News

Naomi Paul was awarded the Department of Systems Design Engineering's (SYDE) first IBET Fellowship. She is the University of Waterloo's first Indigenous recipient of the award. Naomi is completing her MASc in SYDE focusing on Human Factors and Ergonomics under the supervision of Dr. Shi Cao and will begin her PhD in Fall 2023. 

Six systems design engineering (SYDE) faculty members made a world ranking of the top computer scientists: 

Scholarship created by family of Waterloo alumni gets first-year students off to a good start

During high school in the Waterloo Region, Rachel Wormald attended Go ENG Girl, an outreach program hosted by the University of Waterloo that introduces grade 7 to 10 girls to the world of engineering.

She was immediately hooked.

James Tweel, systems design engineering (SYDE) PhD candidate was awarded the W.S. Rickert Graduate Fellowship in Science. This scholarship, valued at  $25,000 for three terms is awarded to a graduate student conducting research in the areas of Nano-medicine, biotechnology, and biomedicine at the University of Waterloo. Tweel conducts optical imaging research under the supervision of Dr. Parsin Haji Reza at PhotoMedicine Labs and illumiSonics Inc. 

On March 22, the SYDE-BME community gathered for a favourite tradition, the Coffee House. This event features artistic, athletic, and comedic performances by SYDE and BME students, faculty, and staff. 

Thank you to the SYDE-BME undergraduate social reps for their work organizing the event! 

The Systems Design Engineering and Biomedical Engineering 2023 graduating classes showcased their Capstone Design Projects. Working in teams, students are challenged to push their own boundaries and apply the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom and on co-op work terms.  

Joelle Pineau (BASc ’98, systems design engineering) was featured in the Maclean’s Power list for 2023 as one of ten AI Trailblazers. Pineau is the co-managing director of AI Research at Meta. Her research work involves improving how AI responds to uncertainty, guiding Meta’s expansion into the metaverse.

ChatGPT is breaking new ground in conversational AI but professor says it can’t be trusted – yet

The release of ChatGPT, a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) created by OpenAI, has refreshed debates on the ethical creation and use of new technologies.

Co-op Student of the Year Award Recipient Jennifer Tsai BME '25

Engineering alumnus makes his mark as a scientist, craftsman, musician and artist

It takes a great artist to create a great violin. The result is even more inspiring if that artist is an intrepid scientist and first-rate engineer. George Yu (BASc ’86, systems design engineering) is all of these things and more.