News

Waterloo Engineering’s concrete toboggan team secured a podium finish at one of Canada’s most competitive student engineering challenges, placing third overall.

Competing at the 2025 Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race (GNCTR) in Montreal from January 22 to 26, Waterloo Engineering’s 26-member team excelled in multiple categories—earning first place in sustainability, second-place in theoretical design and technical report, and third-place in steering design, concrete reinforcement design and ski geometry design.

The University of Waterloo has appointed an alum from the Faculty of Engineering as interim vice-president, academic and provost effective July 1, 2025.

Dr. Thomas Duever earned his bachelor, masters and PhD degrees in Chemical Engineering from Waterloo. After three years as a research engineer in the pulp and paper industry, he returned to the University as a faculty member for 24 years.

A University of Waterloo co-op student played a pivotal role in advancing sustainable building practices at a local consulting and engineering firm that specializes in building science.

Recent Waterloo Engineering alum Nicholas Sterner (BASc ’24, architectural engineering) completed three co-op work terms at RDH Building Science Inc. Sterner made significant contributions to projects aimed at enhancing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reaffirming the value of co-op for students and employers.

A startup company co-founded by a Waterloo Engineering alumnus has secured $14 million in new backing to help clients with all aspects of intellectual property (IP).

New York-based Patlytics, which was co-founded by Paul Lee (BASc ’14, chemical engineering), has now raised $21 million in funding since its launch just a year ago.

The University of Waterloo’s Pearl Sullivan Engineering IDEAs Clinic hosted a hackathon for students from the Engineering and Health faculties to challenge their collaborative design skills with a real-world problem. 

Supported by the Yuen Family Foundation, the three-day Health Tech Innovation Challenge tasked 61 undergraduate students and one graduate student to develop technological solutions for hospital-induced delirium in elderly patients. 

Better detection and treatment of breast cancer are possible with new imaging technology developed by researchers at Waterloo Engineering.

The system leverages specific physical characteristics of breast tissue, such as density, and how the irregular packing of cells leads to differences in the way water molecules move in cancerous tissue compared to healthy tissue.

A Waterloo Engineering student has been recognized among top emerging aerospace leaders.

Shanaya Barretto, a third-year Mechatronics Engineering student, was recently named a 2025 Brooke Owens Fellow, a prestigious program offering paid internships and executive mentorship to outstanding undergraduate women and gender minorities in aerospace.

The University of Waterloo is known for its technological and scientific innovations that are shaping a better future for industries and communities worldwide.  

Waterloo Engineering is home to many of the University’s faculty, students and alumni who are conducting remarkable research to solve real problems. Here are eight innovations, from advancing cancer treatment to developing more environmentally friendly industrial processes, making a meaningful difference in the world today.  

An environmentally friendly innovation by Waterloo Engineering researchers unlocks the potential of graphene – a material known for its strength, conductivity and thermal properties – in a diverse range of new areas.

The research team found a way to create the world’s first all-graphene ink for use with 3D printers for potential applications in environmental cleanup, consumer electronics and other fields.

Waterloo Engineering researchers at the Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing Lab (MSAM) will lead a multi-million-dollar initiative to scale up sustainable metal additive manufacturing.

Dr. Ehsan Toyserkani and Dr. Mihaela Vlasea, co-directors of MSAM and professors of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, will lead the brand-new Consortium for Sustainable Scale-up in Metal Additive Manufacturing as part of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario’s $5 million investment.