Researchers awarded $1.75 million for infrastructure

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Fourteen researchers at Waterloo Engineering were awarded a total of more than $1.75 million this week through a federal program to give researchers the tools and equipment they need to become leaders in their fields.

Across all faculties at the University of Waterloo, 23 researchers were awarded over $2.9 million through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund.

Country-wide, more than $61 million for 261 projects at 40 universities was announced by Kirsty Duncan, the minister of science and sport.

The engineering recipients at Waterloo are:

  • Eihab Abdel-Rahman (systems design engineering): Electrical drive and detection system - $80,000.
  • Arash Arami (mechanical and mechatronics engineering): Neuromechanics-based assistive robotics: Towards optimal personalized robotic assistance - $182,000.
  • Sahar Pirooz Azad (electrical and computer engineering): Control and protection of next-generation power electronically enabled hybrid AC-DC power systems - $100,000.
  • Elliot Biro (mechanical and mechatronics engineering): Understanding weld cracking using in-situ thermography and simulation - $80,000.
  • Dongpu Cao (mechanical and mechatronics engineering): CogSim: An interaction-aware tri-simulator facility for research on driver behaviours and cognitive autonomous driving - $150,000.
  • Kerstin Dautenhahn (electrical and computer engineering): Infrastructure for research on social and intelligent robotics - $350,000.
  • Amir Khandani (electrical and computer engineering): Infrastructure for research on next generation wireless networks - $80,000.
  • Nima Maftoon (systems design engineering): A therapeutic device for otitis media - $120,000.
  • Etienne Martin (mechanical and mechatronics engineering): Scanning electron microscope  - $100,000.
  • Tizazu Mekonnen (chemical engineering): Rational design of multiphase and multifunctional renewable – resourced polymers - $100,000.
  • Oliver Schneider (management sciences): Haptic computing lab - $80,000.
  • Valerie Ward (chemical engineering): Microalgae biomanufacturing laboratory - $80,000.
  • Christopher Wilson (electrical and computer engineering): Taking superconducting electronics to the next level of integration - $170,819.
  • Seyed Majid Zahedi (electrical and computer engineering): Resource management in heterogeneous clusters: Maximizing efficiency and guaranteeing security, privacy, and fairness - $80,000.