Post-secondary (college and university) student teams are invited to demonstrate how they would use technology to influence the introduction of electric vehicles and related infrastructure. The competition is being organized as part of the SmartFutures: Connecting, Energy, Technology and Communities conference being held November 2-3 by the Durham Strategic Energy Alliance.
Patrons of a new public library in Waterloo will be welcomed by a 2.4 metre (eight foot) sculpture by Waterloo architecture master’s graduate Jyhling Lee. Lee’s creation, titled Origami Goose, was inspired by the natural surroundings of the library, where Canada geese are a common site at nearby Laurel Creek Conservation Area. It also combines her love of origami and interest in the environment.
A story in The Globe and Mail on September 7 describes a flurry of investment in Canadian start-ups by U.S. technology companies. The story notes that there have been at least 20 major acquisitions since January, injecting capital that will help transform centres such as Waterloo into global mobile hubs.
The 2011 World University Rankings released by QS in Britain on September 5 lists Waterloo Engineering at 56th in the world among engineering and technology faculties. QS ranks the top 300 universities in the world based on six factors: academic reputation; employer reputation; student/faculty ratio; citations per faculty; international faculty; international students.
Dr. Donald Grierson, distinguished professor emeritus in civil and environmental engineering, passed away on August 25. Professor Grierson held a faculty post in the department for 37 years. He had earned his BASc in civil engineering in 1964, master’s in 1966 and PhD in 1968.
William Tatham, a systems design engineering graduate (BASc 1983) from the University of Waterloo, is profiled in a Globe & Mail story on August 26 discussing start-up success by a more experienced generation, those over 40 years of age. Tatham is founder, director and CEO of NexJ Systems Inc., Toronto, his third start-up company. NexJ is an enterprise customer relationship management (CRM) software solutions company focussed on the finance, insurance and healthcare industries. It has more than 300 employees.
Working for Kraft cookie manufacturer Peek Freans sounds like a pretty sweet gig. For Kartik Vaideswaran, a 2B chemical engineering student, it was. That is in large part because of the extra effort he put into his job as an Engineering Assistant at the company’s East York bakery. His contributions helped to have a production line certified above three sigma, a first for a Kraft facility in Canada. As a result, Kartik has been hired back for his next co-op term. He shares his experience in a story written by Andrea Banerjee in the Spring 2011-2 issue of Inside sCo-op.
Graduates of the Faculty of Engineering have helped to develop reconnaissance technology that is now being used by Libyan rebel forces.
According to a news report from The National Post, Libyan rebel forces are using Aeryon Scout Micro UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) to monitor troops led by Muammar Gaddafi. Aeryon Labs, based in Waterloo, employs a large number of Waterloo Engineering graduates among its 25 full-time staff.
Newtonville, a tabletop eco-friendly city, along with its enthusiastic Engineering and Science Quest camper architects provided the backdrop for the federal government’s $1.25 million Actua funding announcement made August 17 in E5. Actua is a national science, engineering and technology youth outreach network of which Waterloo’s ESQ and nine other Ontario university organizations are members.
Students from the University of Waterloo, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and the University of Victoria today joined representatives from the federal government and General Motors to launch the universities’ participation in EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future. The latest advanced technology vehicle competition challenges these Canadian engineering students, together with 13 U.S. university teams, to reduce the environmental impact of vehicles without compromising performance, safety and other features.