News

Nicolas Quintana (BASc ‘24, electrical and computer engineering), crossed the stage at convocation this year cheered on by his family of University of Waterloo alumni and ex-faculty.

In this Q&A, Quintana shares highlights from his student experience, and how his family’s close ties to each other and to Waterloo helped set him up for success. 

Waterloo Engineering alumni Philip Toy and Robert Van den Berg launched the Class of 1985 Mechanical Engineering Bursary in 2016 to help first-year students kick off their studies with less financial stress. 

Thanks to them and their classmates' commitment and generosity, Toy and Van den Berg created an endowed bursary that is managed by the University and supports more students each year with a higher award value.

Albert Jiang, a recipient of the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship for his research into climate change adaption, will continue his work at the University of Waterloo cross-appointed to the faculties of Engineering and Environment. 

Jiang will work alongside Dr. Kumaraswamy Ponnambalam, a professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering and Dr. Simron Singh, a research chair and professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED).

An international research team’s data analysis model could help California’s strawberry farmers prepare their harvests for adverse conditions caused by warming temperatures. 

The team included postdoctoral fellow Dr. Poornima Unnikrishnan and professor Dr. Kumaraswamy Ponnambalam from the University of Waterloo's Department of Systems Design Engineering and Dr. Fakhri Karray from the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi. Their research presents implications for the availability and cost of produce imported from California to Canada.   

A Waterloo Engineering team from the Vision and Image Processing (VIP) Lab is working with the Inuit-driven Arctic Eider Society (AES) to use deep learning to detect hazardous ice areas.  

Led by Neil Brubacher (BASc ‘21 and MASc ‘24, systems design engineering), the team partnered with AES to add data about ice conditions to an app used by locals in Nunavut.  

Kitchener-based biotech startup Ceragen has secured US$2 million in seed funding to expand operations and develop its technology in additional countries.  

Waterloo Engineering alum Matthew Rose (BASc '21, mechanical and mechatronics engineering) and Danielle Rose co-founded the company in 2021. The startup employs microbiology to aid food production and advance sustainable agriculture and food security. 

Dr. Jennifer Howcroft received the Ron Britton Engineering Education Vanguard Award at the 2024 Conference of the Canadian Engineering Education Association – Association Canadienne de l’éducation en génie (CEEA-ACÉG).

The award is given annually to a person who, early in their career, has committed to the development of engineering education in Canada through practice and research, and contributed to the field in a way that demonstrates their commitment to innovation, change and improvement in engineering education.

A forensic investigation done in 1945 by the British Army concluded that between 340 and 389 people died on Alderney, an English Channel Island, during the Second World War.

Dr. Robert Jan van Pelt, a professor at Waterloo Engineering's School of Architecture, helped review the evidence to determine the most accurate death count possible. The findings, while higher than the original, put to bed conspiracy theories claiming the true death toll was in the thousands.

Three teams of Waterloo Architecture undergraduate students presented papers at the 2024 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture conference.

The students were the only undergraduates to have papers accepted at the conference, and they received recognition for engaging in research at this early stage of their academic journey.

Waterloo Engineering researchers have paired inexpensive wireless communication antennas with artificial intelligence (AI) to improve how doctors can detect bone fractures.

Led by Dr. Omar Ramahi, an electrical and computer engineering professor, the team has created a new system to detect bone fractures that is fast, accurate and safe.