Engineering

Robert Wagner ran into a problem while building a see-through booth so healthcare workers can test people for COVID-19 without using gowns, masks and other scarce personal protective equipment (PPE). 

But it wasn’t a problem for long.

When all he could scrounge up for his contraption were two left-handed gloves, the longtime engineering technician at the University of Waterloo simply turned one of them inside out and carried on.

It began as a few words on a sticky note while a team of engineering students at the University of Waterloo brainstormed ideas for their fourth-year design project.

Now, little more than six months later, the students have a working prototype of a portable, low-cost ventilator they hope could soon help save lives on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis.

“It’s a total fluke, but our project couldn’t be any more relevant than it is today,” says Connor Simmons, one of four team members from the mechatronics and mechanical engineering programs.

A professor at the University of Waterloo is drawing on two decades of research into disinfection using ultraviolet (UV) light to help solve a shortage of masks for front-line healthcare workers in the COVID-19 crisis.

Bill Anderson, a professor of chemical engineering, has consulted with officials at several hospitals in southern Ontario as they explore ways to reuse N95 respirators instead of throwing them out after each use.

Mary Wells will rejoin Waterloo Engineering as the Faculty's next dean.

Wells, an accomplished materials engineer, is known for her strategic leadership in building collaborative and strong relationships within a university setting and for her work in attracting, engaging and retaining women in the engineering industry.

Wells currently serves as University of Guelph’s Dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, a position she has held since 2017.

How do you top the surprise arrival of a Canadian military helicopter carrying special operations soldiers who slide down ropes as it hovers right outside?

About 1,500 young people might just find out this weekend when they come together at the University of Waterloo for Hack the North, a three-day whirlwind of activity that is the largest hackathon in Canada and one of the largest in North America.

There is at least one advantage – and a bit of drawback – to being former rugby players and identical twin brothers on a concrete toboggan team.

Size, strength and symmetry make Russell and Graham Giles ideal pushers to get a 300-pound contraption with five helmeted passengers off to a fast, straight start at annual races.

And the drawback?

Their usefulness at the top of the hill means the Cambridge brothers have never actually got to ride in a toboggan with a concrete sliding surface as it hit speeds of up to 50 km/h on the way down.

Making photocopies wasn’t part of Jordan Grant’s job description. Neither were taking minutes, writing reports or any of the run-of-the-mill duties you’d expect to encounter in your first-year work term.

Feridun Hamdullahpur, president of the University of Waterloo, and Jordan Grant, recipient of Waterloo Engineering’s co-op student of the year 2015 award for his Deloitte Tech Exchange competition.

When a 7.8-magnitute earthquake hit Nepal in April 2015 Aeryon Labs Inc. provided aerial support to disaster relief teams on the ground. In 2014 when Typhoon Hagupit hammered the eastern Philippines, it ripped up trees, overturned buildings, flooded roads and forced thousands of people to flee their ruined homes. To deliver aid, relief organizations first had to navigate the chaos.