Dr. Michael Benoit is an assistant professor within the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering and is one of the 2026 honourees named in the list curated by the Financial Post.
Research led by PhD student Kaveeshan Thurairaj and Dr. Zhao Pan has won an Ig Nobel Physics Prize for their splash-free urinal designs.
Dr. Norman Zhou, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, has partnered with Dr. George Shaker in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering on research that has created low-powered sensors that can use an existing 5G network and satellite-enabled networks to send critical information, activated only by their environment, making it accessible in rural areas.
Jeremy Wang (PhD '23, mechanical and mechatronics engineering) realized that Northern Communities lack access to commercial airlines and airports due to limited infrastructure, so he set out to co-found Ribbit—a pilotless fixed-wing aircraft company.
Dr. Vinny Gupta in mechanical and mechatronics (MME) engineering and Dr. Joshua Pulsipher in chemical engineering were featured on CTV Kitchener for their research on using AI to predict how fires in modern houses behave. The analysis will improve building codes, help emergency responders, and help improve future home evacuation systems.
Gupta received the Silver Combustion Medal from The Combustion Institute for research showing that chemically enhanced water mist is more effective than water alone at suppressing large fires.
Artificial intelligence is driving a surge in data centres being built around the world, but what’s embedded in those data centres are the lithium-ion batteries that keep data centres running, and research is being done in MME’s Fire Research Group to keep those centres running.
Ryan Gariepy (BASc '09, mechatronics engineering, MASc '12, mechanical engineering*) and his co-founders, who are also all mechatronics alumni, established Clearpath Robotics in 2009 at a time when the robotics industry in Canada was still finding its footing, and it wasn't common to see Canadian startups taking technology that involved physical robots from the lab to the global market. Now that's changed, and Gariepy is happy to see it.
Jeffrey Lee, a PhD candidate in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, is being celebrated for his tenacity as a teaching assistant and has received the Amit and Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student.
Dr. Duane Cronin has received a Safety Engineering Excellence Award from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at the 28th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety Vehicles (ESV) in Toronto on May 12, 2026, for his commitment to advancing road safety.