News

Two Waterloo Engineering faculty members have been appointed to updated Val O’Donovan Chair positions that reflect the Faculty’s strategic focus on advancing artificial intelligence through ethical research, interdisciplinary collaboration and student engagement.

Starting September 1, Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi will hold the O’Donovan Chair in Trustworthy AI, while Dr. Sirisha Rambhatla will hold the O’Donovan Chair in Efficient, Safe and Adaptive AI.

A company co-founded by a double graduate of Waterloo Engineering is helping scientists around the world make important discoveries faster.

Nicoya Lifesciences was launched in 2012 after Ryan Denomme (BASc ’10, nanotechnology engineering, MASc ’12, mechanical engineering) identified a need during his graduate work for tools to speed up research on human diseases and how to treat them.

Work by Waterloo Engineering researchers launched early in the COVID-19 pandemic tops a list of the most cited papers in a leading academic journal.

Results recently released by Google Scholar Metrics show a paper on the use of chest X-rays and artificial intelligence (AI) analysis to screen for COVID-19 has been cited over 3,700 times, more than any other paper published in Nature Scientific Reports from 2020 to 2024.

The Pearl Sullivan Engineering IDEAs Clinic hosted an Optics & Quantum Communications Workshop for students from across campus, supported by a group of University of Waterloo alumni who built their careers at Microsoft. 

The three-day event, delivered in partnership with Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) and the Quantum-Nano Fabrication and Characterization Facility (QNFCF), introduced 70 Waterloo Engineering students to the emerging field of quantum telecommunications.

A national research network led by Waterloo faculty is advancing sustainable metal 3D printing through $10.9 million in new funding.

Two mechanical and mechatronics engineering professors, Dr. Ehsan Toyserkani and Dr. Mihaela Vlasea, will co-direct HI-AM 2.0, a large-scale initiative backed by NSERC, Mitacs and industry partners to accelerate industrial adoption of additive manufacturing and train future talent. Toyserkani and Vlasea are co-directors of Waterloo’s Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing Lab (MSAM).

Three recent graduates of Waterloo Engineering have been named to a Canada-wide list of leading innovators from the class of 2025 by an online business and technology news outlet.

Shawn Benedict (BASc ’25, nanotechnology engineering), Melda Kiziltan (BASc ’25, mechatronics engineering) and Jennifer Tsai (BASc ’25, biomedical engineering) are among a dozen promising new graduates featured in a story by The Logic on its annual Top Prospects list.

Substack, the independent publishing platform, has raised USD $100 million in a Series C funding round to enhance its tools for creators and expand its reach.

Co-founded in 2017 by Waterloo Engineering alum Chris Best (BASc ’10, systems design engineering), Waterloo Math alum Jairaj Sethi and former tech reporter Hamish McKenzie, the company — now valued at USD $1.1 billion — aims to further invest in its app and introduce advertising support for writers on the platform.

Kitchener-based medical technology company Intellijoint Surgical Inc. has developed a computer-assisted navigation system that helps surgeons position implants during hip and knee replacement surgery.

Co-founded in 2010 by Waterloo Engineering alumni Armen Bakirtzian (BASc ’08), Andre Hladio (BASc ’08, MASc ’10) and Richard Fanson (BASc ’08), the company’s innovative system enhances surgical accuracy using a miniature optical camera that enables real-time precision.

Engineering researchers are among more than 100 University of Waterloo faculty members receiving new federal support to pursue long-term, high-impact discovery research.

The funding is part of over $32 million awarded to Waterloo through a national investment by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF), supporting researchers at institutions across the country.