largest Engineering School

A professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering has received the University of Waterloo's most prestigious academic honour.

Dr. John McPhee, the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Biomechatronic System Dynamics, was named a University Professor at this week's Board of Governors meeting — a designation recognizing exceptional scholarly achievement and international pre-eminence. Waterloo awards the designation to at most three faculty members each year.

In 2025, Waterloo Engineering’s Outreach programs reached more than 41,500 young people — a 30 per cent increase from 2024 and more than triple the 13,500 participants served in 2017.  

With support from donors, partners and sponsors, the programs are intentionally designed to engage young people who have historically been excluded from STEM — girls, 2SLGBTQIA+ youth, Black and Indigenous youth, youth living with disabilities and newcomers to Canada.  

There’s a myth that if you want to build something great, you have to leave Canada.  

University of Waterloo alum Jeff Shiner (BMath ’92), executive chairman of the board at 1Password, and Chris Albinson, co-founder and managing director of True North Fund, make the case for why Waterloo students will do better to build their companies in Canada than in the United States (U.S.).