News

Six University of Waterloo academics - all women - are helping The Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA) address the challenges facing Canada's aviation sector. 

Part of this team is Dr. Mihaela Vlasea, an associate professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering. Her expertise in metal additive manufacturing — popularly known as 3D printing — could be key to building better plans for a better aviation sector. 

Waterloo Engineering's Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business will launch Canada’s first PhD program for emerging entrepreneurs this fall.

Conrad School's PhD program in entrepreneurship and organization will offer emerging entrepreneurship researchers the opportunity to rigorously study human behaviour and organization with a focus on entrepreneurial contexts. The program's core focus on management and organizations is unlike any other traditional business school doctoral programs offered by Canadian universities. 

The unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio is at a historic low across Canada, partly because baby boomers who are close to retirement age have left the workforce and not enough younger people are coming in behind them.

Dr. Nada Basir, a professor at the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business, says there is an aspect to this conundrum that is rarely talked about: providing opportunities for women, particularly immigrant and racialized women, to get jobs or create new businesses amid this changing economy.

An environmental company launched by two recent Waterloo Engineering graduates has been awarded $500,000 in federal funding to help move Canada towards a zero plastic waste future.

A Friendlier Company, co-founded by Kayli Dale and Jacqueline Hutchings (both BASc ’20, chemical engineering) in 2019, is a sustainable food packaging provider that reduces plastic waste through reusable product design.

The provincial government’s Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) has renewed its partnership with Communitech and the University of Waterloo to accelerate the regional development and commercialization of next-generation electric, connected and autonomous vehicle and mobility technologies.

Renewal of the three-year partnership includes an updated mandate for regional technology development sites (RTDS). These sites will focus on aspects of the automotive and smart mobility sector, such as hardware, security and data analytics to build safer, cleaner and more efficient transportation.

Six Waterloo Engineering undergraduate students placed among the top three at this year’s Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC), held last month in Engineering 7 at the University of Waterloo.

Teams won first place in the Innovative Design category and third in the Re-Engineering challenge.

A pair of undergraduate students at Waterloo Engineering are using their technical skills to help house victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Krish Shah and Adrian Gri, who are studying software engineering, helped build a website called TakeShelter to connect people who need housing with those who have extra space in their homes.

A professor at Waterloo Engineering has been named a fellow of an international organization dedicated to improving the design and development of educational materials, particularly in mathematics, science and technology.

Dr. Alexander Wong, a professor of systems design engineering, joins educators from around the world as a fellow of the International Society for Design and Development in Education.

A tiny robot that could one day help doctors perform surgery was inspired by the incredible gripping ability of geckos and the efficient locomotion of inchworms.

The new robot, developed by researchers at Waterloo Engineering, utilizes ultraviolet (UV) light and magnetic force to move on any surface, even up walls and across ceilings.

It takes a great artist to create a great violin.

The result is even more inspiring if that artist is an intrepid scientist and first-rate engineer. George Yu (BASc ’86, systems design engineering) is all of these things and more.