News

Ahmed Shahin, a PhD student in mechanical and mechatronics engineering, has received the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship—one of the top graduate scholarships in the country. The award is presented to exceptional graduate students. It is valued at $50,000 per year for up to three years, supporting doctoral students who demonstrate strong research potential, leadership, and academic excellence.  

Maryam Soleimani, a senior PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, has received three prestigious awards over the last few years: two CWB Foundation Graduate Scholarships and the Nanofellowship Award. 

Team SERA, a new collaboration between the Active and Interactive Robotics (AIR) Lab and the Orthopaedic Mechatronics (ORTHOtron) lab, led by Jeffrey Lee (MASc Candidate), Teresa Marotta (MASc Candidate), Dr. Stewart McLachlin, and Dr. Yue Hu from the department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering has been established to combine the expertise of both labs for a new surgical robotics project for the international KUKA Innovation Award 2025 - Medical Robotics Challenge 2.0.

Physics laws that were previously thought to be impossible have been made possible by researchers within the Micro Nano-Scale Transport Lab.

Dr. Carolyn Ren, a professor in our department, leads the Waterloo Microfluidics Laboratory, a place where students at all levels can contribute to the research and development of innovative technologies that improve lives.    

Jordan Lin (BASc ‘22, mechanical engineering) had a goal in mind and was determined to pursue it. During his undergrad, Lin was a research associate for Access to Energy Institute (A2EI), a non-profit institution, during his co-op term. This experience sparked his interest in sustainability – a journey he had yet to realize he would continue.  

Congratulations to Shanaya Barretto for being selected to participate in the prestigious program – the Brooke Owens Fellowship! This achievement highlights Barretto’s accomplishments throughout her undergrad career, being named one of the recipients out of 400 promising candidates who applied globally. 

Two students in MME are celebrating their hard work with an award from the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) for the 2025 Jerry Silver Award. This award was based on their research, "Effect of Dewpoint on the Evolving Radiative Properties of Advanced High-Strength Steel During Intercritical Annealing," by Fatima Suleiman, PhD candidate and Nishant Narayanan, a PhD student, along with their Supervisor Kyle Daun, in the WATLit Lab.  

The International Network of Sustainable Nanotechnology (N4SNano) is a global force for industry, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations to champion nanotechnology solutions for sustainable futures, and Dr. Sushanta Mitra is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering and the Executive Director of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN), which also happens to be a founding partner of this network. Together, Mitra and the team in N2SNano are working together to bring the brightest minds in environmental preservation for a conference on sustainability that benefits communities all over the world.  

Dr. Mihaela Vlasea’s exemplary work in the manufacturing landscape highlights success earned from determination and an open mind. This mentality also proved to be fruitful during her transition from her academic to professional career.