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Convocation does the Math today
Vice-President, Academic & Provost George Dixon addresses Convocation on Thursday.
What a week it's been, and Convocation isn't over yet! Today, the Faculty of Mathematics has two celebrations.
Morning Ceremony details
This morning's ceremony begins at 10:00 a.m. as 430 undergraduates, 47 Master's, and 8 PhD candidates receive their degrees. Bearing the mace will be Frank Zorzitto, Professor Emeritus, Pure Mathematics Department. Birgit Moscinski will sing the national anthem.
David I. McKay and Anand Pilay will receive Honorary Doctors of Mathematics and will address Convocation.
Dave McKay is President and CEO of RBC, Canada’s largest bank. He holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University. McKay is credited with helping transform the bank’s retail division and introduce new technology that has enabled RBC to adapt and evolve to rapidly changing customer demands. He champions Canada’s innovation ecosystem and is leading RBC’s support for and partnerships with universities, start-ups and accelerators. As an advocate for youth, he promotes the benefits of work-integrated learning to help young people succeed in a changing world.
Anand Pillay began his career by studying Mathematics and Philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford, and pure Mathematics at King’s College, London, culminating in a PhD in Mathematics from Bedford College, London, in 1978. His research is in model theory, a branch of mathematical logic, to which he has made profound and lasting contributions. He has held the Swanlund Chair at the University of Illinois (1996-2006) and the Marie Curie Chair at the University of Leeds (2005-2008). Since 2013 he has been the William J. Hank Family Chair in mathematics at the University of Notre Dame.
Winnie Luong will deliver the valedictory address.
Afternoon Ceremony details
At 2:30 p.m., 237 undergraduates, 41 Master's, and 6 PhD candidates will cross the stage. The mace bearer will be Professor Shai Ben-David of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. Birgit Moscinski will sing the national anthem.
Robert J. Tibshirani will receive an Honorary Doctor of Mathematics and will address Convocation. Tibshirani is among the top statisticians today; his work has shaped the future directions of theoretical and applied statistics. Professor Tibshirani earned his bachelor degree in statistics and computer science from the University of Waterloo, a master’s degree in statistics from University of Toronto, and a PhD in 1984 from Stanford University. In 1985, he joined the Department of Statistics and the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics at the University of Toronto, becoming a Full Professor in 1994. In 1998 he moved to Stanford University, where he now holds appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Data Sciences and Statistics.
Joseph (Joey) Perriera will deliver the valedictory address.
Professor M. Tamer Özsu will receive the University Professor Designation. Özsu joined the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science in 2000, following 16 years at the University of Alberta. In addition to being a prominent faculty member, he has served as both Director of the School and Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty. Professor Özsu has focussed on big data problems — long before “big data” entered our lexicon. He is the co-author of a classical textbook on distributed and parallel data management and the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Database Systems.
Professor Özsu is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association for Computing Machinery, and Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is an elected member of the Science Academy of Turkey, and a member of Sigma Xi. He was awarded the ACM SIGMOD Test-of-Time and Contributions Awards.
Professor Özsu’s career is also characterized by service to the academic community, serving on and chairing boards of many professional organizations, chairing the NSERC Computer Science Grant Selection Committee, and serving on the editorial boards of many publications, including as Founding Editor-in-Chief of ACM Books Series and Founding Series Editor of Synthesis Lectures on Data Management.
Read more about Professor Ozsu on the Computer Science website.
Alex Nicolaou will receive the J. Wesley Graham Medal in Computing and Innovation.
Adam Dor-On will receive the University Finalist for the Governor General's Gold Medal award at the doctoral level.
Shouzhen Gu will receive the Governor General's Silver Medal for highest standing in an undergraduate degree program.
Zhengzu Bil Jin will receive the University of Waterloo Alumni Gold Medal in recognition of academic achievement.
The Jessie W.H. Zou Memorial Award for excellence in undergraduate research will go to Sally Q. Dong.
The Samuel Eckler Medal for highest standing in Actuarial Science will be presented to Yumeng Yang.
