The C&O department has 36 faculty members and 60 graduate students. We are intensely research oriented and hold a strong international reputation in each of our six major areas:
- Algebraic combinatorics
- Combinatorial optimization
- Continuous optimization
- Cryptography
- Graph theory
- Quantum computing
Read more about the department's research to learn of our contributions to the world of mathematics!
News
Laura Pierson wins Governor General's Gold Medal
The Governor General’s Gold Medal is one of the highest student honours awarded by the University of Waterloo.
Sepehr Hajebi wins Graduate Research Excellence Award, Mathematics Doctoral Prize, and finalist designation for Governor General's Gold Medal
The Mathematics Doctoral Prizes are given annually to recognize the achievement of graduating doctoral students in the Faculty of Mathematics. The Graduate Research Excellence Awards are given to students who authored or co-authored an outstanding research paper.
Three C&O faculty win Outstanding Performance Awards
The awards are given each year to faculty members across the University of Waterloo who demonstrate excellence in teaching and research.
Events
Algebraic Graph Theory-Yujia Shi
Title: Fast quantum state transfer on paths via localized eigenvectors
| Speaker: | Yujia Shi |
| Affiliation: |
Creighton University |
| Location: | Please contact Sabrina Lato for Zoom link. |
Abstract:
Graphs and Matroids - Jonathan Leake
Title:The Heron-Rota-Welsh conjecture via Lorentzian polynomials
| Speaker: | Jonathan Leake |
| Affiliation: | University of Waterloo |
| Room: | MC 6029 |
Abstract:The Heron-Rota-Welsh conjecture asserts that the characteristic polynomial of a matroid has log-concave coefficients. This conjecture was open since the 1970s until it was proven by Adiprasito, Huh, and Katz in 2018 using their newly developed combinatorial Hodge theory. Their proof was groundbreaking, but rather complicated. In this talk, we will give a proof of this fact using Lorentzian polynomials, which otherwise will use nothing more than basic theory of matroids, linear algebra, and convexity.
Crypto Reading Group -Roy Stracovsky
Title:Enhancing Anamorphic Cryptography
| Speaker | Roy Stracovsky |
| Affiliation | Georgia Tech |
| Location | MC 5479 |
Abstract: Anamorphic cryptography (Persiano, Phan, and Yung, Eurocrypt 2022) allows users who share a “double key” to hide encrypted messages in ciphertexts and signatures to allow covert communication under a hypothetical “dictator” who can monitor all communication or force parties to give up their cryptographic keys in order to check for compliance.