News

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering have created a new gel material, inspired by sea cucumbers, that could help heal soft-tissue injuries by providing a structure for cells to naturally regenerate within.

The moist, flexible hydrogel, the product of almost four years of research, was engineered so its mechanical properties can be tailored to work with a range of tissues including tendons, brains, muscles, organs, cartilage and skin.

Two retail and technology veterans with roots at Waterloo Engineering are using the lessons they learned to help retailers ensure corporate plans are efficiently executed at the store level.

Jeremy Pee (BASc ’99, mechanical engineering) and Herman Paek (BASc ’99, electrical engineering) launched Thri5 in 2024 after experiencing frustration in their careers with the costly disconnect between head office and individual stores.

A professor at Waterloo Engineering has a lot more material for his classes after winning one of the world’s wackiest academic prizes last week.

Dr. Zhao Pan and one of his students, Kaveeshan Thurairajah, were thrilled to accept the 2026 Ig Nobel Physics Prize in bright yellow raincoats in a sold-out, 1,500-seat theatre in Zurich, Switzerland with collaborators from two other universities.

Work by a Waterloo Engineering researcher that could make batteries safer, better and longer lasting was recently published in a leading academic journal.

Dr.Teng Cui, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, was lead author of a paper in Nature on research he conducted while he was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California.

A team led by two Waterloo Engineering professors has developed a battery-free sensor with promising potential applications to expand the reach of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.

“The legacy approach to sensors relies on local gateways and batteries, limiting scalability, adding environmental burden and increasing maintenance overhead,” said Dr. George Shaker, a professor of electrical and computer engineering.

A former student at Waterloo Engineering is now getting traction in Silicon Valley as the founder and chief executive officer of a technology startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to do home appraisals via a mobile app.

Humza Ahmed was studying mechanical engineering when he was bitten by the business bug and inspired by the entrepreneurship ecosystem at Waterloo to put a new twist on an occupation with deep roots in his family.

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering are using artificial intelligence (AI), data science and advanced mathematics to help save lives by predicting how fires behave in modern homes.

The new system tackles a growing challenge for fire researchers: modern furniture materials and increasingly airtight, energy-efficient homes can cause fires to behave differently than they did in the past. 

An autonomous aircraft company co-founded by an alumnus of Waterloo Engineering has grown from modest beginnings to the point where it has contracts and repeat sales with multiple agencies of the Canadian government.

Waterloo-based Ribbit, whose chief operating officer is alum Dr. Jeremy Wang (PhD ’23, mechanical and mechatronics engineering), is on a mission to bring efficient, reliable transportation to the world’s most remote locations.

A researcher at Waterloo Engineering is working to better understand how fires can start and spread when lithium-ion batteries fail, a critical problem as the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution drives the proliferation of power-hungry data centres.

Dr. Vinny Gupta, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, works in conjunction with fellow engineering professors including Dr. Michael Pope and Dr. Kyle Daun at the Fire Research Facility on campus.

An alumnus of Waterloo Engineering cites the wealth and variety of expertise on campus as a significant factor in the success of a robotics company he co-founded with three classmates from the mechatronics engineering program.

Ryan Gariepy (BASc ’09, MASc ’12) launched Clearpath Robotics in Kitchener in 2009 with fellow graduates Patrick Martinson, Matt Rendall and Bryan Webb. It was acquired by Rockwell Automation, a U.S.-based industrial automation company, in 2023.