Jiannan Wang will receive the Computing and Financial Management departmental award.
Anton Mosunov will receive the Amit and Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student. Mosunov is a PhD student in Pure Mathematics, is highly recognized for his dedication to learning and teaching. When asked about Mosunov’s impact on student learning, one undergraduate student explained that “he made the content interesting and easy to follow for every student. Not only did he provide great lectures, he also provided course notes and class videos to. . . ensure that we fully understood the material outside of class.” Another student wrote that “at office hours, Anton was always helpful. Whether I had a question about the course content itself, or things beyond the scope of the course, he was always enthusiastic in answering, and recommended further reading to me which allowed me to learn much more than one course could teach.” In addition to his students’ support, a faculty member highlighted that “in all cases, he went well beyond what was expected of him and was an essential contributor to the success of the course.” His support serves as a testament to this recognition.
Convocation closes out tomorrow with three Engineering ceremonies
The Faculty of Engineering will celebrate its newest graduates with a record three ceremonies tomorrow.
Morning Ceremony details
The Saturday morning ceremony begins at 10:00 a.m. and will see 616 undergraduate Engineering and Software Engineering graduands cross the stage. Bearing the mace will be Rick Haldenby, Professor, School of Architecture. Dr. Reinhold M. Schuster will sing the national anthem.
Dean Kamen will receive an Honorary Doctor of Engineering and address Convocation. Kamen is a renowned inventor, entrepreneur, and advocate for science and technology education. He founded AutoSyringe in 1976 to commercialize the world’s first wearable infusion pump. In 1982, he established DEKA Research & Development Corporation, through which he created the Segway Human Transporter, the HomeChoice dialysis system, the iBOT mobility device, the LUKE Arm, and the Slingshot water purification system. In 1989, he founded FIRST, an organization dedicated to helping young people discover the wonder and rewards of science and technology. Kamen has received numerous prestigious honours in recognition of his achievements, including the National Medal of Technology.
Soheil Koushan will deliver the valedictory address.
As is the tradition in Engineering, the Dean of the Faculty will also address Convocation.
Pelagia Sofia Cefalas will receive the Alumni Gold Medal.
Afternoon Ceremony details
The Saturday afternoon ceremony begins at 2:30 p.m. with 483 undergraduates expected to receive their degrees.
Nandita Basu, associate professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, will bear the mace. Dr. Reinhold M. Schuster will sing the national anthem.
Patrick G. Awuah Jr. will receive an Honorary Doctor of Engineering and address Convocation. Awuah is president and founder of Ashesi University in Ghana, a private, non-profit university. Prior to this role he had a very successful career at Microsoft in the United States; however, he set aside this remarkable success in favour of following his passion as he returned to his home country to apply himself toward founding and developing a strong new university.
Earning a BS in engineering and a BA in economics from Swarthmore College, and his MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, he spent eight years in program management and business systems at Microsoft Corporation where he contributed in areas of remote access technologies and worked to develop a network interface standard, among other successes at the company. He then set out to found Ashesi University in 2002, which today offers six degree programs in business and technical subjects with a focus on rigourous ethical principles and leadership. He has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, the McNulty Prize, and is a member of the Order of the Volta, one of Ghana’s highest awards. In 2014 he was recipient of the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award, and in 2015 he was named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune.
Nabeel Shahid will deliver the valedictory address and Dean Pearl Sullivan will address Convocation.
Amanda Garcia will receive the Amit and Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student. Garcia is a PhD student in Systems Design Engineering. Students and faculty members recognized her as an approachable, knowledgeable, and dedicated instructor. A student remarked that “it was very clear that she wanted the students to succeed as she went above and beyond to set up one-on-one extra help sessions, was flexible on group extra help times, and was very quick to respond to email questions.” Another undergraduate student commented on her flexibility as an instructor, saying that “Amanda was a great instructor because she was constantly willing to receive feedback and alter the way she was teaching the course for the better understanding of the students.” Garcia has also been described by faculty members as “extremely patient and understanding with students.” Garcia continues to keep her classes informative, relatable, and engaging. In 2017, she was the recipient of the University of Waterloo Certificate in University Teaching Award.
