News

On June 15, 1,358 Waterloo Engineering graduates received degrees in two convocation ceremonies. Among the award recipients were Duane Cronin of mechanical and mechatronics engineering who was honoured with a Distinguished Teacher Award, and Jonathan Eyolfson of electrical and computer engineering who received the Amit and Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student. The Alumni Gold Medal was awarded to Zachary Robert Gowanlock and the Governor General's Silver Medal went to Steven Derek Yang.

A first in Canada, The Engineer of the Future Trust will provide a pool of student support, bridge financing and discretionary micro-seed funding for budding entrepreneurs at Waterloo Engineering.

Says Dean Pearl Sullivan: “Our students are driven to succeed, with a strong entrepreneurial tenacity and an innate desire to make a difference in the world. The Engineer of the Future Trust addresses the challenge to incubate student success in a fast evolving global economy. Our students can pivot faster with fewer entanglements – if they have the resources.”  

Bill Anderson of chemical engineering has been reappointed as director of admissions for Waterloo Engineering.  Anderson, who has been in the role since 2007, will begin his next term as director on January 1, 2014.  Philippe Bezaire, associate director of admissions, will serve as acting director of admissions from July 1 to December 31, 2013 while Anderson is on sabbatical.  In a memo announcing the reappointment engineering dean Pearl Sullivan says that the value of Anderson's contributions is seen in the new cohort of students the Faculty welcomes each fall.

The University of Waterloo Robotics team came within a hair's breadth of successfully completing the Level 1 of the Sample Return Robot Challenge, a part of NASA's Centennial Challenges prize program.

The event, hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute from June 5-7 in Worcester, Mass., drew robotics teams from the United States, Canada and Estonia to compete for a total of $1.5 million in NASA prize money.

Following on the New York Times naming the University of Waterloo “one of the world’s best technology schools”, the university continues to build its reputation for entrepreneurship internationally with USA Today referring to the area as a “the most vibrant start-up community in Canada” and Venture Beat reporting on the area’s “very high proportion of startups to population” and “unique” academic/industrial mentoring partnership. The Financial Post drew attention to Engineering successes including Thalmic Labs and BufferBox, concluding: “Where can you hire the best engineers and keep them?

The Globe and Mail recently published a special report titled, "Engineering in Canada, Sky's the limit", highlighting advancements in engineering education, research, outreach initiatives, and sectors experiencing growth and recruiting challenges.  

Musa Chunge, who will convocate with a BASc in civil engineering next month, has been awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which is one of the most prestigious international scholarships.   

Chunge was one of 51 recipients out of more than 3,500 applicants who were evaluated on criteria such as outstanding intellectual ability, leadership potential, commitment to improving the lives of others, and a good fit between the applicant's qualifications and aspirations and the postgraduate program at Cambridge for which the individual applied.

James Anthony Usas, a School of Architecture master's student, has been honoured with a Gold Remi for Experimental Drama for his film House of the Gathering, by the 2013 WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, based in Houston. House of the Gathering is based on the history of Kitchener, starting from when the city was known as Berlin. It was an official selection at the 2012 Grand River Film Festival and a feature-length version will go into production next April as part of the Multicultural Cinema Club's P3 Program.