Tuesday, April 15, 2025

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• Buy a cookie for UWaterloo Giving Day
• Building community through hockey

• Peter Forsyth and colleagues receive prize for best pension paper

• Board of Governors meets today and other notes

Buy a cookie for UWaterloo Giving Day

A message from the Office of Advancement.

What better way to kick off UWaterloo Giving Day than with cookies? Until May 15, when you buy a special sugar cookie at participating UW Food Services locations across campus, 25¢ goes to the Waterloo Fund to meet the top priorities of our students.

Feeling extra generous? Pre-order a dozen cookies (or more!) and share them with your colleagues! With every purchase, you’re not only spreading joy, but you’re also supporting UWaterloo’s first-ever Giving Day!

UWaterloo Giving Day launches May 15 in support of teaching, learning, research and our Global Futures — and we want YOU to be part of it!  You don’t even have to wait to make your gift. Starting May 1, all eligible donations up to $1,000 will be matched dollar for dollar, until matching funds run out. That means you can DOUBLE your impact in the area that’s most meaningful to you!

Celebrate the power of giving while showing your colleagues — and our students — that you care. Because generosity, like a cookie, is best when shared. 🍪

Check out our Giving Day promo video.

Building community through hockey

This article was originally published on the Athletics and Recreation website.

What began as a class project has now become a meaningful annual initiative blending sport, culture, and education.

Last season, Nolan Lee, a men's hockey student-athlete, was enrolled in an Indigenous Studies course at the University of Waterloo. One of the core challenges of the course was not just to reflect on Indigenous issues, but to act on them. Inspired by this, Lee took the initiative to organize a hockey camp for Indigenous youth. The result was a one-day event on campus that included hockey skills sessions, academic workshops, and time spent in Indigenous spaces. That same year, Lee graduated, leaving behind the spark of something impactful.

A third-year Science student and Assistant Captain on the men's hockey team, Liam Fedak, who was deeply involved in last year's camp, stepped up this year, and the initiative grew.

On Sunday, April 6, fifteen high school aged youth part of Chimnissing Minor Hockey, from the Beausoleil First Nation, took part in a day long experience at the University of Waterloo. The Beausoleil First Nation rests on the southern shores of Georgian Bay on Christian, Beckwith, and Hope Islands. The camp included both boys and girls, and the on-ice sessions were led by varsity men's and women's hockey players. Beyond their time on the ice, participants engaged in academic programming through a presentation by the Undergraduate Recruitment team, aimed at encouraging educational pathways and sharing what life as a university student can look like. The group also toured campus to see a number of academic and Indigenous spaces.

The camp is a collaboration between Athletics and Recreation and the Office of Indigenous Relations (OIR), jointly led by Fedak, Nick Cahyono (co-op student for Indigenous Initiatives in Athletics), and Melissa Star Ireland from OIR, alongside other key contributors.

"It's incredibly moving to see this vision come to life through the dedication of our students and the collaborative spirit between Athletics and the Office of Indigenous Relations," says Melissa Star Ireland, Director, Indigenous Relations. "I also want to acknowledge the generous support of the Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre who also made this day happen. This was a reciprocal and enriching experience for all. We are so grateful for the opportunity to learn from them and build these lasting connections with Beausoleil First Nation."

The day was about more than just hockey, it was about creating space, connection, and opportunities for Indigenous youth to see themselves reflected in post-secondary environments. It's also a meaningful example of how student-athletes can extend their impact well beyond the ice.

"This is the kind of experience that can truly leave a lasting impact," said Liam Fedak. "In my opinion it is not just about visiting a campus, but instead it provides an opportunity to see what's possible. Bringing together sport, academics, and a sense of community helps the participants picture themselves here, and I hope it plays a meaningful role in shaping their futures."

The experience left a lasting impression on everyone involved, especially the youth who were inspired by what they saw and felt. Trevor A. Reid of Beausoleil First Nation shared this sentiment: "Chi-miigwech to the University of Waterloo and Melissa Star Ireland for welcoming us with open arms! It really opened our kids' eyes to what they can accomplish and work towards in both their academic and athletic careers."

Peter Forsyth and colleagues receive prize for best pension paper

Peter Forsyth is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Cheriton School of Computer Science. 

This article was originally published on the Cheriton School of Computer Science website.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Peter Forsyth from the Cheriton School of Computer Science, Professor Emeritus Ken Vetzal from the School of Accounting and Finance, and Graham Westmacott, a portfolio manager at Richardson Wealth Limited, have been awarded the 2024 Chris Daykin Prize by the International Actuarial Association.

