News

Five professors at Waterloo Engineering will receive a total of almost $874,000 under a federal program designed to give exceptional researchers the tools and equipment needed to become leaders in their fields.

The recipients are among 21 researchers campus-wide at the University of Waterloo announced today for almost $2.66 million in backing through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund.

Across the country, $77 million will go to support 332 research infrastructure projects at 50 universities.

Music artists can find new creative directions for their songwriting with a real-time system that uses artificial intelligence.

LyricJam was created by members of the University’s Natural Language Processing Lab led by Olga Vechtomova, a Waterloo Engineering professor cross-appointed in Computer Science.

The lab’s initial work led to the creation of a system that learns musical expressions of artists and generates lyrics in their style.

Local architect Roger Farwell (BArch 1977), known as a philanthropist, community builder and champion of the arts, died August 4 in Wellesley Township in a single-vehicle crash.

Just over $400,000 in federal funding was announced today for a cybersecurity project led by a Waterloo Engineering professor.

Sebastian Fischmeister, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, heads a six-member team developing an enhanced cybersecurity system to protect Canada’s energy infrastructure.

The project, which is backed by Natural Resources Canada, also involves Bruce Power and Palitronica Inc., a startup company with roots in Fischmeister’s lab, the Real-time Embedded Software Group.

Fourth-year students at the School of Architecture will showcase their ideas to keep the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo healthy, habitable, lively and attractive as they go through an unprecedented building boom.

Eight projects by 16 students make up an exhibit called Fuori le Mura/City at the Edge in the Crystal Ballroom at the Walper Hotel in downtown Kitchener from Aug. 10 to Aug. 13.

Two teams featuring Waterloo Engineering students took home $5,000 each at the recent Concept $5K pitch competition for spring 2021.

House AI and Maesos were among four winners at the virtual event, with one of the winners, MedAtlas, collecting an additional $5,000 for the top health-related idea.

An alumnus of Waterloo Engineering who went on to a professional football career will be honoured with a mural in his Ontario hometown after a successful campaign by a determined group of kids.

Students in a grades 7 and 8 French immersion class at J. Douglas Hodgson Elementary School urged politicians in Haliburton to recognize the achievements of Taly Williams (BASc ’94, civil engineering) and his sister Lesley Tashlin alongside five local athletes already featured on an arena wall.

A research project co-led by Marc Aucoin, a chemical engineering professor at Waterloo Engineering, is recruiting participants to help understand how our bodies build immunity to COVID-19.

Aucoin and co-lead Brian Dixon, a professor of biology, are working to understand the nature of immune responses in all members of the campus community, regardless of vaccination status.

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.