Researchers awarded $2.9 million in federal funding

Researchers from Waterloo Engineering have received more than $2.9 million in combined funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's (NSERC) Discovery Grants program.

In total, 47 Waterloo Engineering researchers across seven departments and schools received funding this year, spanning three streams of the program: Discovery Grants, which support investigator-led research projects; Discovery Launch Supplements, a one-time top-up for researchers in the first five years of their academic appointments; and Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) grants, which fund specialized research equipment and infrastructure.

The funding is part of a broader $7.1-million investment in more than 100 University of Waterloo researchers through this year's NSERC Discovery Grants competition — itself a share of a $630-million federal investment in discovery research, training and talent development across Canada.

"Congratulations to this year's Discovery Grant recipients, whose highly original and impactful research is advancing knowledge while helping train the next generation of research talent," says Dr. Charmaine Dean, Vice-President, Research and International at Waterloo. "We are grateful to NSERC for supporting this work through a funding program that provides the flexibility and stability needed to pursue high-risk research with the potential for transformative breakthroughs."

The Waterloo Engineering recipients, organized by funding stream, are:

Discovery Grants

• Dr. Mohamad Araji (School of Architecture) – Adaptive façades with renewable bio-generation and spectral sensing in cold climates
• Dr. Maricor Arlos (civil and environmental engineering) – Advancing micropollutant management through integrated pathway modeling and sustainable remediation with reclaimed materials
• Dr. Otman Basir (electrical and computer engineering) – Enhancing self-driving vehicle safety and dependability through cooperative perception and organic computing
• Dr. Hector Budman (chemical engineering) – Metabolism and genome-based graph neural network models for design and optimization of biochemical processes
• Dr. Yuhao Chen (systems design engineering) – Digital twinning of food for interactive analysis and simulation
• Dr. C. Perry Chou (chemical engineering) – Developing strategies of strain engineering and bioprocessing for production of high-value heme-derived porphyrin pigments
• Dr. Teng Cui (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Electro-chemo-thermo-mechanics of solid-state batteries
• Dr. Kerstin Dautenhahn (electrical and computer engineering) – Biologically inspired, socially intelligent and empathic robots to enhance Human-Robot Interaction
• Dr. Liza-Anastasia DiCecco (systems design engineering) – Engineering tunable porous implants for compromised bone: bridging materials innovation with multiscale characterization
• Dr. Werner Dietl (electrical and computer engineering) – HOPE: Hybrid Optional Property Enforcement
• Dr. Ayman El-Hag (electrical and computer engineering) – Smart drone-based assessment of outdoor insulators
• Dr. Roya Fallah Firoozi (electrical and computer engineering) – Safe robot autonomy in interactive open-world environments
• Dr. Xianshe Feng (chemical engineering) – Development of advanced membranes via nanostructuring and nanocomposite for challenging separations
• Dr. Liping Fu (civil and environmental engineering) – Advancing transportation safety and sustainability through big data and AI
• Dr. Padraig Michael Furlong (systems design engineering) – Probabilistic neurosymbolic programming
• Dr. Ivan Gogolev (chemical engineering) – Role of inorganics and contaminants in thermochemical recycling of plastic waste feedstocks
• Dr. Wojciech Golab (electrical and computer engineering) – Synchronization and resilience in data structures for disaggregated memory
• Dr. Maud Gorbet (systems design engineering) – Unraveling tear neutrophil activation and protective mechanisms at the ocular surface in in vitro models of the closed-eye environment
• Dr. Fatma Gzara (management science and engineering) – Challenges and opportunities in urban logistics
• Dr. Carl Haas (civil and environmental engineering) – Automation advances to support circularity in the built environment
• Dr. Soo Jeon (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Resource-efficient multimodal perception and learning for robotic manipulation
• Dr. Jonathan Kusins (systems design engineering) – Tailoring the structural behaviour of additively manufactured implants using advanced imaging and assessment techniques
• Dr. Hyock Ju Kwon (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Predictive modeling of long-term material degradation in small modular reactors using physics-informed neural networks
• Dr. Patrick Lam (electrical and computer engineering) – Static analysis and verification for more-reliable Rust code
• Dr. Ewen MacDonald (systems design engineering) – Monitoring listening effort during conversations to improve social interactions of people with hearing loss
• Dr. John Magliaro (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Advancing impact energy absorption mechanisms in steady-state cutting processes for improved crash safety
• Dr. Maryia Markhvida (systems design engineering) – Computational and experiential approaches to enhancing disaster and climate resilience
• Dr. Stewart McLachlin (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Developing virtual twins for robotic musculoskeletal simulations and spinal implant design
• Dr. Linda Nazar (chemical engineering) – Materials chemistry for next-gen sustainable electrochemical energy storage
• Dr. Woi Sok Oh (systems design engineering) – Analyzing and modelling drought-displacement linkages using complex systems approaches
• Dr. Sahar Pirooz Azad (electrical and computer engineering) – Control, protection and operation of inverter-based power grids
• Dr. Mahla Poudineh (electrical and computer engineering) – A closed-loop wearable system for real-time diabetes monitoring and delivering therapeutics
• Dr. Luis Ricardez-Sandoval (chemical engineering) – Development of optimal process integration methodologies for chemical and manufacturing systems using novel optimization and machine learning tools
• Dr. Hamed Shahsavan (chemical engineering) – Life-like polymers: towards small-scale robots with embodied intelligence
• Dr. Weiyi Shang (electrical and computer engineering) – Green AIWare: energy efficiency assurance for AI-powered and AI-generated software
• Dr. Mark Smucker (management science and engineering) – Improved offline evaluation for search and recommendation
• Dr. Ehsan Toyserkani (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – In-situ quality assurance for additively manufactured parts: integrated optical tomography and melt pool monitoring in multi-laser powder-bed fusion
• Dr. Christopher Wilson (electrical and computer engineering) – Quantum microwaves for advanced sensing and simulation
• Dr. Hongxia Yang (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Towards safe applications of hydrogen at low temperatures: combustion characteristics, explosion physics, and mitigation strategies
• Dr. Mustafa Yavuz (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Smart and quantum-enabled sensors: integrated platforms for environmental, health, and communication applications
• Dr. Chul Min Yeum (civil and environmental engineering) – Spatio-temporal semantic change detection using 3D Gaussian splatting and vision-language reasoning
• Dr. Boxin Zhao (chemical engineering) – Bioinspired 3D/4D printable stimulus responsive hydrogels for smart, self adhering next generation wearables

