News

Congratulations to Redwan Siddiqui, a PhD student in the Department of Management Science and Engineering, on his appointment to the Board of Directors of eCampusOntario.

Under the supervision of Dr. Selcuk Onay, Siddiqui's doctoral research explores behavioural decision-making theories in the context of human-AI interactions. Alongside his research, he contributes to teaching and academic service through leadership roles across the University of Waterloo and Ontario's post-secondary sector.

Management Engineering alum, Kamilla Karthigesu (BASc ’16) went from spending her nights watching Survivor to watching herself on the show’s 50th season, her second appearance after reaching the final four on Survivor 48 where she formed a secret alliance with the season’s winner, Kyle Fraser.  

You can read the full story here: From Waterloo to Fiji: Meet the Waterloo alum on Survivor 50 | Waterloo News | University of Waterloo 

Research by Scholar Sun, a Health AI and Analytics Lab research assistant, was featured in the May 2026 issue of ISE Magazine. The paper, published in IISE Transactions on Healthcare Engineering, develops methods to ensure that optimized radiation therapy treatment plans can be translated into clinically deliverable solutions. The work was supervised by Prof. Houra Mahmoudzadeh and conducted in collaboration with the Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) Cancer Centre.

Professor Dr. Sirisha Rambhatla was among the winners at the 2026 Kitchener Waterloo Oktoberfest BMO Women of the Year. This award celebrates women forging Waterloo Region through innovation, service and leadership. 

A new entrance scholarship has been established to support incoming students in the Management Engineering program and to recognize the lasting contributions of a founding faculty member.

The Shoukry Saleh Memorial Scholarship for Management Engineering recognizes academic excellence and reflects the lasting impact of Professor Shoukry Saleh, a founding member and former department chair of what is now the Department of Management Science and Engineering.

MSE students earned multiple awards at the 2025 Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) Conference in Edmonton.  Waterloo students received Bronze Level Recognition, while undergraduates Matthew Chan, Adel Pazoki, Aniq Premji, Sunischit Thapa, and Larissa Troper were runners-up in the national Student Paper Competition.

Individual accolades went to Esma Akgun and Mina Torabi Milani, both earning runner-up awards for their research.

A paper by a team of Management Science and Engineering researchers recently received an Honorable Mention (Top 4 Finalist) at the prestigious POMS College of Healthcare Operations Management (CHOM) Best Paper Award. The paper addresses the challenge of hospital-acquired Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which affects approximately 20,000 Canadians annually.

Professor Mehrdad Pirnia was recently featured in an interview on CBC Radio’s The Morning Edition – K-W. In the segment, Professor Pirnia discussed the promising future of short-range electric aircraft, including new research and battery testing that could make regional electric flights a reality sooner than expected.

A paper co-authored by Management Science and Engineering professor Lukasz Golab and his Data Science Master’s student Anastasiia Avksientieva won the best demo paper award at the 2025 International Conference on Extending Data Base Technology (EDBT).  

The Waterloo Chapter of the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE), which is led by management engineering students, won several prizes at the most recent IISE Regional Student Conference hosted by Laval University in Quebec City. These included first prize in the technical paper competition, first prize in the Capsize competition, and third prize in the simulation competition.