10.5-million donation from David J. Cornfield and Linda Archer Cornfield strengthens the future of systems design engineering at university

University of Waterloo alumni David J. Cornfield and Linda Archer Cornfield have made a landmark $10.5-million donation to the university’s Faculty of Engineering, strengthening the future of systems design engineering and deepening their long-standing ties to the institution.

David Cornfield, a 1985 systems design engineering graduate and former Microsoft leader, and Linda Archer Cornfield, an award-winning documentary producer, have been active supporters of Waterloo for years. Both received honorary doctorates in 2024. Their latest gift reflects the couple’s commitment to ethical innovation, interdisciplinary design, and global problem solving—values that shaped David’s career from the moment he entered Professor George Soulis’s classroom.

Cornfield often credits the late Soulis, a founder of Waterloo’s systems design program, with giving him the intellectual framework that shaped his approach to engineering, creativity, and production. In recognition of Soulis’s influence, part of the Cornfields’ donation has created the new George Soulis Chair in Systems Design Engineering. The inaugural appointee, Dr. Katherine (Kate) Sellen—an internationally recognized expert in human-centered design and health innovation—is already leading major updates to core design courses and helping develop a new active-learning classroom opening in 2026.

The Cornfields’ contribution is also transforming student learning environments across the department. Their gift funds new biomedical engineering facilities, including the David J. Cornfield Biomedical Engineering Lab, and expands programs that connect students directly with health-care professionals through the Clinician-in-Residence initiative. Students will also benefit from new co-op opportunities focused on AI ethics, social impact, and global sustainability, including placements with mission-driven organizations and research experiences abroad.

The donation supports other initiatives that blend technical education with societal responsibility, including a new Cornfield PhD Fellowship in Sustainable Energy Systems and courses examining the social implications of AI and technology. It further strengthens Waterloo’s long-standing partnership with Ashesi University in Ghana, where a four-week field course will allow students to work directly on environmental and health challenges beginning in 2026.

University president Vivek Goel said the gift reinforces Waterloo’s mission to train engineers who can solve complex global problems, while department chair Lisa Aultman-Hall emphasized the inspiration the Cornfields bring through their advocacy on climate and social justice. Their investment, she said, is already reshaping how students learn, collaborate, and understand the human impact of the technologies they design.