News

Waterloo Engineering researchers have invented a digital medical imaging system that significantly improves the cancer detection process to deliver immediate results.

Led by Dr. Parsin Haji Reza, a professor in Waterloo’s Department of Systems Design Engineering, the research team has developed the Photon Absorption Remote Sensing (PARS) system, a built-from-scratch technology that is faster than traditional cancer-detection methods and aims to deliver a diagnosis in minutes — enabling prompt surgical intervention. 

Dr. Alexander Wong has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts, or RSA).

Wong is a Professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering. His research interests include Artificial Intelligence, medical imaging, autonomous vehicles and smart infrastructure.

Seven projects by Faculty of Engineering researchers were awarded funding by the Graham Seed Fund (GSF).

The University of Waterloo’s Health Initiatives team introduced the GSF to support innovative health-care solutions tackling global challenges.

Dr. Tizazu Mekonnen has won the Macromolecular Science and Engineering Division Early Career Instigator Award sponsored by NOVA Chemicals for his significant contributions to polymer engineering and sustainability.

His research focuses on sustainable materials, including compostable plastics and eco-friendly nanomaterials.

Kitchener-based software company Vidyard has announced that it secured $21 million in August 2023 to fuel the development of its product and artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions. The funding was led by Export Development Canada (EDC).

Co-founded in 2011 by Waterloo Engineering alumni Michael Litt (BASc ’11, systems design engineering) and Devon Galloway (BASc ’10, systems design engineering), Vidyard creates software to host and analyze video performance. Its new AI capabilities include an AI Avatars feature on its Messages platform.

Two Waterloo Engineering graduate students pitched their startup at the winter 2024 Velocity Pitch Competition and won $5,000 to turn their innovative approach to industrial machinery maintenance into a business.

Jesurun Ramesh and Minaal Butt, both currently enrolled in the Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) program, co-founded Grease Tech to reduce human error and costly failures in manufacturing lines.

The Macleans’s Power List ranks the 100 Canadians shaping the country each year.  

 The 2024 list features two Waterloo Engineering alumni who have been recognized for their outstanding and innovative work advancing the country’s leadership in education and tech.

A research team from Waterloo Engineering has developed a method for more natural communication between humans and humanoid robots 

Dr. Ewen MacDonald, a professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering and Pranav Barot (BASc ‘21, mechatronics, robotics and automation Engineering, MASc ‘23, systems design engineering), have decreased the response time of humanoid robots in conversations and improved their ability to reorient based on the source of speech. 

Waterloo Engineering professor Dr. Chris Wilson will work with researchers from SNOLAB near Sudbury, Ontario and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden to investigate the impact of radiation and cosmic rays on quantum technologies.

The collaboration is made possible by a new grant sponsored by the U.S Army Research Office.