News

Chemical engineering professor Marc Aucoin has been appointed academic director for WatPD-Engineering.  Aucoin's appointment runs from May 1, 2013 until April 30, 2016.  He succeeds Gordon Stubley, who is a mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor and the associate dean of teaching for the Faculty.  Stubley served as the inaugural academic director for WatPD-Engineering over the past three years.   

Waterloo Engineering's new 1,400-kilogram payload crash sled was featured in action on a recent episode of Daily Planet. The crash sled provides vital information about the impact resistance and energy absorption capacity of light weight automotive structures. Interviewed on the program is Michael Worswick, a professor and Canada Research Chair in the University of Waterloo’s mechanical and mechatronics engineering department. Worswick is leading a research team that is working to develop lighter, safer automobiles.

Hydro One has announced a new partnership with the University of Waterloo, Ryerson University, University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Western University to increase enrolment and career opportunities for female students pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

John Wen, a Waterloo mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor, has been awarded funding from BioFuelNet Canada for his grant proposal entitled Emission Performance and Catalytic Combustion of Fuel Blended with 3-OH Methyl Esters. Wen will receive initial funding of $68,000 towards his research into developing next generation biofuels. 

Brendan McDonald, a chemical engineering (nanotechnology) master’s student, captured the second place 2012 Excellence in Thermoset Polymer Research Award for his paper entitled Biomimetic Micro-Structured Surfaces: Pattern Transfer and Fabrication of Icephobic Epoxy Surfaces. McDonald, who is supervised by chemical engineering professor Boxin Zhao, presented his paper at the Thermoset Resin Formulators Association (TRFA) annual meeting held at the end of October in Orlando, Florida. 

Ibraheem Khan (MASc, PhD, mechanical) presented his Waterloo Engineering research on shape memory alloys during his keynote address at the Medical Manufacturing Innovations Conference held in Toronto at the end of October. Khan's doctoral thesis was on the discovery of  Multiple Memory Material Technology for which he and Norman Zhou, a mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor, are co-inventors. Kahn is currently president and CTO of Smarter Alloys and a research associate at the University of Waterloo's Centre for Advanced Materials Joining.

Simarjeet Saini of electrical and computer engineering had an article published about his silicon nanowire research in the print and online editions of LaserWorld magazine.“Low-cost measurements in optics are the holy grail for photonics researchers,” says Saini in the article.

A paper written by Rafael Lotufo, an electrical and computer doctoral candidate, Zeeshan Malik, a computer science master's student, and their supervisor Krzysztof Czarnecki, an electrical and computer engineering professor, won the best paper award at the International Conference on Software Maintenance held in Riva del Garda, Italy. Their paper, entitled Modelling the ‘Hurried’ Bug Report Reading Process to Summarize Bug Reports, was singled out from 181 submissions. 

Nigel Swytink-Binnema, a mechanical engineering master's student, won the top award in the poster presentation/competition at the Canadian Wind Energy Association meeting and annual research meeting of the NSERC-funded Wind Energy Strategic Network (WESNet) held in Toronto from October 15 to 18. The poster was judged by faculty members from the 16 universities participating in the cross-Canada network. Swytink-Binnema is supervised by WESNet member David Johnson who is a Waterloo mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor.