News

A professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering has received the University of Waterloo's most prestigious academic honour.

Dr. John McPhee, the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Biomechatronic System Dynamics, was named a University Professor at this week's Board of Governors meeting — a designation recognizing exceptional scholarly achievement and international pre-eminence. Waterloo awards the designation to at most three faculty members each year.

In 2025, Waterloo Engineering’s Outreach programs reached more than 41,500 young people — a 30 per cent increase from 2024 and more than triple the 13,500 participants served in 2017.  

With support from donors, partners and sponsors, the programs are intentionally designed to engage young people who have historically been excluded from STEM — girls, 2SLGBTQIA+ youth, Black and Indigenous youth, youth living with disabilities and newcomers to Canada.  

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.

There’s a myth that if you want to build something great, you have to leave Canada.  

University of Waterloo alum Jeff Shiner (BMath ’92), executive chairman of the board at 1Password, and Chris Albinson, co-founder and managing director of True North Fund, make the case for why Waterloo students will do better to build their companies in Canada than in the United States (U.S.). 

Waterloo Engineering is mourning the loss of Dr. Sinnathamby Thambithurai (S.T.) Ariaratnam, one of the earliest members of the Department of Civil Engineering. He passed away on April 2, 2026. He was 92.

Ariaratnam joined the University of Waterloo in September 1962, recruited as one of the institution's first engineering professors when it was only a few years old. He taught in the department for nearly four decades until his retirement in 2001, and was named Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 2002.

A group of fourth-year mechanical engineering students on the Waterloo Rocketry team designed, built and tested a fully reusable rocket engine for their Capstone Design project.

Called Project Sisyphus, the engine will make test flying rockets significantly easier and more affordable for competitive rocketry teams.

Wygo, an event platform that helps people build communities outside, has secured nearly $1.6 million in pre-seed funding to grow business.

Co-founded in 2023 by Jocelyne Murphy and Christopher Oka (both BASc ’25, systems design engineering), Wygo supports community builders. The company helps people create events that attract attendees and helps them manage the finances of running events.

Waterloo Engineering co-op students at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) are key to its ongoing success as an automotive industry giant.

Their excellent work ethic and innovative problem-solving skills help improve quality control and advance manufacturing processes. Some students go on to join the company after graduation.

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering have created technology to safely control and coordinate autonomous robots to perform routine tasks in hospitals and long-term care facilities.

The system, developed to help address a projected global nursing shortage, features ceiling-mounted sensor nodes equipped with cameras, LiDAR (light detection and ranging), an onboard processor and a 5G WiFi communication interface to connect to the cloud.

Researchers at a Waterloo Engineering lab have partnered with a leading data analytics company to advance insight into the fast-paced play in professional hockey.

The Vision and Image Processing (VIP) Research Group is collaborating with Stathletes, an Ontario-based company that provides data and problems for members to tackle using computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.