Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter and one of the youngest tech executives in Silicon Valley, will address students and local entrepreneurs at the University of Waterloo this fall.
A paper by electrical and computer engineering graduate students Frank Imeson and Ariq Emtenan, and professors Siddharth Garg and Mahesh Tripunitara won the Best Student Paper award at the 2013 Usenix Security Symposium held August 14-16 in Washington, D.C. Their winning paper is entitled "Securing Computer Hardware Using 3D Integrated Circuit (IC) Technology and Split Manufacturing for Obfuscation." [symposium website]
The University of Waterloo is the only Canadian university to make the top 25 schools that are "churning out successful entrepreneurs", according to CrunchBase, a free online database of technology companies, people and investors. CrunchBase's data shows Stanford as the top institution for producing entrepreneurs. Waterloo ranks in 20th place, followed by Princeton University.
A Waterloo Engineering startup was featured at DreamIt NYC Demo Day held in New York City on August 6 for the media, venture capital firms, law firms, advisors, and other investors. As reported by Mashable.com., GamePress was one of 15 companies launched by DreamIt Ventures' accelerator program. The startups represented a wide range of topics, from video games to data aggregation platforms.
Vijay Ganesh, an assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering, is the recipient of funding from the Google Research Awards program for his proposal entitled From Functional Regressions to Security Testing.
The Google "unrestricted gift" awards support the work of faculty members at top universities around the world. Ganesh is planning to use the funds that come with the award to hire master's and doctoral candidates to assist him with his research into computer security testing.
Collaboration between an architecture professor and an avant-garde fashion designer could influence how cities of the future might look. Phillip Beesley of the School of Architecture is working with Iris van Herpen, a fashion designer based in Amsterdam who has created work worn by Lady Gaga. Two exhibits are on display in France through the summer. The unconventional collaboration sees the introduction of architectural elements to Van Herpen's clothes. [home page story]
Raising the Waterloo brand in Asia
A third-year Waterloo electrical engineering student is developing a smartphone app to connect New Delhi women to women-driven taxis.
Carl Haas, a civil and environmental engineering professor, has been elected to the National Academy of Construction. Haas was one of 25 out of 250 qualified individuals elected this year and the only Canadian to receive the honour. He was recognized for his "outstanding long-term contributions in the practice and science of construction technology, productivity and workforce improvement through research and professional leadership." The new academy members' induction will take place this October in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Conrad Centre is running an eight-week challenge for incoming Master of Business Entrepreneurship and Technology students to win scholarship money for their upcoming year and to also encourage community participation. The Innovator Challenge consists of three questions that will be asked every two weeks until the end of August.