Presented by the Association’s Pension, Benefits, and Social Security Section, the Chris Daykin Prize recognizes outstanding research in pensions. The researchers received the award for their paper, Optimal Performance of a Tontine Overlay Subject to Withdrawal Constraints, published in the ASTIN Bulletin: The Journal of the IAA. The prize includes a $2,500 cash award and an invitation to present their work at the next PBSS colloquium.

Tontines are investment arrangements where participants contribute to a common fund, with payouts made to surviving members over time.

“Based on almost 100 years of financial data, the paper by Forsyth, Vetzal and Westmacott showed that modern tontines can be an effective way to reduce longevity risk and increase payments to the participants,” notes the International Actuarial Association in its description of the research.

About this award-winning research

As defined benefit pension plans continue to decline, individuals increasingly rely on defined contribution plans, requiring them to carefully manage withdrawals to ensure their savings last throughout retirement. The authors explore the potential of a tontine overlay, a mechanism that pools longevity risk among participants, as a way to improve retirement income security.

A tontine is a financial arrangement in which a group of participants contribute to a common fund, with payouts made to surviving members as others pass away. This pooling mechanism allows funds to be redistributed. However, unlike annuities, which provide guaranteed income but are underwritten by insurance companies, tontines operate without external guarantees and distribute benefits directly among members, making them a cost-effective alternative for retirement planning.

The study employs advanced mathematical modelling and nearly a century of market data to determine optimal withdrawal and investment strategies for retirees participating in a tontine. By applying dynamic programming and solving a partial integro differential equation using Fourier methods, the researchers identified strategies that balance risk and reward. Their findings show that incorporating a tontine overlay into a retiree’s financial strategy increases expected total withdrawals substantially while reducing the risk of outliving one’s savings.

One of the key conclusions is that retirees using a tontine overlay have better financial outcomes compared with those following conventional withdrawal strategies. Tontines redistribute funds among surviving members, meaning those who live longer benefit from contributions of those who pass away. While this structure requires tontine participants to give up their remaining investments after death, the study demonstrates that the increased lifetime withdrawals outweigh this trade-off for retirees.

Another important insight from the research is the importance of optimal control in determining withdrawal amounts and asset allocations. Their findings suggest that an optimal withdrawal strategy is a bang-bang control, where retirees withdraw funds conservatively at first before increasing withdrawals once certain financial thresholds are met.

Notably, a tontine overlay does not prevent passing wealth to future generations. Retirees who do not require the full benefit of survivorship credits for their retirement expenses can provide financial gifts while alive. 

Board of Governors meets today and other notes

The University's Board of Governors meets today at 1:30 p.m. in NH 3407. Among the agenda items:

• A motion to approve the 2025-2026 operating budget;
• A motion to approve the filing of the actuarial valuation as of January 1, 2025 for the University of Waterloo Pension Plan with the regulator;
• A motion relating to the Health Care Spending Account;
• A motion approve the removal of the Department of Knowledge Integration (“KI”) from the organizational structure of the Faculty of Environment (“Environment”, effective July 1, 2025, based on the recommendation of the University's Senate, who passed a similar motion earlier this month; and
• A motion to the Bill S-211 Annual Report, which is presented in compliance with Bill S-211, An Act to Enact the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act.

The full agenda and supporting documents can be found on the Secretariat's website.

It's time to cut the mustard - literally. The Sustainability Office is looking for volunteers to help weed, spread mulch, and clear debris as they prepare the North Campus Community Garden plots for the Waterloo community to use this spring. 

Volunteers pull invasive garlic mustard during a campus clean-up event.

The clean-up takes place near the North Campus Greenhouses at Columbia Lake today from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. There's still time to register. "Please dress for the weather, as conditions may be wet, and the ground could be muddy - rain boots are recommended," says a note from the Sustainability Office. "Hand tools, gloves and light refreshments will be provided. Bring your own water. We hope to see you there!" The greenhouses are accessible from Westmount Avenue.

And finally, a correction to note - in yesterday's Daily Bulletin I posted an outdated link for the Electrical Vehicle (EV) owner survey being run by graduate students in the Systems Design Engineering department. The correct, updated link is https://evchargings.ca.

For more details about the survey contact graduate student Diana Shakhova at dshakhov@uwaterloo.ca or her supervisor Lisa Aultman-Hall at laultman@uwaterloo.ca.