News

A professor in the Faculty of Engineering has been recognized for more than a decade of hands-on, inclusive teaching that has reshaped how students in civil and environmental engineering experience foundational concepts.

Dr. Rania Al-Hammoud, Professor, Teaching Stream, and Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has received the 2026 Distinguished Teacher Award — the University of Waterloo’s highest honour for teaching excellence, awarded to those with a sustained record of excellence spanning at least five years.

Waterloo Engineering graduate Jarett Dewbury (BASc ’26, biomedical engineering) crossed the stage at convocation this month and is now heading to MIT to do full-time research in advanced AI for health-care applications.

Dewbury is the winner of this year’s Pearl Sullivan Emerging Global Leaders (PS EGL) Award, one of the Faculty of Engineering's highest student honours, in recognition of his work as a student to make advanced AI more accessible in health care and across Waterloo's student community.

More than 1,800 Waterloo Engineering students crossed the convocation stage this June, completing degrees that represent years of rigorous study, co-op experience and hard-won growth. Across four ceremonies held June 19 and 20, 1,473 undergraduate, 324 master's and 77 PhD graduates were recognized by the Faculty of Engineering.

University leaders, honorary degree recipients and student valedictorians shared in the celebration, offering reflections on what the class has accomplished and what lies ahead.

Dr. Chris Rennick, Engineering Educational Developer at the Pearl Sullivan Engineering IDEAs Clinic, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Isadore T. Davis Award for Excellence in Collaboration of Engineering Education and Industry, one of the top honours bestowed by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

The award recognizes individuals who make a mark in the collaborative efforts between engineering education and industry toward the improvement of partnerships that advance learning, scholarship and engagement.

Hydro One has renewed its University Engineering Partnership, that includes the University of Waterloo, with a $1.2 million investment.

The funding will support more than 60,000 students across four partner institutions, expanding outreach, mentorship and career development programming from K–12 through to employment.

A Waterloo Engineering graduate student is among four University of Waterloo students honoured this year for outstanding contributions in student teaching.

Jeffrey Lee, a PhD student in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, received the Amit & Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student alongside recipients from the faculties of Environment, Math and Science.

A Waterloo Engineering doctoral student has been appointed to the board of directors of a provincial not-for-profit that works to accelerate the transformation of post-secondary digital-by-design education in Ontario.

Redwan Siddiqui, a PhD student in the Department of Management Science and Engineering (Management of Technology stream), began his three-year term as a board director of eCampusOntario in April 2026. 

A lightweight material created by researchers at Waterloo Engineering could spare health-care workers from chronic pain by replacing the heavy lead now used in X-ray aprons to provide protection from radiation.

Made from a soft, silicone-based plastic mixed with nanoparticles of tungsten, the lead alternative reduces the weight of X-ray aprons by almost 90 per cent while still offering a similar level of protection.

The Insight to Creation Speaker Series brings Waterloo Engineering alumni back to campus for honest, unscripted conversations with students about career journeys, bold decisions and what it really takes to build something meaningful.  

In this session, Dean Mary Wells welcomed three graduates from the electrical and computer engineering class of 2001 —Thiru Sinnathamby, Vice President of Software Engineering at Nvidia, and Shao Xia and Terry Guo, co-founders of LotusFlare — whose shared starting point led to strikingly different destinations.

A new monitoring system developed at Waterloo Engineering could save lives and significantly reduce health-care costs by quickly detecting infections in brain-injury cases in intensive care units.

About 25,000 hospital patients in the United States alone each year require drains to remove excess brain fluid due to traumatic brain injuries and other conditions, including hydrocephalus and brain hemorrhage.