The Globe and Mail recently published a special report titled, "Engineering in Canada, Sky's the limit", highlighting advancements in engineering education, research, outreach initiatives, and sectors experiencing growth and recruiting challenges.
The 2012 Waterloo Engineering Awards dinner held on November 22 honoured engineering's exceptional students, alumni and a friend of the faculty. More than 2,500 students received awards this year for everything from top marks to extracurricular activities such as leadership, community engagement, and involvement in athletics.
A number of awards were distributed at the event, including:
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.
Waterloo Engineering students had their chance to impress Canadian business leaders on the October 31 all-student episode of CBC's Dragons' Den. Hongwei Liu, an electrical and computer engineering student, and Desmond Choi, a University of Waterloo arts student, pitched their company MappedIn's smartphone application that helps people navigate through malls.
Waterloo Engineering start-up BufferBox is launching a network of parcel pickup locations at GO Train stations after landing a contract with Metrolinx, the agency that oversees GO Transit stations in Ontario. Beginning with installations in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), BufferBox will enable GO Transit riders to conveniently pick up goods purchased online at a BufferBox in their local GO Station.
As students return to school, Waterloo Collegiate Institute's Janelle Tam was featured in the September 4 edition of Premier Dalton McGuinty's blog. Janelle is the daughter of Dr. Michael Tam, a faculty member in Waterloo's Department of Chemical Engineering and a member of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology.
Engineering's alumni list officially increased June 16 with the convocation of 1,359 students in two ceremonies. Highlights included the first class of 40 management engineering students receiving their degrees. The management engineering program was established in 2007 to provide undergraduate students with the "engineering education required to understand, design, implement, and manage complex management systems upon which organizations depend."
William Tatham and Réal (Ray) Tanguay, both strong supporters of engineering education at the University of Waterloo, will receive honorary doctorates during the university's spring convocation ceremonies on June 16.
On Tuesday, April 3, the University of Waterloo's Baja SAE design team unveiled their 2012 all-terrain vehicle in Engineering's Student Design Centre. Designed over the Spring and Fall 2011 school terms and constructed between January and March, the car will take part in a competition in Portland, Oregon, from May 2-5, 2012.
On Saturday March 31st, the very last day of National Engineering Month, University of Waterloo Engineering was taken over by 112 Girl Guides and their leaders! The girls came from Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, New Dundee, Ayr, Baden and Stratford to participate in our Engineering Badge Day for Girl Guides.