News

The McCall McBain Foundation has made a gift to provide additional support to the Indigenous and Black Engineering and Technology PhD Project (IBET). The grant will ensure the continued success of a range of important program initiatives and will significantly contribute to the growing community of IBET Momentum Fellows.

Over the next three years this gift will help fund key aspects of the program including assistance for fellows looking to travel to the annual fall IBET Conference. Money will also go to an honorarium for an Indigenous Elder and cultural competency events designed to enrich the community. In addition, the grant will help safeguard the future of the program by supporting a recruitment event aimed at attracting new IBET Momentum Fellows.

A shared interest in sports inspired a University of Waterloo professor and an undergraduate student team to launch a company that designed a novel spinal implant for improved neck mobility and reduced surgical complications.
 
Pliantech was co-founded by Jonah Leinwand, a biomedical engineering undergraduate in the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Engineering, and Dr. Stewart McLachlin, an assistant professor in mechanical and mechatronics engineering. 

Please welcome the staff members who joined our team in 2022. This list represents all new, regular staff positions within the Faculty of Engineering between January 1 and December 1, 2022.

Architecture 

Palak Chauhan, Client Support Specialist 
Julie Dring, Advancement Manager 
Sarah Mickelson, Financial Officer 
Rekha Ramachandran, Research Technician Development Coordinator 
Kelsey Richardson, Administrative Assistant 

The Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) will induct two Waterloo professors as 2024 EIC fellows.

Dr. David Clausi, director of the Vision and Image Processing Research Lab and Associate Dean of Research and External Partnerships, and Dr. Carolyn Ren, director of Waterloo Microfluidics Laboratory, were recognised for their exceptional contributions to engineering in Canada.

Dr. Jon W. Mark, a prominent researcher and influential mentor who played a leading role in building the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), died on December 7.

Mark joined Waterloo in 1970 and officially retired in 2001, although he remained an active presence in the department as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

Two Waterloo Engineering and computer science students organized a day-long hackathon with more than 50 participants at the Pearl Sullivan Engineering IDEAs Clinic.

Led by Faraz Khoubsirat, a third-year software engineering student, and Bing Hu, a computer science PhD student, the hackathon challenged participants to solve real-world problems using Cohere's powerful AI engines and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) APIs. 

Two Waterloo professors, Dr. Alfred Yu and Dr. John. Yeow, have been selected as fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Yu was recognized for contributions in the field of ultrasound imaging and therapy, Yeow for contributions to the understanding and applications of nanostructures and nanocomposites.

Two Waterloo Engineering students pitched their business ideas at the Velocity Pitch Competition finals and won $5,000 each.

Robert Chlumsky, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Engineering, pitched Blackbird, a rapid web-based flood mapping solution. Jonah Leinwand, an undergraduate student studying biomedical engineering, pitched a new design for spinal implants.