Current students

Monday, January 16, 2012

Oscar nod for Waterloo ECE graduate

Andrew Clinton (BASc ’05, Comp) is among the 28 recipients of scientific and technical achievements for the Academy Awards 2012 Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation to be held February 11 in Beverly Hills, California.

Waterloo School of Architecture professor John McMinn and graduate Melana Janzen of McMinn + Janzen Studio located in Toronto have won a 2011 North American Wood Design Citation for their CP Harbour House project. CP Harbour House is a vacation home shared by two families on the shores of Georgian Bay. McMinn and Janzen’s project was one of 16 honoured by the North American Wood Design Awards Program out of over 100 entries.

For Plinio Morita, a doctoral candidate in systems design engineering, being awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship is an honour that will help support his research in how technology can be used to improve trust in group situations. The scholarship, valued at $50,000 annually for up to three years, was awarded to Morita through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Grad student wins best paper award

Apurva Narayan, a systems design engineering doctoral candidate, received the best paper award at the recent 35th Annual National Systems Conference organized by the Systems Society of India, and jointly by Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Indian Institue of Technology, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, India. His paper entitled “Neuro-Fuzzy (m-ANFIS) based Technique for Short-Term Load Forecasting in Large Geographical Area: Ontario, Canada” was co-authored by systems design engineering professors Fakhri Karray and K. Ponnambalam, who is also Narayan’s graduate studies supervisor.

Pearl Sullivan, chair of Waterloo’s mechanical and mechatronics engineering department, will become Waterloo’s eighth dean of engineering on July 1, 2012. Sullivan, an award-winning professor and accomplished researcher, joined the university as a professor of mechanical engineering in 2004. She will succeed Adel Sedra whose second term as dean ends June 30, 2012. “The exemplary reputation of Waterloo Engineering fueled a lot of international interest in this position,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president of the University of Waterloo.

School of Architecture professor John McMinn and his partner architect Melana Janzen of McMinn + Janzen Studio have pulled it off for a professional couple living in south Mississauga — they designed an urban loft on a quiet street lined with 1970s suburban ranch houses. The home, with radiant concrete floors inside and custom stainless steel wire mesh screens, provides a downtown urban feel while meeting the needs of a growing family leaning towards a suburban lifestyle. But success didn’t come easy, says McMinn. The first contractor couldn’t mix oil and water and was let go.

Lola Sheppard, a Waterloo School of Architecture professor, is concerned with how processed foods are threatening hunting traditions and the health of Inuit people in Canada’s North. Sheppard and her partner, Mason White, recently won a $100,000 Holcim Award for an infrastructure project they developed that seeks to reaffirm hunting and fishing traditions among the people of Baffin Island in the territory of Nunavut. The project’s goal is to create a network of shelters along snowmobile paths connecting 11,000 people who live in disconnected communities across Baffin Island.