News

Two professors from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have been recognized with prestigious IEEE Canada awards for their contributions to electrical and electronics engineering.

Dr. Alfred Yu has been named the 2026 recipient of the IEEE Canada Outstanding Engineer Award for his transformative innovations in next-generation ultrasound imaging technology, while Dr. Xuemin (Sherman) Shen has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the IEEE Canada A.G.L. McNaughton Award for his contributions to wireless and ultra-band communication networks.

A new quantum computing startup co-founded by Waterloo Engineering professor Dr. Christopher Wilson is accelerating toward commercialization with $10.7 million in funding and a public listing just six months after launch.

QuantumCore — spun out of research at the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) — is developing an amplifier that boosts read-out signals from superconducting quantum chips operating at near absolute zero temperatures. 

Hyperlume, a deep-tech company based in Ottawa, has been acquired by San Jose-based semiconductor firm Credo Technology Group for $128 million.

Hyperlume was co-founded by University of Waterloo alum Dr. Mohsen Asad (PhD '20, electrical and computer engineering) in 2022. Its technology makes AI data centres faster, cheaper and more energy efficient.

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.

Six Faculty of Engineering graduate students were named finalists in the 2026 GRADflix competition, with two taking top honours for creative videos explaining their research to a general audience.

Chemical engineering student Chen and electrical and computer engineering student Pan earned first- and second-place recognition in the University of Waterloo contest, hosted by Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. 

Student startup Colare makes it easier for an employer to hire the right engineer for the job. The company uses simulation-based assessments to test candidates on real-world engineering tasks, such as CAD modelling and printed circuit board design.

Waterloo Engineering student Nain Abdi, inspired by his own co-op hiring experiences, co-founded Colare in 2025 with Esther Thomas to improve how engineering talent is evaluated.

The Faculty of Engineering is mourning the passing of a long-time leader whose work in electromagnetics helped shape modern antenna research and guided generations of students and colleagues.

Dr. Robert (Bob) H. MacPhie, a Distinguished Professor Emeritus and former faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, passed away on December 3, 2025, at the age of 92. 

A new Faculty award has been introduced to honour the resilience that carries many doctoral researchers through periods of profound personal or systemic challenge.

This year’s inaugural recipient, doctoral candidate Ahmed El Ashmawy, was recognized for completing major milestones in his electrical and computer engineering PhD while navigating extended family illness, caregiving responsibilities and significant personal loss.

A Waterloo Engineering research team earned major international recognition for advancing multimodal approaches to continuous sign language understanding.

Electrical and Computer Engineering master’s student Md Rezwanul Haque and alumnus S. M. Taslim Uddin Raju (MASc ’25, Electrical and Computer Engineering) earned recognition at the IEEE/CVF International Conference on Computer Vision 2025 for a paper supervised by Dr. Fakhri Karray. 

A research team led by Waterloo Engineering professors received $2 million in new federal funding to safeguard Canada’s critical cybersecurity infrastructure by identifying and countering threats that could emerge through the supply chain.

Led by Dr. Sebastian Fischmeister, an electrical and computer engineering professor, and Dr. Michael Mayer, a professor in mechanical and mechatronics engineering, the Materials-based Cybersecurity in Electronics (MATSEC) project brings together a collaborative team of Waterloo Engineering researchers.