News

Waterloo Engineering alumnus and co-founder of ApplyBoard, Martin Basiri (MASc '12, mechanical and mechatronics engineering), announced the launch of his new company called Passage.

Backed by $40 million in venture capital financing from Drive Capital, Passage will help international students get the financing they need to attend universities and colleges in Canada.

Dr. Veronika Magdanz, an assistant professor in systems design engineering at the University of Waterloo, is researching the potential of sperm-templated soft magnetic microrobots to treat cancer, infertility and more.  

By uniting bovine sperm with microtubes, Magdanz found that the sperm could effectively move the microtubes around. This discovery laid the groundwork for the creation of IRONSperm.

Rola Dagher, global channel chief at Dell Technologies and an appointed member of the Order of Canada, received an honorary doctorate in engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo, on June 16, 2023.

In her acceptance speech, she drew on her life experiences as a teenager surviving the war in Lebanon and fleeing to Canada with her baby in 1989. Dagher's rise up the ranks of tech leadership is an impressive example of hard work, grit, luck and resilience.

Chris Rennick, a management engineering doctoral candidate and key Pearl Sullivan Engineering IDEAs Clinic leader, has been elected into Canada’s top engineering education association as a 2023 fellow.

Rennick is one of three new fellows to be elected by the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA-ACEG) for his noteworthy service to furthering engineering education, leadership and design education. He was inducted at CEEA-ACEG’s 2023 annual conference, hosted at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus.

Dr. Frederick Cheng (PhD ‘22, MASc ‘17 and BASc ‘15), holds three back-to-back degrees in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Waterloo.

In this Q&A, Cheng, a proud Waterloo Engineering alumnus, discusses why he chose to stay for his graduate studies – and how his student career set him up for his professional one.

The University of Waterloo made a big move in the global rankings for 2024, released by global education analyst Quacquarello Symonds (QS). Waterloo climbed 42 spots to capture 112 place overall and is now listed among the top five universities in Canada. 

QS evaluates approximately 1,500 universities around the world. In a new ranking indicator on sustainability, QS recognizes Waterloo as 36th in the world. The inclusion of this new indicator in the ranking reflects how students prioritize sustainability in their choice of higher education institutions.  

Kitchener-based robotics company, Cobionix, has developed an AI-powered robotics system to improve healthcare delivery.

Co-founded by Waterloo Engineering alumnus Dr. Tim Lasswell (MASc '17, mechanical engineering and BASc '14, mechanical engineering), the company's robot, called Codi, aims to reduce costs and procedure times and increase access to diagnostic imaging. 

A Waterloo Engineering PhD candidate secured significant federal funding this week for his innovative autonomous driving technology that can transform Canada’s mining sector.

Chao Yu, a mechanical and mechatronics engineering doctoral candidate and Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) student, received over $300,000 from the Government of Canada’s Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator Network for his startup company LoopX and their project to develop reliable 5G-enabled autonomous driving for underground mining.

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering are leading three projects that were awarded a combined total of close to $4 million last month for their research addressing critical sustainability challenges that have the potential to play a pivotal role in Canada’s economy.

The funding is part of a multi-million-dollar declaration of support for Canadian projects over three years through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s (NSERC) Mission Alliance Grants program. Over $5.3 million in funding was announced for four projects led by Waterloo researchers.

A multi-school autonomous racing team that includes University of Waterloo students from across campus achieved a personal best speed of 173.8 kph at a race on the Monza F1 Circuit in Milan, Italy.

The race, which featured five teams with members from universities around the world, was the Waterloo students’ fifth race and the first on a road course rather than a banked oval track.