December 6 marks Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. The day commemorates the 14 women, mostly engineering students, who were killed at École Polytechnique de Montréal (now Polytechnique Montréal) in 1989 by a lone gunman — because they were women.
WatSPEED at the University of Waterloo recently announced the launch of a new Chief Technology and AI Officer (AI-CTO) program — a six-month, live-online executive program designed to help senior technology leaders translate complex architectures and AI innovation into measurable business outcomes.
Waterloo is Canada's top university for entrepreneurship, fostering ecosystems where students turn big and small ideas into thriving businesses across every industry imaginable.
As the excitement of the holiday season ramps up, we're thrilled to share seven Canadian companies with ties to the University of Waterloo that offer perfect gift ideas for your shopping list — each with a warm story of passion, creativity and giving back.
The University of Waterloo’s Pearl Sullivan Engineering IDEAs Clinic has built an impressive reputation over the past 10 years as the leading provider of student-focused, hands-on learning experiences aligned with industrial and societal needs.
Launched in 2015, this unique facility in the Faculty of Engineering has hosted more than 60,000 students from across campus and challenged them to work in teams and apply their classroom theory to solve real-world problems.
University of Waterloo alumni and longtime supporters David J. Cornfield (BASc ’85, LLD ’24) and Linda Archer Cornfield (LLD ’24) recently announced their transformational investment of $10.5 million to the Faculty of Engineering’s Department of Systems Design Engineering.
The gift accelerates the department’s ability to educate agile, ethical and impact-driven engineers by investing in people, learning spaces, research capacity and global experiences that connect design, sustainability and health.
This year, University of Waterloo professor Larry Smith marks 45 years of teaching students to think critically about the world and act courageously to build a future of their own making.
Smith, a professor in the Faculty of Engineering’s Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business, specializes in forecasting and the economics of innovation. His wildly popular lectures resonate among students and alumni from across campus — many of whom credit Smith for pushing them to realize their entrepreneurial potential.
The use of virtual reality (VR) is expanding across industries, but its large-scale application in educational settings has remained largely unexplored. As the technical capabilities and affordability of VR tools continue to improve, Waterloo researcher Dr. Ville Mäkelä is turning his classroom into a living lab to better understand how VR can enrich the student experience.
The University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering recognized the remarkable professional achievements of three alumni at this year’s Engineering Awards Dinner.
Hosted by Dean Mary Wells, the event highlighted how Waterloo Engineering alumni are driving sustainable innovation, strengthening communities and mentoring the next generation through research, entrepreneurship and design.
The recipients of this year’s awards are:
Dr. Vikramaditya (Vikram) Yadav — Alumni Achievement Medal for Professional Achievement
The University of Waterloo continues to be recognized among the top universities in Canada and globally for a variety of disciplines from engineering and math to hospitality and tourism management according to the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) subject rankings by Shanghai Ranking Consultancy.
Five startups have been awarded $10,000 Velocity Momentum Grants to help them take the next step in their entrepreneurial journey. The no-strings attached funding is intended to allow founders to focus on their business full-time after graduation.
Velocity is the University of Waterloo’s centre of entrepreneurship and offers mentorship, funding and Canada’s largest tech-corridor network to help founders move ideas from the lab to market. Since 2008, Velocity has helped launch more than 500 startups that together exceed $40 billion in enterprise value.