Faculty of Engineering

Nanotechnology engineering students Edward Hong and Micahel Ali were part of an interdisciplinary research group that has created a new tissue‑like hydrogel that can act as "muscles" for soft robotics.

The project was led by PhD candidate Negin Bouzari. Her supervisor, Hamed Shahsavan, a chemical engineering professor hired four undergraduate co-op students to assist Bouzari in her research. The team included Melanie Bouzanne, Nrushanth Suthaharan, Ali and Hong. Their collaboration embodies Waterloo’s mission to involve undergraduates directly in high‑impact, interdisciplinary research.

Shahsavan calls the work a powerful example of what students can accomplish when they’re trusted with ambitious challenges.

“Complex problems rarely fit inside one discipline. Interdisciplinary research brings complementary tools and viewpoints together, leading to creative, high-impact solutions,” says Hong. “Beyond innovation, working across disciplines improves communication skills and adaptability; abilities that are invaluable in both industry and academia.”

A nanotechnology engineering team won first place at the Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC) in Ottawa for their Capstone Project called IISense. The team designed a prototype to monitor chronic kidney disease (CKD).

The competition was fierce at the OEC which was held in Ottawa this year. Teammates Flora Wu, San Basnet, and Divhleen Ruprai entered the innovative design category at the event.

“The best part of OEC was that for the innovative design competition, we had to do a public opening. We displayed our poster and prototype, and people approached us and asked questions about our project. It was really cool to hear people’s perspectives on our product.” says Ruprai.  “They provided feedback on things that we had not considered, which could improve our project to make it easier to use and accessible to different groups of people that we weren't aware of before.”

CKD is a silent disease that can have no obvious symptoms until a late stage and lead to the need for dialysis or, in some cases a kidney transplant. It can be more prevalent in people who have pre-existing health issues like diabetes or hypertension.