Jenny Howcroft, PEng (She/Her)

Jennifer Howcroft is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo.

Her research encompasses technical and pedagogical research areas. Her pedagogical research focuses on engineering education, in particular engineering design, holistic engineering education, and empathy. Her technical research is predominantly focused on evaluation of older adult naturalistic driving and sensor-based human movement analysis encompassing signal analysis, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence techniques.

• Pedagogical research
• Clinical and rehabilitation engineering
• Gait analysis and wearable sensors
• Driving fitness assessments

• 2016, Doctorate Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada
• 2011, Master's Clinical Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada
• 2009, Bachelor of Applied Science Biological Engineering, University of Guelph, Canada

• 2022 SFF Teaching Excellence Award, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo
• 2020 Outstanding Performance Award, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo
• 2019 SAGE Elite Reviewer Award, Prosthetics & Orthotics International (POI)

• 2022 Teaching & Learning Champion for Systems Design Engineering

• BME 362 - Biomedical Engineering Design Workshop 1
  • Taught in 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• J. Howcroft, K. Mercer. “What if my Wi-Fi crashes during an exam?”: First-year engineering student perceptions of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Engineering Education. 2022. vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 501-515. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2022.2031115.
• J. Howcroft, K. Mercer. Where we are: Understanding instructor perceptions of empathy in engineering education. CEEA 2022. 18-22 June 2022.
• M. Nouredanesh, A. Godfrey, J. Howcroft, E.D. Lemaire, J. Tung. Fall risk assessment in the wild: A critical examination of wearable data use. Gait and Posture. 2021. vol. 85, pp. 178-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2020.04.010.
• J. Howcroft, B. Wallace, R. Goubran, S. Marshall, M.M. Porter, F. Knoefel. Trip-Based Measures of Naturalistic Driving: Considerations and Connections with Cognitive Status in Older Adult Drivers. IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation & Measurement. 2019. vol. 68, no. 7, pp. 2451-2459.
• J Howcroft, F. Knoefel, B. Wallace, R. Goubran, M.M. Porter, S. Marshall. Impact of health differences and longitudinal changes on deceleration driving patterns in older adult drivers. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. 2019. vol. 60. pp. 137-146.
• J. Howcroft, E.D. Lemaire, J. Kofman, J. Prospective elderly fall prediction by older-adult fall-risk modeling with feature selection. Biomed Signal Process Control. 2018. vol. 43. pp. 320-328.

• Prof wins early career education award
• Prof shares three skills to help graduates find success