News

Launched to assist the City of Waterloo with a disintegrating household pipe problem in the 1990s, the University’s Centre of Advancement of Trenchless Technologies (CAAT) is closing its doors at the end of this month.

Housed in Waterloo Engineering, the centre headed by Mark Knight, a civil and environmental engineering professor,  has addressed critical issues facing underground infrastructure installation, assessment, repair and renewal since 1994.

A team from the University of Waterloo has been named to compete in a four-year event to engineer a next-generation, battery-powered electric vehicle.

Waterloo will tackle the EcoCAR EV Challenge alongside teams from 14 other North America schools including the Georgia Institute of Technology and Virginia Tech. It is one of only two Canadian universities selected.

Sanaz Saadatmand Hashemi, a systems design engineering doctoral candidate, is one of four recipients across campus of this year’s Amit and Meena Chakma Awards for Exceptional Teaching by a Student.

A teaching assistant for a number of engineering courses, Hashemi is described as approachable, conscientious, well-organized, understanding, and accommodating to all students both inside and outside of the classroom. 

Two recent graduates of Waterloo Engineering finished first and second in an international contest sponsored for a non-profit organization dedicated to effective water management.

Kelsey Lee Kundert took the top prize of $3,000, while Nik Knezic won $1,500 in second place, for the best master’s theses as judged by the American Water Works Association, the world’s largest organization of water supply professionals.

A growing alumnus company has teamed up with the cutting-edge robotics facility at Waterloo Engineering to improve its flagship autonomous floor-scrubbing robot.

The collaboration between Avidbots and RoboHub took shape after graduate Pablo Molina (BASc ’11, mechatronics engineering) contacted William Melek, his former mentor and professor, for help.

Early research at Waterloo Engineering into the growing electronic sports (esports) industry highlights a need for better coaching to prevent burnout among professional players.

The study identified several areas, including player fatigue, mental stress and peak performance conditions, that require in-depth research to improve coaching and player performance.

Projects led by three professors at Waterloo Engineering were awarded a total of almost $750,000 in funding this week through a federal program designed to encourage high-risk, high-reward interdisciplinary research.

Giovanni Cascante, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, won $250,000 in backing for a project described as: optimized use of mechanical waves in a novel vibratory drainage stimulation device, from lungs to water filter applications.

Waterloo Engineering improved its standing in three subjects in world rankings released today by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) for 2022.

The faculty was rated 33^rd globally in electrical engineering, 49^th in mechanical engineering and 75^th in chemical engineering, all improvements on the 2021 results released by the influential United Kingdom company.

Teams featuring members from Waterloo Engineering swept all four $5,000 prizes at the recent Concept 5K pitch competition for aspiring student entrepreneurs.

Winners at the Winter 2022 event, whittled down from 22 competitors at the outset, were Cauchy Analytics, Moonlight Haptics, Retinex and Tulay.

Cauchy, which includes chemical engineering PhD student James Lowman, is developing a non-invasive, continuous monitoring system for cardiac hemodynamics in hospital intensive care units.

Frustrated by the high number of single-use water bottles ending up in landfill, a chemical engineering student team's proposed solution has earned $50,000 in financial backing from a venture capitalist.

Reduce, Carbonize, Adsorb, a Capstone Design project, is the winner of this year’s Palihapitiya Venture Creation Fund Award sponsored by Chamath Palihapitiya (BASc '99, electrical engineering), founder and CEO of Social Capital.