News

Born and raised in Calgary, Keith Cleland (MASc ‘22, chemical engineering) initially thought he would end up working in the oil industry. Interested in working for a sustainable future instead, Cleland spent his undergraduate degree researching a battery that would use a cheap and available resource — saltwater— to store renewable energy. 

Cleland continued developing his technology as part of his master’s degree at Waterloo Engineering where he met Ellsworth Bell (MASc ‘21, chemical engineering), a classmate working in the same lab. Together, they founded Aqua-Cell Energy Inc. with plans to commercialize a saltwater battery. 

The University of Waterloo’s Women in Engineering (WiE) program recently hosted 48 students at its annual Catalyst Conference.  

The event provides an opportunity for grade 11 girls and non-binary students to get a sense of what it is like to be an engineering student as they think about their post-secondary plans. 

An interdisciplinary team of students from the University of Waterloo walked away with the top prize of $500 at the GOODHack24 challenge.  

Waterloo Engineering bachelor students Milind Kumar, Humza Ahmed and Hossein Molavi teamed with Waterloo Math student Amin Mojtahed to win top prize for their Planet Profit software.   

Waterloo-based company Nfinite Nanotech has raised $6.5 million USD in seed funding to scale its nanomaterial product that will help divert plastic waste from landfills.

Co-founded in 2020 by Waterloo Engineering alumni Chee Hau Teoh (MASc ’20), Jhi Yong Loke (MASc ’21) and Dr. Kevin Musselman, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, the company is developing a coating for sustainable and biodegradable food packaging.

Professor Boxin Zhao has been awarded the 2024 Ontario Professional Engineering Association (OPEA) Research and Development Engineering Medal.

The award is given to individuals who have advanced engineering knowledge and have developed useful and novel applications.

Waterloo Engineering researchers have developed a new method that can lead to significant energy savings in buildings.  

Led by Dr. Mohamad Araji, director of Waterloo's Architectural Engineering Program and head of the Symbiosis Lab, the team created an AI-powered platform that quantifies heat flow to better identify areas of heat loss in buildings. 

Canada’s push toward vehicle electrification is intensifying. Come 2035, 100 per cent of new vehicles sold must be electric. This is fuelling demand for people trained to develop next-generation EV batteries.

Waterloo Engineering alum Dr. Mohammad Farkhondeh (PhD ‘16, chemical engineering) is a Modelling Group Leader and co-op employer committed to talent development. In this Q&A, Farkhondeh and his recent co-op hire, third-year chemical engineering student Brendan Ng, expand on the value of continuous learning — at university and in the workplace.

The Department of Management Science and Engineering was one of three finalists for the 2024 INFORMS UPS George D. Smith Prize.

Dr. Sibel Alumur Alev, Claudia De Fazio (BASc management engineering), Dr. Mark Hancock and Dr. Ada Hurst showcased their department and programs at the 2024 INFORMS Analytics Conference in Orlando, Florida.

This opinion piece by Dr. Mary Wells, dean of Waterloo Engineering, and Dr. Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher, an associate professor in the English Language and Literature department, appeared in the Hill Times, a popular news source for Canadian politics and government news.

From health care to manufacturing, clean technologies, finance, and many other industries, there is growing hype around artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to revolutionize operations. 

A team of Waterloo Engineering researchers attended the finals of the prestigious KUKA Innovation Award competition.

Team Collaborative Deliciousness, led by Dr. Yue Hu, created the IISYest Baker, a robotic solution that enables human-robot interaction to create artisanal-grade pastries.