News

The University of Waterloo cracked the top 100 in worldwide rankings in a subject area that heavily involves nanotechnology engineering.

Although media company US News and World Report didn't include a specific category for nanotechnology engineering in its Best Global Universities rankings for 2021, Waterloo took the 82nd spot in a subject area covering nanoscience and nanotechnology, making us one of the best ranked Canadian universities in this subject.

A team of former Nanotechology Engineering students has made a shortlist of finalists in a high-profile international invention competition.

Scope, which is developing a better zoom function for smartphones and other applications, is one of 20 teams from countries around the world still in the running for the 2020 James Dyson Award.

Nanotechnology Engineering alumni Derek Jouppi, Andrew Martinko and Chad Sweeting (BASc ’14) have taken their 2014 Capstone Design project worldwide, with SPOT^TM, a smart UV indicating sticker that helps people remember that sunscreen wears away. Suncayr’s easy-to-apply body sticker changes colour when sunscreen reapplication is necessary, providing a simple and effective reminder.

Congratulations to recent NE grads, Alisha Bhanji, Holden Beggs, Fernando Pena Cantu, Zhenle Cao and Ishan Mishra, for their runner-up prize in the Canadian leg of the James Dyson Award competition for student inventors.

With this win, the team moves on to the International level of competition for the prestigious award.

Robert Ho (BASc 2014) is proof positive of the old adage to follow our interests and the details will take care of themselves.

His enjoyment of math, science and building things inspired him to study nanotechnology engineering. Now, as Chemical Process Development Engineer for Siemens Healthineers, the broadness of the nano program helps him "contribute to virtually any technical conversation, whether it’s mechanical, electrical, or chemical in nature."

In this profile, he shares why he chose UWaterloo, some of his undergrad experiences and his top three tips for students.

Scope Photonics, the startup created by grads from the NE class of 2020, is back at it with another big win. This one includes $60,000 in seed capital from the AC Jumpstart program, which is funded by FedDev Ontario and delivered through the Accelerator Centre in partnership with University of Waterloo.

A biotechnology company co-founded by a Nanotechnology Engineering alumnus has been awarded almost $300,000 in government funding to develop a portable diagnostic test for COVID-19.

Nicoya, a Kitchener-based provider of advanced analytical instruments for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, grew out of a Capstone Design project by nanotechnology engineering student Ryan Denomme (BASc ’10, MASc ’12).

Congratulations to Nanotechnology Engineering’s Elizabeth Monte for winning a 2020 Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation Medal for Academic Achievement.

The award, bestowed to only one graduating student from each of Ontario’s 15 accredited engineering programs, honours the student who has achieved the highest cumulative grade point average in their graduating class.

When COVID-19 restrictions forced the Nanotechnology Engineering program to cancel its Capstone Design Symposium with just days’ notice, students quickly pivoted to present their own projects via online presentation seminars and honour the accomplishments of their classmates.

Congratulations to Nanotechnology Engineering’s Alisha Bhanji, Holden Beggs, Fernando Peña Cantú, Zhenle Cao and Ishan Mishra whose startup company, Scope, won a $50,000 Palihapitiya Venture Creation Fund award.