The Nanotechnology Engineering Program at the University of Waterloo is a collaborative program between Chemical Engineering, Electric and Computer Engineering and Chemistry, combining the skillset of all three disciplines.
Our program ranks as number one in Canada for Nanotechnology according to the U.S. News and World Report Best Global Universities.
Nanotechnology Engineering involves materials science and engineering, chemistry, physics, biology, and medicine. Nanotechnology impacts many industries, ranging from medical to pharmaceuticals, electronics to automotive, and communications.
Fun Facts about our Nanotechnology Engineering Program.
- The Nanotechnology Engineering Program was launched in 2005
- This program at the University of Waterloo is the first accredited Nanotechnology Engineering Program in Canada
- There are more than 500 students currently enrolled in our program
- We have a dedicated clean room with multimillion-dollar cutting-edge equipment for hands-on experiential learning
A specialization is available to interested students but not required. There are four specializations in the Nanotechnology Engineering program.
They are: Nanobiosystems, Nanoelectronics, Nanofabrication, and Nanomaterials.
Hear from our alumni about Nanotechnology Engineering at the University of Waterloo
Check out this short presentation by one of our students, talking about the undergraduate Nano Engineering Program at UWaterloo!
Nanotechnology Engineers design integrated circuits
What is NE? Check Out this Animated Video!
Nanotechnology Engineering and the COVID mRNA Vaccine
News
A winning start in quantum innovation
Congratulations to a team of first-year Nanotechnology Engineering (NE) students who took first place at the HardHaQ Quantum Hardware Hackathon! The event was open to undergraduate teams from across North America.
Focused on hardware, the competition offers students an opportunity to gain experience with tools and systems driving quantum technologies.
Teammates Philip Szymborski, Arjun Mahes, Prithvi Singh and Keegan Mark were excited to have the opportunity to work in the quantum space. Mark learned of the event through Quantum Club and invited his friends to join.
The challenge in the competition was to optimize ion traps through computer simulations and geometric modelling, and they only had a week to do it!
From Waterloo to Paris: A quantum leap
Nanotechnology Engineering (NE) alumnus, Edgar Cao (BASc 2011) is currently working in Paris, France for a company called Nexdot, which specializes in the development of Quantum Dots and their application in industry.
Cao was in the second class accepted into the newly launched NE Program in 2006. His journey in nanotechnology engineering has taken him across continents, industries and disciplines, rooted in the foundations he built at UWaterloo's NE Program.
Today, Cao is a Senior Project Manager at Nexdot, where he works at the interface of materials science, diagnostics, and biotechnology.
A culture of possibilities
For Cao, his co-op experience in the NE Program was an integral part of his career development. He went from doing research in academic labs, to working at a tech transfer hub, to quality testing, to product development in industry. Having worked in the automotive sector and agricultural research and development, his experience sparked his longer-term goal of working on product development projects.
New research shows a smarter way to build artificial muscles for soft robots
A research team led by Nanotechnology Engineering (NE) instructor Professor Hamed Shahsavan has developed a new process to reinforce smart, rubber-like materials—paving the way for their use as artificial muscles in robots, potentially replacing traditional rigid motors and pumps.
The research group incorporated liquid crystals (LCs)—commonly used in electronic displays and sensors—into liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), which serve as promising materials for constructing soft robots.
The LCEs go through a huge shape-change when heated, in a programmable manner. When a small amount of LCs are mixed with LCEs, they become stiffer and up to nine times stronger than before.
