The Department of Applied Mathematics is proud to announce the launch of the Dieter Schwarz Chair in the Physics of Information and AI, held by Professor Achim Kempf. This appointment was made possible through a landmark philanthropic donation from the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, one of the largest non-profit foundations in Germany.
The gift is the foundation’s first investment in a Canadian university and the largest infusion of research funding in the history of the Department of Applied Mathematics, and among the largest ever in Waterloo’s Faculty of Mathematics. It has arisen from years of collaboration between the Dieter Schwarz Foundation and Professor Kempf, with substantial support from former department chair Siv Sivaloganathan, current chair Hans De Sterck, and former Dean of Mathematics Mark Giesbrecht in making the donation a reality. The donation will be transformational for the Department, supporting a tenure-track faculty position, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and close connections with the Dieter Schwarz Foundation’s Bildungscampus in Heilbronn, Germany over the next decade or more.
Applied Math at Waterloo is uniquely suited for the investment as it has long been recognized internationally for its strengths in quantum information and theoretical physics, exemplified by its high-profile Mathematical Physics undergraduate program, which is offered in collaboration with the Department of Physics. With course offerings from Applied Math, Physics, the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), and the Perimeter Institute (PI), students in Applied Math enjoy one of the most comprehensive sets of undergraduate and graduate courses available in the areas of quantum and theoretical physics in the world.
The Department has also developed leading expertise and course offerings in scientific machine learning and artificial intelligence, recently launching the AM-SciML undergraduate major (Applied Mathematics with Scientific Computing and Scientific Machine Learning). This complements related strengths in artificial intelligence, machine learning, optimization, and cryptography in other units of Waterloo’s Faculty of Mathematics.
With leading expertise in both quantum information and AI, the Applied Mathematics department sits at the confluence of these two transformative frontiers. The establishment of the Dieter Schwarz Chair in the Physics of Information and AI reinforces this central role for the Department, providing the resources and talent to advance foundational research at this critical interface of knowledge.
Read the full story on Waterloo News to learn more.