News

Kurtis McBride (BASc '04, MASc '08, SD) Miovision Technologies' CEO and co-founder, recently received the Peter Brodje Award for Canada's Next Generation of Executive Leadership. This award was presented by the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance. Miovision, a leading provider of intelligent solutions for improving global traffic networks, was founded in 2005 by McBride along with Kevin Madill and Tony Brijpaul while all three were Waterloo Engineering students. 

Manoj Sachdev has been reappointed as chair of electrical and computer engineering and will begin serving his additional four-year term beginning July 1, 2012. "It will be a great pleasure to follow the department's continued growth and success under Manoj's continued leadership," said dean Adel Sedra in a memo announcing Sachev's second term as ECE's chair.   

Philip Beesley of Waterloo's School of Architecture was awarded $199,720 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for his research into near-living experimental architectural constructions featuring interactive physical movement, artificial intelligence, and chemical exchanges with the environment. Beesley is one of six University of Waterloo researchers to receive SSHRC funding announced May 25 by Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology.

Kaan Inal of mechanical and mechatronics engineering and Sheshakamal Jayaram of electrical and computer engineering will be able to take their research further thanks to the 2012 NSERC funding announced in Toronto May 23. The engineering professors were among 123 researchers throughout Canada who will receive $120,000 over the next three years through the Discovery Accelerator Supplement program. 

Waterloo Engineering's outreach operations manager Martin Scherer is among three University of Waterloo winners who will receive funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) 2011 PromoScience Program Competition, the results of which were announced on May 17. Scherer will receive $38,100 over three years for Engineering Science Quest's satellite programming.

The PromoScience program offers financial support for organizations working with young Canadians to promote an understanding of science and engineering. 

Both Spring 2012 Governor General's Gold Medals for Waterloo graduate studies have been won by engineering students.  Matthew Day, a mechanical engineering MEng student, has been selected as the master's medal winner and Rongxing Lu, an electrical and computer engineering doctoral candidate, has been chosen as the doctoral medal winner. Both will be honoured at spring convocation. 

Mark Spanjers, a civil and environmental engineering doctoral candidate, has won the Michael A. Provart Environmental Award for best overall student presentation at the 2012 Ontario Water Works Association/Ontario Municipal Water Association Joint Annual Conference and Exhibition held Mary 6-9 in Niagara Falls. He presented a talk entitled “Comparison of four media types for traditional and biofiltration treatment goals: Assessment of rough engineered media and implications for filter media choice.”

Omar Ramahi of electrical and computer engineering is the 2012 recipient of the IEEE EMC Society's technical achievement award.  The honour recognizes Ramahi's significant technical accomplishments in the field of electromagnetic compatibility.
 

Rana Tehrani Yekta is bright, ambitious and an inspiration for women in engineering. The civil engineering master's student is the newest $10,000 Vale Master’s in Engineering Scholarship winner and joins the list of impressive women who represent the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation (CEMF) and Vale in encouraging youth and promoting engineering as a profession to women across Canada.

The scholarship is awarded annually to the most promising woman in a graduate engineering program at the master’s level in Canada and comes with a work place opportunity with Vale.

Looking for information on the impact of information technology on people at work and other thought-provoking topics? Guest speakers on information technology and other subjects presented to management sciences professor Peter Carr's classes are available on YouTube.  The speakers include: