News

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering led the discovery of an efficient new way to turn common bacteria into tiny factories pumping out powerful nanoparticles for a variety of biomedical uses.

Dr. Yilan Liu and her team engineered bacteria found in the human gut, or gastrointestinal tract, to dramatically increase the number of bubble-shaped nanoparticles they secrete.

This opinion piece by Dean Mary Wells of Waterloo Engineering and Dean Suzanne Kresta of the University of Prince Edward Island's Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering recently appeared in the Globe and Mail.

Nearly a century ago, Canadian engineers conducted the first iron ring ceremony, a way for the profession to symbolize its commitment to the public good following a moment of failure and broken trust.

X-ray technology developed by a Waterloo Engineering spinoff company blasted into space this week as part of a private mission aboard a SpaceX rocket.

The flagship X-ray device made by KA imaging was selected for the Fram2 mission, a partnership of academic institutions and private companies with a four-person crew, for its portability and accuracy.

University of Waterloo students have built one of the fastest-growing local chapters of an international maker collective called Socratica. More than 2,500 students gathered at the 2025 symposium in Waterloo to build, innovate, design, engineer and collaborate.

The organization was founded in 2022 and has since involved hundreds of volunteers from a variety of disciplines. Its success stems from harnessing the Waterloo entrepreneurial ethos and inviting thousands of students from multiple disciplines to make magic together.

A third-year student in the biomedical engineering program has been recognized as the co-operative education student of the year for Waterloo Engineering.

Jarett Dewbury was cited for his contributions during a co-op term with the Tadesse Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering is renowned for its entrepreneurial graduates. No surprise then that the Waterloo region is home to a number of successful startups with global reach and local impact.

Alchemy, Avidbots and Miovision are just three examples of local businesses that were founded by Waterloo Engineering alumni— namely, Chong Shen (BASc ’13) and Khanjan Desai (BASc ’13); Pablo Molina (BASc ’11) and Faizan Sheikh (BASc ’11); and Kurtis McBride (BASc ’04, MASc ’07), respectively. All three have contributed to putting the Waterloo region on the map as Canada’s tech capital.

Four Waterloo Engineering researchers have been awarded close to $5 million through the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program to support transformative research.

Among the recipients are Waterloo Engineering professors Dr. Duane Cronin, Dr. David Fortin, Dr. Evelyn Yim and Dr. Mahla Poudineh. 

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.

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.

University of Waterloo spin-off company CELLECT. is revolutionizing women’s health with a non-invasive disease screening method. This user-friendly alternative to Pap smears integrates nanotechnology with menstrual products to detect HPV and cervical cancer.

Founded in 2023 by CT Murphy (BASc '23, nanotechnology engineering & MASc in progress, chemical engineering), the company aims to empower women by making health care more inclusive and less intimidating.