News

A University of Waterloo adjunct professor and staff member has been recognized on a national list celebrating some of the country's top rising engineering talent.

Dr. Brandon DeHart, manager of Waterloo's RoboHub, was among a group of rising Canadian engineers profiled in Design Engineering magazine's June 2026 feature, "Geared for Success," which highlights engineering professionals up to age 40 who are making their mark in the field.

Researchers from Waterloo Engineering have received more than $2.9 million in combined funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's (NSERC) Discovery Grants program.

In total, 47 Waterloo Engineering researchers across seven departments and schools received funding this year, spanning three streams of the program.

More than 1,800 Waterloo Engineering students crossed the convocation stage this June, completing degrees that represent years of rigorous study, co-op experience and hard-won growth. Across four ceremonies held June 19 and 20, 1,473 undergraduate, 324 master's and 77 PhD graduates were recognized by the Faculty of Engineering.

University leaders, honorary degree recipients and student valedictorians shared in the celebration, offering reflections on what the class has accomplished and what lies ahead.

Dr. Chris Rennick, Engineering Educational Developer at the Pearl Sullivan Engineering IDEAs Clinic, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Isadore T. Davis Award for Excellence in Collaboration of Engineering Education and Industry, one of the top honours bestowed by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

The award recognizes individuals who make a mark in the collaborative efforts between engineering education and industry toward the improvement of partnerships that advance learning, scholarship and engagement.

Two Faculty of Engineering professors were among the winners at this year's Kitchener Waterloo Oktoberfest BMO Women of the Year Awards, which celebrate women advancing Waterloo Region through leadership, innovation and service.

Dr. Mary Robinson received the educator award, and Dr. Sirisha Rambhatla received the Vanguard award at the annual ceremony.

This opinion piece by the University of Waterloo’s Dr. Mary Wells, dean of engineering and Dr. Jochen Koenemann, dean of mathematics, appeared in the Hill Times.

If you are wondering whether a degree in software engineering is still worth pursuing, the answer is yes—not because the field is unchanged, but because it is changing profoundly. 

There’s a myth that if you want to build something great, you have to leave Canada.  

University of Waterloo alum Jeff Shiner (BMath ’92), executive chairman of the board at 1Password, and Chris Albinson, co-founder and managing director of True North Fund, make the case for why Waterloo students will do better to build their companies in Canada than in the United States (U.S.). 

Two interdisciplinary capstone teams — each including Waterloo Engineering students — are partnering with Princess Margaret Cancer Centre to solve real clinical and research challenges.

Team CT Optimizers built a machine learning model and dashboard prototype to automate how the cancer centre fills last-minute CT scan slots, reducing the manual, time-sensitive work currently handled by patient flow coordinators. A second team, We Dream in Voxels, extended an existing two-dimensional tumour drug-mapping model into three dimensions and rebuilt it in Python, achieving speeds more than 100 times faster than the original.

Waterloo Engineering students claimed podium finishes across all four categories at Canada's most prestigious engineering student competition.

The 2026 Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC), hosted at the Université de Sherbrooke, saw every qualifying Waterloo team finish on the podium. Yaxin Wang and Matthew Ko (biomedical engineering) took first place in the Consulting category, while Alanna Rudolph (mechatronics engineering) and Eva Siao (computer engineering) secured second place in the Debate category.

Twelve fourth-year Waterloo Engineering teams competed in the 2026 Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design. A panel of industry judges awarded more than $100,000 across all 12 teams. 

The teams pitched a wide array of solutions — from a wearable cooling device for menopausal hot flashes to an AI tool that automates body camera redaction for law enforcement.