News

An opinion piece in The Globe and Mail takes a look at the role Waterloo Region and the country needs to play in ethical artificial intelligence (AI).  

Mary Wells, the University of Waterloo's dean of engineering, and Mark Giesbrecht, the University of Waterloo's dean of math, and Chris Albinson, Communitech's chief executive officer and president, discuss the opportunity to lead the world "in creating and commercializing applied, ethical artificial intelligence, which will be critical to meeting the other big, gnarly, global challenges bearing down on us." 

The following message was sent by Mary Wells, dean of engineering, to engineering staff and faculty.

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great sadness, that I am writing to let you know of the passing of Sue Gooding, a long-serving staff member. Sue served our University and Faculty with unmatched dedication for an incredible 44 years. Sue died on Saturday July 24^th, 2021 after a courageous battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

Manh-Kien Tran will receive $50,000 annually for the next three years from the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship to further develop his research focused on building a smart cloud-based battery management system.

The new chemical engineering doctoral student believes advancements in energy storage systems will result in a safer, cleaner, and more energy-efficient society.

Mary Wells, dean of Waterloo Engineering, fondly remembers Pearl Sullivan in the spring 2021 issue of Waterloo Magazine.

Dean of the Faculty for seven years, Sullivan died in November 2020 after a 12-year battle with cancer.

"Under her leadership as the first woman dean of Waterloo Engineering from 2012 until 2019, the Faculty reimagined engineering education and research with revolutionary spaces including the spectacular Engineering 7 building and transformative programs that will ensure Waterloo remains a leader in engineering well into the future," writes Wells.

With people throughout the world now being immunized against COVID-19, many are questioning how mRNA vaccines work and what benefits they provide.

Bill Anderson, professor emeritus in chemical engineering, responds to common queries about the vaccines and their development. 

See Q and A with the experts: mRNA vaccine production for the full story.

Waterloo’s student-led autonomous vehicle team placed second in the final stage of the four-year international SAE AutoDrive Challenge.

The challenge, which ended last month, had teams convert a stock Chevrolet Bolt EV into a fully autonomous vehicle.

WATonomous completed the last leg of the competition with its best results to date, improving on the team’s third-place finish in the third year of the competition.

Travis Ratnam (BASc ’06. electrical engineering) remembers the first time he felt self-conscious about his grades.

In elementary school, the classroom bully went through everyone’s report cards, “trying to figure out who the dumbest kid was and concluded it was me,” he says.

Ratnam is using lessons learned from that early setback to help other children as the co-founder and CEO of Knowledgehook, a software platform that uses artificial intelligence to help teachers uncover each student’s unique learning needs.

Tony Capel (BASc ’70 and MASc ’73, electrical engineering) is the recipient of the 2021 Lord Kelvin Award from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

Federal funding of $8.2 million announced July 7 will accelerate Waterloo’s expertise in Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing (MSAM) and establish a collaborative consortium between post-secondary institutions and industry partners.

The Additive Manufacturing Alliance will help businesses throughout southern Ontario overcome barriers to adopting advanced manufacturing technologies by providing access to Waterloo's MSAM specialized 3D-printing expertise and equipment.

For over three decades, the now $20-million Waterloo Engineering Endowment Foundation (WEEF) has covered the cost of everything from significant pieces of equipment to Lego kits engineering students have put to good use.

Co-founders Avi Belinsky (BASc ’90, electrical engineering) and John Vellinga (BASc ’91, systems design engineering) came up with the idea for the fund over $2 beers in Carl Pollock Hall's POETs in 1989.