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.
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.
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.
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.