Evening Ceremony details
The new 6:30 p.m. Engineering ceremony on Saturday evening will see Master's and Doctoral Degrees conferred on 214 Master's and 54 PhD candidates. Bearing the mace will be George Freeman, associate professor, Electrical and Computing Engineering. Rachel Hickey will sing the national anthem.
Wayne H. Chang will receive the Distinguished Teacher Award. Chang is a Lecturer at the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre. As the Enterprise Co-op Program Coordinator, Wayne Chang has had an outstanding influence on the students he teaches. One of his undergraduate students commented that “his practical approach and his ideas of process over product allowed for a course that I won’t forget after the exam.” He has supported several students through the Enterprise Co-op Program who have gone on to become CEOs of their own companies. One such student noted that “Wayne's mentorship and guidance does not end when the semester does. He continues to have one of the most genuine interests in his student’s lives that I have ever seen.” Chang has been recognized by his students for human qualities “beyond his wealth of technical know-how and teaching excellence.” One alumnus recounted “countless late nights engaging in valuable discussion” with Chang and acknowledged that he “repeatedly placed his reputation on the line” to guide his students to success. Wayne Chang has had the honour of being recognized for teaching excellence from the Dean of Engineering and received the Outstanding Performance Award in 2014.
Professor Amir Khajepour and Professor Mary Wells of the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, will receive Awards of Excellence in Graduate Supervision. (Wells joined the University of Guelph as its Dean of Engineering, Physical Sciences in the fall of 2017.) The award is given to an exemplary faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in graduate student supervision at the University.
Shivam Kalra will receive the University Finalist for the Governor General's Gold Medal award at the Master's level and Kede Ma will receive it at the Doctoral level.
The Albert Sherwood Barber Medal for best overall work term and academic performance will be presented to Joshua Ari Chorlton.
Tiffany Amber Bayley will receive the Amit and Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student.
The Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering Gold Medal for outstanding academic achievement in Mechanical Engineering will be presented to Omar Kamal.
Mahimna Gautam Dave will receive the George Dufault Medal for excellence in communication.
Abdullah Mohamed Barakat will receive the John Fisher Award for Leadership.
The Ontario Professor Engineers Foundation for Education Gold Medal for Academic Achievement will go to Shih-Chun Hung.
Jatin Jayesh Patil will receive the Roy Duxbury Leadership Award.
The Sandford Fleming Foundation medals for academic excellence and for co-operative work term proficiency will also be presented.
An update on changes in the Finance Office
A message from Finance.
There have been significant changes in Finance over the last year, including the go-live of a new financial system as well as a number of retirements and departures.
Vice-President, Administration and Finance Dennis Huber recently announced the appointment of Sarah Hadley as Director, Finance effective May 1, 2018. Sarah has served as the Associate Director, Treasury & Tax Services since 2014 and was in the role of Interim Director since November 1. Prior to joining the University in 2014, Sarah held senior finance roles at BlackBerry and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Finance’s current goals include returning to a new steady state of operations and further developing relationships with our campus partners. To be able to achieve these goals, the first steps are to complete our first fiscal year end in Unit4 and to ensure that appropriate resources are in place.
Finance is hard at work finalizing the year end financial statements and supporting the first annual financial statement audit since the implementation of the Unit4 financial system. The preliminary and final April 2018 department month-end reports have been delivered.
On the recruiting front, in addition to the Director position, Finance has posted and filled a total of 8 positions over the past 6 months. To put this in context, Finance has a budget complement of 43 people. In addition, there are still several positions under recruitment. We look forward to providing further updates in the coming months on these positions – please refer to our monthly newsletter.
Other updates from Finance are:
- The Concur online expense reimbursement system is now available to graduate students for expense reimbursements; and
- The CIBC International Student Pay service is now available as a second payment option (in addition to Western Union Global Pay for Students) for international students to pay their tuition from outside of Canada.
Finance would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support and feedback, particularly over the last year. We look forward to continuing to work with our campus partners in the future!