Future graduate student research opportunities: Faculty of Engineering

Cell injection is a key technique in biomedical research and therapy, enabling the delivery of biomolecules into cells for gene modification and treatment development. It is widely used in gene therapy, drug discovery, cancer research, and stem cell research, where precise force control is critical to preserve cell viability. AI and microrobotics enhance injection accuracy and consistency by reducing human variability.

Bioprocess development for biomanufacturing or environmental applications, specifically focused on microbial strain engineering via genetic engineering and metabolic engineering.

As climate change increases the frequency and severity of disasters, proactive planning for post-disaster housing recovery is essential to mitigate long-term social and economic disruption. Computational models can support this planning by simulating potential recovery trajectories, yet many existing approaches are limited by overwhelming data requirements or narrow applicability to past events. Our work focuses on developing novel computational tools to improve how we manage disaster risk. These can include computational simulations using agent-based models or computer vision-based algorithms to study post-disaster recovery in communities.

Global efforts to combat climate change are driving a fundamental transformation of electric power systems. Increasing integration of renewable energy resources (RESs), rapid growth in direct-current (DC) loads driven by electric vehicle (EV) charging, and the modernization of aging infrastructure through high-voltage DC (HVDC) links are accelerating the transition from traditional alternating-current (AC) grids toward hybrid AC–DC power systems.

Power electronic inverters serve as the critical interface between AC and DC systems. However, most deployed inverters today are grid-following (GFL), meaning they inject current based on measured grid voltage and frequency. While GFL inverters perform well in strong grids, high penetration levels can lead to instability in low-inertia or weak power systems. Grid-forming inverters (GFMIs), which locally regulate voltage and frequency, offer improved stability and enable islanding and resilient operation. Despite their advantages, widespread integration of GFMIs presents significant technical challenges in control, protection, and interoperability. This project aims to address these challenges by developing advanced control and protection solutions for inverter-dominated power grids. 

This project will utilize high-speed imaging, lasers and instruments to evaluate explosion risk in BESS facilities. A reduced-scale enclosure with optical accessibility will be developed, with explosions simulated by recreating the gas mixtures found from thermal runaway vent gas measurements. Flame acceleration will be induced to generate turbulence by incorporating obstacles into the enclosure that are representative of battery racks in BESS enclosures. The results of this work will help inform future BESS enclosure design and gas venting strategies.

The widespread deployment of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in residential areas faces several critical challenges: (i) limited availability of parking spaces, (ii) insufficient power distribution capacity to meet growing charging demands in densely populated neighbourhoods, and (iii) the high cost, long deployment timelines, and limited scalability and resiliency of state-of-the-art charging infrastructure, particularly during power system outages.

This project aims to address these challenges by developing a compact, low-footprint EV charging station based on a microgrid architecture. The proposed system will be capable of reliable operation during grid outages while minimizing adverse impacts on the utility grid under normal operating conditions. By integrating local energy resources and intelligent control, the charging station will offer enhanced resiliency, ability to expand, and cost-effectiveness compared to conventional solutions.

This research project will utilize an existing experimental set-up at the University of Waterloo's Fire Research Facility to develop medium-scale compartment fire experiments. The candidate will form a critical part of the UW Fire Research Facility team and will benefit from collaborations and discussions with partner institutions and industry within the mass timber construction and fire safety engineering sector in Canada.

People in North America spend about 90% of their time indoors, making indoor environments the primary source of exposure to airborne pollutants. We aim to improve the health and well-being of building occupants by enhancing indoor air quality. We design and develop strategies and interventions to achieve this goal while improving building sustainability and resilience for future climate conditions.

This project will develop highly sensitive optical techniques to probe and quantify in-situ particle and gas emissions of Li-ion battery cells as they approach thermal runaway during their safety venting phase. Lasers and optical equipment available at the UW Fire Research Facility will be used to target the time evolution of select gas and solid species and concentrations along with particle size distributions. Resulting data from this work will be used to tailor highly sensitive low-cost sensors to enable early detection of thermal runaway.

Join a team researching micro, nano, and quantum resonators created by the interaction of light, (lower frequency) electromagnetic fields, and micro/nano-scale mechanical structures with a view to; discover new phenomena, learn how to integrate then to best advantage and create novel sensors.

I am seeking fully funded Ph.D. students to join my new research group in the Dept. of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, starting September 2026. 

3D maps are essential for autonomous navigation by vehicles and drones as well as augmented reality applications. We have developed a robust real-time 3D SLAM mapping system that is also to render (using 3D Gaussian splatting) an environment to produce a realistic 3D environment that can be used in simulation in a physics engine for training vehicle control using Reinforcement learning. SLAM and other 3D reconstruction methods assume a relatively static environment while most environments are not. We are exploring methods to deal with dynamic environments for building these maps. Other applications of interest include biomedical applications such as cacheters with camera-on-tip endoscopes, space, mining and any drone application.

Dr. Karim's lab at UWaterloo has been developing imaging device technology based on propagation-based X-ray phase-contrast (XPC) for the past decade. With Dr. Keller, we are applying this technology to obtain three-dimensional images of medical tissues with sub-cellular resolution.

Professor Musselman leads the Functional Nanomaterials Group and is recruiting graduate students to work on projects developing novel, thin-film coating materials and manufacturing processes.

The Functional Nanomaterials Group has helped pioneer the development of spatial atomic layer deposition, a high-throughput coating technique. The scalable manufacture of coatings with nanometer-scale precision can address global sustainability and health challenges. Imagine a world without single-use plastic waste, with widespread low-cost photovoltaic power, and with rapid point-of-care diagnosis of health conditions.

Research focus is on developing functional probiotics using synthetic biology, with applications in health biotechnology and food safety. In addition, producing and degrading bioplastics using synthetic biology, focusing on clean technology and environmental sustainability.