News

A health-technology company that grew out a fourth-year design project at Waterloo Engineering continues to gain traction after earning a key approval from Health Canada this fall.

Vena Medical was launched at Velocity, the flagship startup incubator at the University of Waterloo, after classmates Michael Phillips and Phillip Cooper (both BASc ’18, mechanical engineering) won early commercialization funding through entrepreneurship programs.

Biotech company HeadFirst is improving how concussions are screened in contact sports with a simple spit test.

The company was co-founded in 2022 by University of Waterloo alum Andrew Cordssen-David (BSc ’22, MBET ’23) and Dr. Shazia Tanvir, a professor in Waterloo’s chemical engineering department. The HeadFirst device analyzes biomarkers in saliva that indicate brain injury and delivers results in real-time.

Robotics company 3E8 Robotics designs and builds autonomous indoor delivery robots for condos, hotels and hospitals with deployment slated for early this year.

Co-founded in 2025 by Waterloo Engineering alumni David Feldt (BASc ’24, mechatronics engineering) and Ari Wasch (BASc ’25, computer engineering) with Sajeel Purewal, 3E8 Robotics has developed technology that enables their robots to interact with elevators in the same way humans do — by activating a button.

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering have created a green alternative to absorbent materials now used in personal hygiene products such as diapers, menstrual pads and tampons.

The new, natural hydrogel breaks down harmlessly in soil within three months, unlike existing synthetic materials that are expected to take centuries to degrade and greatly contribute to the waste in landfill sites.

A Waterloo Engineering professor was among a select group of experts recognized this year with one of the most prestigious honours in the electrical and computing fields, an award reserved for fewer than one-tenth of one per cent of eligible members worldwide.

Dr. David Clausi was elevated to the grade of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow for his contributions to computer vision and machine learning for automated interpretation of remote sensing imagery.

A systems design engineering professor at Waterloo was elected as a new fellow of an international society that recognizes leaders improving the quality and impact of software worldwide.

Dr. Alexander Wong was named a Fellow of the Institution of Analysts and Programmers (IAP), an honour that acknowledges individuals who advance software practices that benefit industry and communities. He joins a global network of professionals committed to strengthening how software serves society.

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering have developed a much faster, more efficient training method to help put powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the hands of many more people.

Their approach to large language models (LLMs) – advanced AI systems designed to understand and generate human language by learning patterns in how words and ideas are connected – reduces both the cost and environmental impact of building them.

A financial technology company founded by two former classmates at Waterloo Engineering has secured US $6 million in backing to help launch a platform to fight fraud by enabling secure, real-time collaboration among merchants, banks and service providers.

Tuhk Inc. was founded in 2025 by Andre Edelbrock and Trevor Clarke (both BASc ’98, systems design engineering) to turn fragmented data into a cohesive intelligence network to neutralize fraud, maximize transaction approvals, reduce chargebacks and streamline dispute resolution.

The Waterloo Engineering community came together to mark Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, commemorating the 14 women, mostly engineering students, who were killed at École Polytechnique de Montréal (now Polytechnique Montréal) in 1989 by a lone gunman — because they were women. 

For staff, students and faculty members, December 6 is an opportunity to remember, to reflect and to respond to the scourge of gender-based violence and society’s collective responsibility to eradicate it.  

The Faculty of Engineering is mourning the passing of a long-time leader whose work in electromagnetics helped shape modern antenna research and guided generations of students and colleagues.

Dr. Robert (Bob) H. MacPhie, a Distinguished Professor Emeritus and former faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, passed away on December 3, 2025, at the age of 92.