Professor Dave Tompkins has received the 2026 Faculty of Mathematics Award for Distinction in Teaching. Each year, the Faculty presents one or two awards to instructors who have demonstrated outstanding teaching skills and a deep commitment to student education. The prestigious award includes a public citation and a cash prize.
Professor Tompkins earned the honour through a sustained record of excellence in teaching across core computer science courses. His contributions include exceptional classroom instruction, deep engagement with students, consistently strong evaluations, significant curriculum development, mentorship of fellow instructors, and administrative leadership in support of teaching across the Cheriton School of Computer Science.
“A teaching excellence award honours faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional skill in the classroom, supported by nominations from students who recognize them as outstanding instructors,” said Raouf Boutaba, University Professor and Director of the Cheriton School of Computer Science. “Dave unquestionably exemplifies that standard. His former students speak passionately about the impact he has had on their learning and lives. But what has distinguished him even further is the influence he has on faculty around him. Dave encourages and supports colleagues to improve their own teaching, creating a culture of teaching excellence that benefits our entire Faculty.”
Dave Tompkins is an Associate Professor in the Teaching Stream at the Cheriton School of Computer Science. He has a PhD in Computer Science, specializing in empirical AI, and an MASc in Electrical and Computer Engineering, specializing in data compression, both from the University of British Columbia.
Professor Tompkins received Waterloo’s Outstanding Performance Award in 2019 and 2022. In 2025, he won the inaugural Computer Science Teach-off, a competition challenging faculty to improve student understanding of an unfamiliar concept in just one hour. Since September 2021, he has served as Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in Computer Science, and since July 2024 as Chair of Faculty Council in Mathematics. Visitors to his office can attest that he has arguably the largest collection of Funko Pops at Waterloo.
Student nomination letters
Students describe Professor Tompkins as energetic, funny, clear, encouraging and deeply prepared. They describe an instructor who makes difficult material memorable without trivializing it and who creates a classroom environment in which students feel comfortable asking questions.
The following are representative anonymous comments from three former students.
One student wrote:
“He was, simply put, the best. The amount of passion and effort he put into teaching was obvious. He was always energetic, witty, hilarious, and made a point of making useful analogies for key concepts. All of the content from those courses that has stuck with me well is burned in my brain as some funny Dave Tompkins joke. I remember being called up to the front to guess a random number in a game show style, which is how we opened the section on binary search. … On a more personal level, what really made the difference for me was two things. How much he cared about his students, and how much he has inspired me.”
A second student commented:
“He never refrains from adding personality to the course material and actively updates lessons to better fit ongoing events and trends. … He managed to explain the functionality of LLMs and image generators with such clarity, using almost exclusively concepts already covered in the course, that to this day, I still feel my understanding of AI is strong. His ability to explain fundamental concepts without being patronizing or condescending is masterful and admirable. He so evidently lives and breathes computer science, and this adoration most certainly left an impact on me.”
A third student noted:
“He frequently checks in with the class to see whether the pace is appropriate and if we’re understanding the concepts. Then adjusts his teaching accordingly, which is not something many instructors do and also really demonstrates his deep knowledge of the content. Dave’s explanations and examples always made more complex concepts really easy to grasp, while also often being entertaining to keep the class engaged.”