Patricia Nieva is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
She is an expert in micro- and nano- technologies and in particular, the development of microsensors, nanosensors and integrated sensor system solutions. She has established a multidisciplinary research program that aims to build novel sensing methodologies to enhance vehicle safety and performance, as well as point-of-care health monitoring and medical diagnosis. The focus of her work is on chemical and biological photonic sensing technologies involving fiber optics and nanostructured plasmonic devices, as well as high-temperature MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) capacitive, infrared and interferometric sensing technologies. Her work also spans reliability studies of microsystems, in-situ characterization of material properties of thin films, and the manufacturing of metallic nanoparticles for sensing applications. Professor Nieva is also recently involved in a project to build a handheld cardiac monitor that will measure proteins in the blood commonly linked to a heart attack, alerting the patient’s doctor before symptoms appear.
Her ongoing research work constitutes an important commitment to the identification of simple, cost-effective and reliable micro- and nano- technologies for advanced sensing. Professor Nieva’s research has led to 2 patents (one awarded and one provisional). She has authored and co-authored more than 90 journal and conference publications, and is also a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.