Faculty of Engineering Update 2016-17

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Strategic Initiatives: Transformational Research

  • Waterloo was ranked the number one school in Canada and 47th in the world for engineering by the U.S. News’ Global University Subject-area Rankings. The University was ranked 60th in the world for engineering and technology by the 2017 QS World University Rankings by Subject.
  • Major research chairs and honours earned by Engineering faculty in 2016/17 include:
    • Professor James Craig was awarded a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Hydrologic Modelling and Analysis;
    • Canada Research Chair advancement from Tier 2 to Tier 1 was awarded to Professor Chris Eliasmith, cross-appointed to both engineering and philosophy;
    • Canada Research Chair renewals were awarded to Professors Raafat Mansour (Tier 1 in Micro and Nano Integrated Radio Frequency Systems) and Catherine Rosenberg (Tier 1 in the Future Internet);
    • Industrial Research Chairs were awarded to Professors Kaan Inal, Amir Khajepour, and Safieddin Safavi-Naeini;
    • Professor Sanjeev Bedi was awarded $1M as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Chair in Immersive Design Engineering Activities (IDEAS);
    • Professors Zhongwei Chen and John Yeow were named Members of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists;
    • Professors Manoj Sachdev and Zhou Wang were inducted as fellows of the Canadian Academy of Engineering; and
    • Professional Engineers Ontario awarded medals in 2016 to Professors John Yeow (Engineering Excellence), Susan Tighe (Research & Development), and Lin Tan (Young Engineer).
  • Tri-Council research funding earned by Engineering researchers reached a record level ($22.6M), as did total funding from industry sources ($12.5M).
  • External research funding in 2016/17 for Engineering research projects was $64.4M, an increase of about 10% from the previous year.
  • Three Engineering professors were awarded NSERC Strategic Partnership Grants totalling $1.7M. Engineering researchers also earned 10 NSERC Research Tools and Instruments awards totalling $1.25M.
  • Professors Amir Khajepour and Ehsan Toyserkani were each awarded $4M from the highly competitive Ontario Research Fund - Research Excellence program.
  • The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) awarded Ehsan Toyserkani $8.9M to expand the Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing Lab.
  • Professor Philip Beesley was awarded $2.5M from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for his work in living architecture systems.

  • Professors Mark Hancock, Pin-Han Ho, Ning Jiang, and Stephen Smith were awarded NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplements awards in 2016.

  • Ontario’s Early Researcher Awards were received by Professors Vijay Ganesh, Mark Hancock, Hyung-Sool Lee, and Stephen Smith.

  • The Green and Intelligent Automotive (GAIA) Research Facility for automotive research and testing officially opened in September 2016.

Two students look at a laptop in a lab.

Swirve, an endoscope using infrared light and a fibre optic cabel designed as a capstone design project by Michael Phillips, Left, and Phil Cooper, received $50K from the Palihapitiya/Lau Venture Creation Fund and 10K at the 2017 Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards Competition.

Strategic Initiatives: Experiential Education

  • In the past year, Waterloo Engineering students completed a record 8,435 co-op work terms, achieving a 98.4% employment rate. The proportion of work terms filled outside of Canada increased again in 2016, reaching almost 17.9%.
  • The Alexa Fund Fellowship, supported by Amazon, was launched to provide support for Waterloo Engineering students who are exploring new ways to apply a voice- activated virtual assistant system.
  • The University of Waterloo NanoRobotics Group, comprised of nanotechnology and software engineering students, captured first place in the Mobile Microrobotics Challenge at the International Conference for Robotics and Automation.

Strategic Initiatives: Entrepreneurial

  • $60K was awarded at the fourth annual Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design competition for Engineering students. The Esch Foundation committed over $1M in renewed funding to support Enterprise Co-op awards, the Bridging Entrepreneurs to Students program, Master of Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technology scholarships, and Capstone Design awards.
  • Almost $53K in micro-seed funding was awarded to entrepreneurial Engineering students through the Engineer of the Future Fund.
  • Waterloo Engineering helped facilitate $400K in funding for three student and faculty-founded companies; Acerta, Elucid, and Knote. The program also offered students access to mentorship from faculty and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and businesses.
  • The Palihapitiya/Lau Venture Creation Fund awarded $100K to help Capstone Design projects SWIRVE and VivaSpire become startups.
  • Medella Health, co-founded by a nanotechnology engineering student, captured an international runner-up award in the 2016 James Dyson Award competition. The smart contact lens that monitors glucose levels was the third project with its genesis in Capstone Design to win a top prize in three years.
  • Matthew Bailey, Aaron Grant, and Stephen Lake, mechatronics engineering alumni who founded Thalmic Labs in their graduating years, were named to the prestigious 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

Strategic Initiatives: Academic Programming and Teaching Excellence

  • As part of an ongoing process of improvement that reflects student and faculty input, many Engineering programs revised their curricula.
  • Total undergraduate enrolment and the enrolment of women in the Faculty of Engineering again reached all- time highs in 2016 with 7,865 students, of whom more than a quarter — 27% — were women. The proportion of women in the first-year class reached 31% for the first time, up from 22% in 2013.
  • Of the new first-year students registered in the Faculty of Engineering in fall 2016, 86% had incoming high school averages of 90% or higher and 39% had averages of at least 95%. In both cases, this was a slight increase over fall 2015.
  • Over 12,300 applications to Engineering programs were received for fall 2017, an increase of about 6% over the previous year. Engineering was unfortunately unable to make offers to over 3,000 students who applied with high school averages of 90% or higher.
  • For the 2016 calendar year, Engineering awarded 1,209 undergraduate degrees and 643 graduate degrees.
  • Teaching and profession awards earned in 2016/17 include:
    • Professor Sherman Shen was named a University Professor, the University of Waterloo’s highest academic honour;
    • Professors Sanjeev Bedi and Dan Davison both received University of Waterloo Distinguished Teacher Awards;
    • Professor Gordon Stubley was awarded a 3M National Teaching Fellowship;
    • Engineering Graduate Studies established the Faculty of Engineering Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision. The inaugural recipients were Professors Catherine Burns, Ali Elkamel, Carl Haas, and Susan Tighe;
    • Mohammed Nassar, electrical and computer engineering doctoral candidate, was awarded an Amit & Meena Chakma Awards for Exceptional Teaching by a Student; and
    • Associate Dean, Outreach, Mary Wells, received the Support of Women in the Engineering Profession Award from Engineers Canada and accepted an NSERC Science Promotion award for her leadership of the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering.