News

Twelve fourth-year Waterloo Engineering teams competed in the 2026 Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design. A panel of industry judges awarded more than $100,000 across all 12 teams. 

The teams pitched a wide array of solutions — from a wearable cooling device for menopausal hot flashes to an AI tool that automates body camera redaction for law enforcement.

Waterloo Engineering made a significant jump in the 2026 world subject rankings announced today by global education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

In the broad category of engineering and technology, one of five used by QS to group 55 more specific subject areas, Waterloo climbed to 38^th place – up from 47^th last year - in a field of more than 1,900 universities.

A Waterloo Engineering research team is helping cancer survivors manage lymphedema with a smartphone-sized, portable compression sleeve that lets patients move freely during therapy.

Dr. Carolyn Ren, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering and Canada Research Chair in Microfluidic Technologies, leads the Waterloo Microfluidics Laboratory (WML). Her team has engineered a soft-robotic compression sleeve to replace bulky, expensive clinical devices that hinder movement.

The Department of Chemical Engineering's undergraduate teaching labs have been awarded the Green Lab Gold Certificate for the second consecutive year.

Led by John Zhang, lab director, the department’s technical support team has embedded sustainability into how students learn, experiment and work, improving the education experience and reducing waste.

The Vision and Image Processing (VIP) Research Group at Waterloo Engineering is one of Canada's most productive AI research engines — generating more than $12 million in research funding, launching more than 10 spin-off companies and training hundreds of students.

Led by Drs. David Clausi, John Zelek, Paul Fieguth and Alexander Wong in the Department of Systems Design Engineering, VIP applies computer vision and machine learning to real-world challenges in health care, sports, climate monitoring, robotics, smart cities and manufacturing.

An engineering undergraduate student returned home from Cambridge, Massachusetts with a $50,000 grand prize after his team claimed top honours at HARD MODE, an invite-only hardware and artificial intelligence hackathon hosted by MIT Media Lab, this month.

Cristiano Da Silva, a Mechanical Engineering student, was part of Dreaming Objects, the winning team at the March 2026 event. The competition drew 200 participants — roughly 40 teams — from engineering, computer science, and design programs across North America.

Six Faculty of Engineering graduate students were named finalists in the 2026 GRADflix competition, with two taking top honours for creative videos explaining their research to a general audience.

Chemical engineering student Chen and electrical and computer engineering student Pan earned first- and second-place recognition in the University of Waterloo contest, hosted by Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. 

Waterloo Engineering students will present more than 300 projects during the 2026 Capstone Design symposia, a series of events that mark the culmination of their undergraduate studies.

Running from March 11 to April 2 in the Pearl Sullivan Engineering (PSE) building, students from 12 programs will present more than 300 projects spanning disciplines from nanotechnology to civil and architectural engineering.

Dr. Bill Rosehart, a triple Waterloo Engineering alum (BASc ’96, MASc ’97 and PhD ’01, electrical and computer engineering) has been appointed the University of Waterloo’s eighth President and Vice-Chancellor.

Dr. Rosehart is the first Waterloo alum to serve as the University’s President. His five-year term begins July 1, 2026, succeeding Dr. Vivek Goel.

A pandemic-era Netflix binge launched a Waterloo Engineering alum's career in Formula 1.

Christina Sullivan (BASc '23, mechatronics engineering) discovered an unexpected passion for the technical and engineering dimensions of motorsport from watching Drive to Survive during COVID-19. She secured an internship with Williams Racing in the U.K. and has been on the F1 team full-time since graduation.