News

A very successful School on Port-Hamiltonian Systems took place at the University of Waterloo, Canada, on August 14–15, 2026, see https://lnkd.in/et6VNwQn.

Around 30 participants joined us for two intensive days exploring the foundations, modeling, analysis, control, and numerical treatment of port-Hamiltonian systems.

A big thank you to our excellent speakers: David C. Del Rey Fernández (Waterloo, Canada), Hannes Gernandt (Wuppertal, Germany), Birgit Jacob (Wuppertal, Germany), Yann Le Gorrec (Besançon, France), Alessandro Macchelli (Bologna, Italy), Kirsten Morris (Waterloo, Canada), and Hector Ramirez (Valparaíso, Chile) for their inspiring lectures and discussions.

The school was organized by Kirsten Morris (University of Waterloo) and Birgit Jacob (University of Wuppertal, CRC 1701 | Port-Hamiltonian Systems 1701) and was generously supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the University of Waterloo, and CRC 1701 | Port-Hamiltonian Systems 1701 “Port-Hamiltonian Systems”.

Two days full of mathematics, exchange, and new connections — and a great contribution to the growing international port-Hamiltonian systems community.

Former PhD student Yiming Meng, now an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), and Professor Jun Liu have received the 2026 Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems Paper Prize.

The prize recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of hybrid systems published in the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) journal Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems. At each IFAC World Congress, the prize is awarded to the authors of two selected papers published in the journal during the preceding three years.

Meng and Liu received the award for their paper, “Lyapunov-barrier characterization of robust reach–avoid–stay specifications for hybrid systems”, published in Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems in 2023. The award will be presented during the Closing Ceremony of the 23rd IFAC World Congress, to be held August 23–28, 2026, in Busan, Republic of Korea.

This is Professor Liu's second Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems Paper Prize. He and University of Michigan Professor Necmiye Ozay received the same award in 2017 for their paper “Finite abstractions with robustness margins for temporal logic-based control synthesis.” 

Ruikun Zhou, who recently completed the PhD program in Applied Math, received a Faculty of Mathematics Graduate Research Excellence Award for the paper, Resolvent-Type Data-Driven Learning of Generators for Unknown Continuous-Time Dynamical Systems, published with supervisor Prof. Jun Liu in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. This research develops a new data-driven framework for learning the fundamental operators that govern nonlinear dynamical systems directly from trajectory data, enabling model-based prediction, analysis, and control even for uncertain system.

Congratulations to all Applied Mathematics graduates who walked the stage at Spring 2026 convocation!

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to mean field game theory and systems on complex networks, Prof. Peter Caines was awarded a Doctor of Mathematics degree, honoris causa, by the University of Waterloo in 2026. While visiting campus, Prof. Caines delivered an Applied Math Distinguished Lecture on Mean Field Control and Games on Large Networks and met with current graduate students to discuss their research.

The 2026 Cecil Graham Doctoral Dissertation Award provided by the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society (CAIMS) is awarded to Dr. Melissa Stadt for her work on the mathematical modelling of electrolyte homeostasis in vertebrates. Dr. Stadt completed her PhD in the department of Applied Mathematics in 2025, under the supervision of Prof. Anita Layton.
Dr. Stadt’s work is an important contribution to our understanding of how multiple physiological systems interact to achieve robustness and adaptability. Her modelling efforts highlight the delicate balance of transfers of ions between organs including, in the case of calcium, into and out of bones. In addition to baseline physiological conditions, Dr. Stadt considered the particular stresses associated with pregnancy and lactation, as well as various pathological conditions that affect electrolyte homeostasis, and therefore important parameters of health such as bone density.

Professor Brian Ingalls of the department of Applied Mathematics co-led a research team that presented promising proof-of-principle results in the development of a live biotherapeutic product approach to treating cancerous tumors. The research, executed by Dr. Bahram Zargar and Dr. Sara Sadr, as PhD students in the department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo, involved introduction of novel functions to the bacterium Clostridium sporogenes, enhancing its potential as an anti-cancer therapeutic.

Dr. Ruikun Zhou was announced as a co-winner of the Faculty of Mathematics Graduate Research Excellence Award for the paper "Resolven-Type Data-Driven Learning of Generators for Unknown Continuous-Time Dynamical Systems". Dr. Zhou completed a PhD in the department of Applied Mathematics under the supervision of Prof. Jun Liu in 2025 . Dr. Zhou is joining the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT as a Postdoctoral Associate. Congratulations Ruikun!

Marty Mukherjee has been awarded the Waterloo.AI Physical AI Graduate Scholarship, supported by the Philantra Foundation. Marty is pursuing a PhD in the department of Applied Mathematics under the supervision of Prof. Jun Liu. Congratulations Marty!