News

Fourteen researchers at Waterloo Engineering were awarded a total of more than $1.75 million this week through a federal program to give researchers the tools and equipment they need to become leaders in their fields.

Across all faculties at the University of Waterloo, 23 researchers were awarded over $2.9 million through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund.

Olga Vechtomova, a professor of management sciences at Waterloo Engineering, recently shared an international award recognizing work that has had long-lasting influence in the field of information retrieval research.

During a visit to Waterloo Region on Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford came to campus to see Professor Michael Worswick’s Waterloo Forming and Crash Lab and experience first-hand one of the largest academic laboratories for such research.

Worswick is co-Principal Investigator for the $35-million Ontario Advanced Manufacturing Consortium (OAMC), a joint initiative involving the University of Waterloo, McMaster University and Western University.

Waterloo Rocketry was one of just four university teams from across the country selected to take part in Canada’s first microgravity research competition for students in collaboration with the National Research Council (NCR) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Team members Riley Holierhoek, Aaron Morrison, Kyle Tam and Teresa Tang travelled to Ottawa last month to the competition run by Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.

A class of systems design engineering students has proven that just about anyone can play a musical instrument, even individuals with complete hearing loss.

On Monday, students in Matt Borland’s SYDE 361 course gave an end-of-term concert demonstrating what they designed over the past three months for people with various disabilities.

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering have created a new material that can go from a soft gel to a hard solid and back again at the same temperature.

The switchability of the material - a combination of supercooled melted salt and polymers that the researchers call sal-gel - means it has two stable and reversible solid states for potential use in a range of technologies including soft robotics, adhesion and adhesives, and aeronautics.

A local education technology startup with a strong Waterloo Engineering connection is part of a three-month Amazon Alexa accelerator program taking place in Seattle.

YourIKA, short for Your Intelligent Knowledge Assistant, combines artificial intelligence and instant messaging to provide students with tutoring help. The company was one of nine out of 1,200 applicants to be chosen for the program that began July 15.

In what could have a fairy-tale ending, four recent engineering alumni are advancing their school project at the Hult Prize Startup Accelerator located in a 16th century English castle.

A mechanical engineering Capstone Design team that created a wheelchair with enhanced comfort, speed and control has won a top prize in the Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA) national competition.

Teams with ties to Waterloo Engineering took three of four $5,000 prizes on the line this week at the summer edition of the Velocity Fund Finals pitch contest.

Insula Medical, WatFly and Emergency Response Africa (ERA) competed against seven other early stage startup companies with three-minute presentations at the Student Life Centre. Teams in the finals qualified from an initial field of 42.