Been kind of busy lately, with several active research projects, teaching courses, and admissions stuff of course. But here is a quick note about our fourth year (capstone) design projects for this year.
All engineering programs have a final year group design project, and this is the time of year when students showcase their results. For potential applicants to an engineering program, this is very useful to look at, since it can give you a sense of the type of things you might do in a program. Many of these fourth year projects are also the start of a commercialization effort by the students, so perhaps you’ll see some of these in the news in coming years.
This year, the Faculty of Engineering has made it easy to find out more about these projects, since they have created a one-stop webpage for all the programs. Have a look through some of the links for programs at that page. Not all of the programs have detailed project descriptions, but I think we’re working on it for future years. I think that the Management Engineering program has some of the best descriptions (and very interesting projects too).
Let’s start an informal contest here. Look through some of the project descriptions, and identify in the comments below which one you think is the “coolest” (if that’s a word people still use).
A Professor in Waterloo Engineering 
What an interesting way to explore engineering interests. For me, it is SYDE and Management. Both of these demonstrate the opportune nature of engineering, and how it can be used in a multitude of workplaces.
Yes, I like looking through them. I always learn something new and interesting about technology or new applications.
Not really related to this post but relevant to the whole “Why Waterloo Engineering?” issue.
I attended the Fabtech 2014 trade show (http://fabtechcanada.com) in Toronto last week which is a trade show aimed at the manufacturing industry with the latest in factory floor machinery like industrial robots, laser/water cutters, automated welding, coating, etc. It was a pretty amazing display of technology of interest to Mechanical and Mechatronics engineers.
I was surprised and very pleased to see that University of Waterloo had a booth at the show to convince potential employers to hire UofW grads and co-op students and to explain the co-op program.
http://s36.a2zinc.net/clients/sme/fabtechcanada2014/public/Booth.aspx?BoothID=150861
There are a lot of other University and Colleges in Canada that offer technology programs that would be of interest to the attendees of these shows but I didn’t see any of them there. A few you could easily walk to from the convention centre. In my mind, things like these are why Waterloo Engineering Co-op is such a successful program.
Thanks! I didn’t know that we had people there, but I’m not surprised. Our co-op staff are quite good at making connections with industry partners.
Hi Professor, I’m a possible undergraduate applicant, and I was just wondering about the policy on how admissions treats students taking ENG4U (grade 12 english) in summer school. I read your post that covered this topic, but this post on the waterloo repeated courses page made me unsure:
“If you have taken or are taking courses outside of regular day school and have applied to a program in the Faculty of Mathematics, in some cases your overall admission score will be adjusted.”
I’m looking to apply for Software Engineering and Computer Science Co-op. Will taking english in the summer between grade 11 and grade 12 affect my admission average? If so, by how much? I received a poor grade 11 english mark, so is taking ENG4U in the summer so as too ensure I have an updated grade 12 english mark for early acceptance a good reason to take it in summer school? How will my reason affect admissions’ decision to adjust my mark?
Thanks in advance!
What you quote is from the Faculty of Mathematics, and doesn’t apply to Software Engineering. It will apply to Computer Science, but I don’t know how much effect it has, since it’s not my area. Personally, I would rather see people use the summer for volunteer or employment activity that builds their resume, not waste it in school.
Hello Professor Anderson, it’s nice to have you respond to questions from applicants, and provide informative articles on the site. I am a future Chemical Engineering student at Waterloo (applied and accepted my offer for next year) and I wanted to know: What is the employment rate for chemical engineering students who graduate from their undergrad, and since I have heard about possible employment opportunities in the middle east (Dubai, etc.), do you know what proportion of co-op placements are located in the middle east and even the USA (Houston etc.) for chemical engineering students? Thanks.
Congratulations and we’ll look forward to seeing you in my department! I don’t have any available statistics, but the overall engineering employment rate after graduation is over 96%. Anecdotally, the students I teach in 4th year chemical engineering don’t seem to have any major problems in finding jobs, and many already have offers at the start of their 4th academic year. There are definitely co-op jobs available in the middle east and US, especially for upper year students. Roughly about 10 to 15% of students get jobs outside Canada, but I don’t have specific details by program.
Certainly looking forward to meeting you as well Professor Anderson. Thanks for the numbers on student employment rate as this is the reason why I chose Waterloo over the other universities (Waterloo students have the highest employment rate). I appreciate your responses and for giving me a clearer impression of the University’s renowned Co-op program.Looking forward to seeing you at the May open house!