Discovery Launch Supplements

• Dr. Yuhao Chen (systems design engineering) – Digital twinning of food for interactive analysis and simulation
• Dr. Teng Cui (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Electro-chemo-thermo-mechanics of solid-state batteries
• Dr. Liza-Anastasia DiCecco (systems design engineering) – Engineering tunable porous implants for compromised bone: bridging materials innovation with multiscale characterization
• Dr. Roya Fallah Firoozi (electrical and computer engineering) – Safe robot autonomy in interactive open-world environments
• Dr. Padraig Michael Furlong (systems design engineering) – Probabilistic neurosymbolic programming
• Dr. Ivan Gogolev (chemical engineering) – Role of inorganics and contaminants in thermochemical recycling of plastic waste feedstocks
• Dr. Jonathan Kusins (systems design engineering) – Tailoring the structural behaviour of additively manufactured implants using advanced imaging and assessment techniques
• Dr. John Magliaro (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Advancing impact energy absorption mechanisms in steady-state cutting processes for improved crash safety
• Dr. Maryia Markhvida (systems design engineering) – Computational and experiential approaches to enhancing disaster and climate resilience
• Dr. Woi Sok Oh (systems design engineering) – Analyzing and modelling drought-displacement linkages using complex systems approaches
• Dr. Hongxia Yang (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Towards safe applications of hydrogen at low temperatures: combustion characteristics, explosion physics, and mitigation strategies

Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) grants

• Dr. Dipanjan Basu (civil and environmental engineering) – AI integrated ground-based wildfire sensor, with co-applicants Kerry Black, Dr. Mina Lee and Chantel Markle-Perricone
• Dr. Adrian Gerlich (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Ultra-high speed thermal imaging in materials processing, with co-applicants Dr. Hamid Jahed, Dr. Amir Khajepour, Dr. Mihaela Vlasea and Dr. John Zelek
• Dr. Bradley Hauer (electrical and computer engineering) – Millimeter-wave infrastructure supporting next-generation quantum sensors, with co-applicants Dr. Adrian Lupascu and Dr. Christopher Wilson
• Dr. Stewart McLachlin (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – Development of a surgical environment robotic assistant (SERA) for applications in orthopaedic surgery
• Dr. George Shaker (electrical and computer engineering) – Real-time spectrum analysis system for next-generation wireless integration, with co-applicants Dr. Sebastian Fischmeister and Dr. Chul Min Yeum
• Dr. Xiaoyu Wu (mechanical and mechatronics engineering) – A versatile sorption measurement setup for gas capture and separation in net-zero technologies, with co-applicants Dr. Eric Croiset and Dr. Roydon Fraser

Go to Waterloo researchers awarded more than $7.1 million in funding for the campus-wide story.