News

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering have created technology to safely control and coordinate autonomous robots to perform routine tasks in hospitals and long-term care facilities.

The system, developed to help address a projected global nursing shortage, features ceiling-mounted sensor nodes equipped with cameras, LiDAR (light detection and ranging), an onboard processor and a 5G WiFi communication interface to connect to the cloud.

Researchers at a Waterloo Engineering lab have partnered with a leading data analytics company to advance insight into the fast-paced play in professional hockey.

The Vision and Image Processing (VIP) Research Group is collaborating with Stathletes, an Ontario-based company that provides data and problems for members to tackle using computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.

The University of Waterloo is home to the largest engineering school in Canada. Founded in 1957 to train skilled engineers for local industries, the institution has been central to the Waterloo Region’s economic growth.

Waterloo’s reputation is underscored by its internationally renowned co-op program and entrepreneurial ethos. Its global co-op employer network of more than 8,000 organizations in 70 countries — from Fortune 500 leaders to tech startups — hire Waterloo talent, giving them a head start in the workforce. 

Two interdisciplinary capstone teams — each including Waterloo Engineering students — are partnering with Princess Margaret Cancer Centre to solve real clinical and research challenges.

Team CT Optimizers built a machine learning model and dashboard prototype to automate how the cancer centre fills last-minute CT scan slots, reducing the manual, time-sensitive work currently handled by patient flow coordinators. A second team, We Dream in Voxels, extended an existing two-dimensional tumour drug-mapping model into three dimensions and rebuilt it in Python, achieving speeds more than 100 times faster than the original.

Waterloo Engineering students claimed podium finishes across all four categories at Canada's most prestigious engineering student competition.

The 2026 Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC), hosted at the Université de Sherbrooke, saw every qualifying Waterloo team finish on the podium. Yaxin Wang and Matthew Ko (biomedical engineering) took first place in the Consulting category, while Alanna Rudolph (mechatronics engineering) and Eva Siao (computer engineering) secured second place in the Debate category.

ThinkLabs AI, a specialized AI development and deployment company, has secured $39-million to scale its physics-informed artificial intelligence platform for electric utility companies.

Founded in 2024 by Waterloo Engineering alum Joshua Wong (MASc '10, electrical and computer engineering), the investment will power the company’s capabilities to help utility providers modernize power grid infrastructure for electricity-hungry AI data centres.

Dr. Catherine Burns, a professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering and Canada Research Chair in Human Factors in Healthcare Systems, has received the University of Waterloo’s Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision.

As director of the Advanced Interface Design Lab, Burns has built an internationally recognized research program in human-centred design and artificial intelligence in healthcare, attracting more than $27 million in funding and producing more than 330 publications.

Breathing unhealthy air could be routine for almost one in three Americans by 2100 due to climate change, modelling led by researchers at Waterloo Engineering shows.

The new study found that about 100 million people in the United States will live in areas where average air quality during smog season – which runs from the beginning of May to the end of September – is poor enough to trigger alerts advising vulnerable people to stay indoors. 

Twelve fourth-year Waterloo Engineering teams competed in the 2026 Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design. A panel of industry judges awarded more than $100,000 across all 12 teams. 

The teams pitched a wide array of solutions — from a wearable cooling device for menopausal hot flashes to an AI tool that automates body camera redaction for law enforcement.

A second-year student in the biomedical engineering program has been recognized as the co-op student of the year for Waterloo Engineering.

Aiden Sarrafzadeh was cited for his contributions during a co-op term as a research assistant at Women's College Hospital.