University of Waterloo is among the best in the world in engineering and computer sciences. That is according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, which released its 2011 findings on August 15.
The influential ranking placed Waterloo in the top 52 to 75 universities worldwide for engineering and computer sciences, ranked with 24 other well-regarded institutions from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Europe, and Asia.
Collaboration between University of Waterloo researchers and Ontario businesses was officially celebrated August 9 in Engineering 3. Under FedDev Ontario’s Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative the University of Waterloo has received $750,000 to partner with businesses on a total of 16 research projects. Duane Cronin of mechanical and mechatronics engineering spoke about his research at the event attended by government and university officials. Cronin is working with Polefab Inc. to make traffic and lighting poles safer and more stable in accidents.
Mohammad Bozchalui, an electrical and computer engineering doctoral student, was recently honoured as the winner of MPrime’s award for Best Novel Use of Mathematics in Technology Transfer. MPrime, Canada’s only Network of Centres of Excellence for the mathematical sciences, brings together academia, industry and the public sector to develop mathematical tools vital to the knowledge-based economy. Bozchalui received his award at the seventh International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics, which was held in Vancouver.
Vanessa Bohns, who joined Waterloo’s management sciences department last month, has been attracting media attention with work she did at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Bohns and a colleague showed that posture has a lot to do with the amount of pain a person can tolerate. Adopting a dominant posture can make you feel stronger while adopting a more submissive posture can make pain feel worse. Bohns was interviewed on the CBC and her research has been included in the Toronto Star and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
The nominating committee established to identify a successor to Adel Sedra has begun its work. Sedra, who is also a professor in the electrical and computer engineering department, joined the University of Waterloo in 2003 and will finish his second term as dean next year. A memo written by Provost Geoff McBoyle says input and feedback are welcomed by members of the search committee or others until this Sunday, July 31. Sedra says he still has a lot to accomplish between now and July 1, 2012 when the new dean officially takes office.
Waterloo’s Autonoumous Robot Racing Team took all four top awards in the International Autonomous Robot Racing Competition held July 23 and 24 at the University of British Columbia. The team received the overall grand award and won first place in the design competition, the drag race competition and the circuit competition. The team’s winning entry was a redesigned version of the vehicle that crashed just before last year’s competition. [race website]
The design of Team Inove, made up of Amer Abu-Khajil and Jacqueline Doucet, both third-year civil engineering students, and Nader Alkadri and Josh Layton, both fourth-year urban planning students, will be redesigning the main entrance to the Waterloo campus. Team Inove beat out two other teams in the i3 Challenge, the student competition to design an element of the campus. The deciding factor for Team Inove was the elegance and simplicity of its design, said i3 Challenge committee chair Jeff Casello, a professor in the faculties of engineering and environment.
Waterloo systems design engineering students will showcase product designs offering innovative solutions to problems that can occur in sports activities. On July 22 12 student groups in a third-year systems design engineering course will present their work from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in room 1301 of the Davis Centre. The design prototypes address a variety problems including improving synchronization for dragon boating and reducing skidding in bicycle racing. [news release]
The official launch of the newly established University of Waterloo Centre for Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (CPAMI) took place July 13. Attendees included George Dixon, vice-president university research; Adel Sedra, dean of engineering; Manoj Sachdev, chair of electrical and computer engineering; and industrial partner representatives. The first director of the centre is Mohamed Kamel, an electrical and computer engineering professor. [DB article]
Peter Douglas, director of the university’s UAE campus, was recently interviewed by Gulfnews.com about Waterloo Engineering’s unique co-op program which is manadatory for all engineering students in Canada, as well as the UAE. “The idea behind our cooperative education program is a work and study experience offering students much more than an internship,” said Douglas, a chemical engineering professor. The first 15 chemical and civil UAE-campus engineering students will join the 3A classes in Waterloo starting January 2012 and will complete their degrees in Canada.