News

Coated seeds that hold moisture until it rains are one of several innovations Waterloo Engineering researchers have developed while working with government, academic and industry partners in the agricultural sector.

“The problems we face today are complex, and their solutions demand equally complex expertise,” said Dr. Christian Euler, a chemical engineering professor. “By collaborating across disciplines, we move toward addressing these problems and strengthening Ontario's food resilience.”

Two of the country's biggest student-led tech events landed in Waterloo this September, attracting students, alumni, business founders and investors from around the world, reinforcing the region's status as the place for startups and tech talent in Canada.

Hack the North, now in its 13th year, welcomed more than 1,000 participants for a 36-hour hacking sprint that produced 353 projects. Waterloo Tech Week — in only its second year — connected founders, talent scouts and venture capitalists across the startup community.

Three Waterloo Engineering students have earned a national fellowship that supports global leadership and entrepreneurship.

Mechatronics Engineering student Tobias Grether-Murray, Electrical Engineering student Jordan Leis and Systems Design Engineering student Taira Mehta have been named 2026 Cansbridge Fellows, a competitive program that provides hands-on international experience through a self-organized internship in Asia. Grether-Murray and Leis are scheduled for winter 2027 placements, and Mehta for summer 2027.

Two retail and technology veterans with roots at Waterloo Engineering are using the lessons they learned to help retailers ensure corporate plans are efficiently executed at the store level.

Jeremy Pee (BASc ’99, mechanical engineering) and Herman Paek (BASc ’99, electrical engineering) launched Thri5 in 2024 after experiencing frustration in their careers with the costly disconnect between head office and individual stores.

A homegrown success story written by an alumnus of Waterloo Engineering marked a major milestone – cumulative revenue topping $1 billion – by unveiling a public sculpture yesterday at its headquarters in the David Johnston Research and Technology Park on the north campus.

TextNow was launched 2009 as a co-op placement by student Derek Ting (BASc ’10) to help pay his bills while he was earning his undergraduate degree in computer engineering at Waterloo.

A Waterloo Engineering professor has been recognized as one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40® for 2026, one of the country’s most recognized honours for young leaders.

Dr. Michael Benoit, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, is one of the 2026 honourees named today in the Financial Post. Founded in 1995, the annual leadership award recognizes exceptional achievement among 40 outstanding Canadians under the age of 40.

Three teams from the University of Waterloo have swept the podium at a national student design competition, taking all three top prizes for their creative use of exposed structural steel.

James Miller and Luke Carone earned the Award of Excellence — the competition's top honour — for their project Resonance. Yuxuan Peng and Jiachen Li placed second with Thirteen Ascents, and Jai Singh and Carissa Perrella took third with UBC Tropical Conservatory. All three projects were recognized in the 2025-2026 Architectural Student Design Competition, hosted by the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CISC).

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering have teamed up with doctors in the local community to help identify and reduce critical treatment delays in stroke cases.

The partnership involved experts in the Department of Management Science and members of the research and stroke teams at Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN), and an analysis of 218 acute stroke cases over a three-year period.

Waterloo Engineering researchers and medical clinicians are collaborating on a testing tool to help assess the viability of donated lungs and potentially improve patient outcomes in transplant cases.

The new device, called MetaboSense, was developed during a joint project involving Waterloo researchers and doctors at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, including its leading lung transplant program.

A Waterloo Engineering professor has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, one of the country's highest academic honours.

Dr. Raafat Mansour, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was recognized for his internationally renowned leadership in radio-frequency (RF), microwave and micro-electromechanical systems engineering.