Engineering breaks ground

Leave it to Waterloo Engineering to turn a traditional ground breaking ceremony into a high-tech event jammed with student innovation and entrepreneurial alumni technology.  On November 12, the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering broke ground for Engineering 7  with the assistance of robots, autonomous vehicles and good old fashioned shovels.

As an audience of several hundred students, alumni, faculty, staff and donors watched a live video stream of the innovation-intensive event, the dean of engineering, Pearl Sullivan, along with University President Feridun Hamdullahpur, tossed shovels of dirt into the air, officially launching the construction of the 242,000 gross-square-foot building that will be one of the largest facilities on campus.

The groundbreaking festivities included the acknowledgement of several significant gifts from private sector donors including two anonymous gifts of $25 million and $10 million. Also in attendance were Jacques and Céline Lamarre whose family foundation gifted $1.5 million in support of the construction of Engineering 7. Other major gifts to the Educating the Engineer of the Future campaign were also announced including more than $1 million each from General Motors of Canada, Magna International Inc., and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc.

“When I look around, I see people who truly believe in Waterloo Engineering.  People who know we are deeply committed to Educating the Engineer of the Future and they have generously supported our fundraising campaign so we can accomplish these four crucial things:  build Engineering 7, enhance student experience,  establish Chairs in emerging technologies and to support graduate students,” said Sullivan, just before donning a Waterloo Engineering hardhat and leather jacket and jumping into an autonomous golf cart with University of Waterloo President Feridun Hamdullahpur. 

Campaign reaches $55 million

The $70 million campaign, publicly launched in April of this year, has reached the $55 million mark from private sector donations alone. The new Engineering 7 (E7) facility will feature an additive manufacturing—or 3D printing—laboratory and a RoboHub for testing autonomous and robotic vehicles.  It will also accommodate growth from Waterloo’s new biomedical engineering program and the expansion of the Faculty of Engineering’s highly popular mechatronics engineering program. It will house the Faculty’s new teaching innovation, the multidisciplinary Engineering Ideas Clinic™, where undergraduate students will integrate classroom theory with hands-on learning as they design, build, test and refine ideas. A student-centric building, there is dedicated study and social spaces for students, lecture halls and entrepreneurial support areas, along with 20 design garages for student design teams to prototype their Capstone Design projects.

EllisDon will construct the building that will also become the permanent home for the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre, and the Engineering Outreach unit, which offers STEM education programs for elementary and high school children, such as Engineering Science Quest and Go ENG Girl.  

Hannah Gautreau, president of EngSoc B and Elahe Jabari, PhD candidate in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, also lent a hand to break ground, as Steve Waslander, professor of Mechanical and Mechatronics engineering narrated the journey for the indoor audience as they viewed the entire event on large screens inside a packed Sedra Student Design Centre. Much to the audience’s delight, as soon as the Dean and President tossed a shovelful of dirt in the air, confetti cascaded upon the cheering crowd.   

Alumni technology showcased

The groundbreaking event also featured high-profile Waterloo Engineering student and alumni technology. The autonomous golf cart, developed by Varden Labs, a Waterloo Engineering student-founded company, was the first autonomous vehicle to operate on a public road in Canada last August.  The Husky robot that carried the shovels is a product of Clearpath Robotics, a highly successful company founded by Waterloo Engineering alumni in 2007. Even the film crew capturing the event was co-founded by Waterloo alumni, Angle Media Group.  Alas, not all went as planned -   the 70 kph winds prevented Vertical, another Waterloo Engineering alumni firm, from flying their cinematography drone during the groundbreaking ceremony.  

 “This event was exciting for everyone and we’re looking forward to Engineering 7’s grand opening in September 2018 – and we’ll have even more thrilling student, researcher and alumni innovations to showcase,” said Sullivan.