Making a breakthrough in bricks

Engineering student impresses judges with carbon-neutral masonry units formed using bacteria

By Brian Caldwell, Faculty of Engineering

Rania Al-Sheikhly (left) and Adrian Simone co-founded MicroBuild Masonry, a runner-up for the national James Dyson Award for student inventions.

A project inspired by a co-op work term on a construction crew has put a Waterloo Engineering student in the running for an international invention prize.

Adrian Simone, who is in his fourth year of the civil engineering program, was announced today as a national runner-up in the 2022 James Dyson Award competition for a proposal to make bricks using bacteria.

Bio-Brick, the project entered by startup MicroBuild Masonry, is now up against student inventions from 28 other countries for two top prizes of US $45,000. A short list of 20 international finalists will be announced in October from an initial field of almost 1,700 entries.

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