Systems design student honoured with University's co-op award

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Josh Bradshaw, Engineering's 2013 Co-op Student of the Year
Josh Bradshaw, a second-year systems design engineering student, has been chosen by the University of Waterloo as Engineering's 2013 co-op student of the year.

Every year, one co-op student from each of the University's six Faculties receives the University of Waterloo Co-op Student of the Year Award that recognizes exemplary performance during a work term and other factors, including community involvement, contribution to co-op, and academic achievement.

For his first engineering work term, Bradshaw worked as a web developer at Watrhub, an online intelligence hub for water and wastewater technology companies.

On his own initiative, he identified and then addressed some small issues with Watrhub’s process, increasing efficiency. He also improved an existing piece of Watrhub’s software that built a model of a wastewater treatment plant.

Using his skills in software optimization and programming, Bradshaw drastically reduced the time it takes to run the tool, which increased by 60 per cent the number of clients the company is able to serve.

"I am very grateful for the investment WatrHub has made in my professional and personal growth," said Bradshaw.

"Experiential education is a cornerstone at Waterloo--it's in our DNA," said Peggy Jarvie, executive director of Co-operative Education and Career Action at Waterloo. "The achievements of these extraordinary students illustrate the kind of high-quality work terms that our co-op students experience.”
 
Bradshaw, along with the other five Faculty winners, were officially recognized on March 20 at a ceremony held in the Tatham Centre as part of National Co-op Week.