News

The University of Waterloo is “Canada’s Silicon Valley” and the place to be “if you’ve got a big technology idea to turn into a billion-dollar company,” according to the annual Globe and Mail Canadian University Report released this week.

The report highlights Waterloo’s “massive co-op program”, the largest in the world, and points out that the university offers Canada’s only undergraduate degree in nanotechnology engineering.

Ahmed Abdelrahman, a mechanical engineering master's student, won the top Peer Recognition award in the Poster Presentation/Competition at the recent Canadian Wind Energy Association meeting and annual research meeting of the NSERC funded Wind Energy Strategic Network (WESNet) held in Toronto. His winning poster was entitled Experimental Testing of Load Alleviation using Trailing Edge Flaps: Rig Design and Instrumentation.

Waterloo Engineering's student design centre was named the Sedra Student Design Centre at a ceremony held October 18.The 20,000-square-foot Sedra Student Design Centre is the largest facility of its kind in North America. It is home to more than 20 teams of students, who compete internationally and work on design projects including a new Formula One car, an autonomous robot, a flying quadrotor and a hybrid vehicle.

The winners of this year's Waterloo Engineering awards were honoured at the annual Faculty of Engineering dinner held on October 10.

The Faculty’s Teaching Excellence Award recognizes outstanding teaching and commitment to the enrichment of Waterloo Engineering education. This year’s deserving recipients are David Brush of civil and environmental engineering, Keith Hipel of systems design engineering, and David Wang of electrical and computer engineering.

Xtreme Labs, founded by a Waterloo electrical and computer engineering graduate, has been purchased by California-based Pivotal to expand its mobile space market. Co-founded in 2007 by Amar Varma (BASc '99, Elect), Xtreme Labs is one of Canada's top mobile developers.  Farhan Thawar, a Waterloo computer science and electrical engineering graduate, is the company's vice president, engineering.  

According to Xtreme Labs, all the company's 350 jobs will stay in Canada.

Mahsa Shayan, a civil and environmental engineering PhD student, was honoured with 2013 Toth Award for the Best Student Paper in Canadian Hydrogeology by the International Association of Hydrogeologists.  She received the award at the annual IAH-CNC/CGS groundwater conference held recently in Montreal. Shayan's doctoral supervisors are Neil Thomson, chair of civil and environmental engineering, and Jim Barker of earth and environmental sciences.  

The life span of a single tweet may only be seconds, but the buzz surrounding Twitter and Square founder, Jack Dorsey's, visit to campus is still resounding weeks later.

During Dorsey's visit to Waterloo Region, hundreds of students, faculty and staff attended his talk at the University of Waterloo titled, "Punk, Dropout, Massage Therapist", but only a select group of students attended the exclusive lunch with Dorsey hosted by Communitech. 

Edward Cyr not only competes on two different varsity teams, he also achieves excellence in the classroom. Cyr, a mechanical engineering master's student, was part of the University of Waterloo's 2013 men's curling national championship team and competed on the Warrior's swimming team  while maintaining an overall average of 95.5 per cent.

A successful entrepreneur who has made his mark in the high-tech world by providing data protection is returning to the University of Waterloo after launching a new fund to support budding entrepreneurs studying engineering.

Tim Leschuk (BASc '13, Chem) has been honoured with a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, which recognizes top academic achievement and leadership skills. Leschuk is one of three University of Waterloo scholarship recipients who will each receive $50,000 a year, for three years. His proposed research project involves the application of nanotechnology for water purification and builds on the university's established excellence in these areas.