Friday, June 17, 2016

Mathematics Convocation ceremonies today

Today, graduating students in the Faculty of Mathematics will receive their degrees. Follow along with the Convocation livestream.

Graduating this morning are students in St. Jerome's University registered in Mathematics programs, as well as students in the Faculty of Mathematics. Programs celebrating this morning include Applied Mathematics, Combinatorics and Optimization, Computational Mathematics, Information Technology Management, Mathematical Economics, Mathematical Finance, Mathematical Physics, Mathematical Studies, Mathematics/Business Administration, Mathematics/Chartered Accountancy, Mathematics/Financial Analysis and Risk Management, Mathematics/Teaching, Mathematics Three Year General, Pure Mathematics, and Scientific Computation/Applied Mathematics.

187 undergraduate students, 51 Master's students, and 7 PhD candidates will receive their degrees.

Bearing the mace is Frank Zorzitto, Professor Emeritus, Department of Pure Mathematics. Birgit Moscinski will sing the national anthem.

Wai Ho Christopher Ng is valedictorian and will deliver an address.

Barry Mazur will be given an Honorary Doctor of Mathematics and will address Convocation. Professor Mazur is the Gerhard Gade University Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Harvard University. He is both a brilliant mathematician and an extraordinary teacher, and is considered a world-leading expert in number theory.

Professor Mazur is one of the most influential mathematicians alive today. He pursued his undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but was not granted a bachelor’s degree on account of failing a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps requirement. His mathematical ability was nonetheless recognized and he went on to earn his PhD in mathematics in 1959 from Princeton University. From there, he would make many important and seminal contributions in number theory, automorphic forms and algebraic geometry. His work and his vision have affected the direction of number theory, such that a former dean of Harvard College once stated "It is not an exaggeration to say that the next generation of number theorists came out of Mazur's overcoat". In addition to his significant accomplishments, he displays a unique ability to engage biologists, economists, physicists, and others to trace the ways in which mathematics is integral to the structure of knowledge in their disciplines.

He is the recipient of four major prizes from the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).  Mazur was elected a member of the National Academy of Science in 1982, and in 2001, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 2013, he was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama, which is the United States' highest recognition for scientists and mathematicians.

Frank Zorzitto will be named Honorary Member of the University. Zorzitto served as chair of pure mathematics for more than 11 years, the longest in the department's history, and under his care the department has developed an enviable reputation for its exceptional level of collegiality on top of its academic contributions. Indeed he was an early proponent and pioneering supporter for the hiring of women in a discipline that sees heavy male representation, as well as fostering an environment where successful mathematicians could also be committed parents.

His exemplary record of service includes: Board of Governors (two years); Senate (12 years) and Senate committees; the Faculty Association; the teaching excellence council; nomination committees including for the university president and faculty dean; chair of Faculty Council; his record of strong engagement with high schools, and much more. In 1993 he won the University's Distinguished Teaching Award, and he is co-author of a number of advanced and high school level textbooks.

In the afternoon ceremony at 2:30 p.m., students from Actuarial Science, Biostatistics, Business Administration/Mathematics Double Degree, Computer Science, Computing and Financial Management, Quantitative Finance, and Statistics will receive their degrees. 675 undergraduates, 70 Master's students, and 23 PhD candidates will receive degrees. Follow along with the Convocation livestream.

Dean of Mathematics Stephen Watt will bear the mace into the Physical Activities Complex. The national anthem will be sung by Birgit Moscinski.

The class valedictorian is Isabel Jiayo Ji, who will address Convocation.

David Choi receives the Governor General's Silver Medal for highest standing in an undergraduate degree program.

Minyang Han receives the Governor General's Gold Medal for highest standing in a Master's degree program.

Tas Tsonis will be awarded the J. Wesley Graham Medal in Computing and Innovation.

Raymond Cheng will receive the University of Waterloo Alumni Gold Medal in recognition of academic achievement.

Jimmy He will receive the Jessie W.H. Zou Memorial Award for excellence in undergraduate research.

Xuling Wang will be granted the Samual Eckler Medal for Highest Standing in Actuarial Science.

Tor Myklebust will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies award at the Doctoral level.

Johnny Wong will be named Distinguished Professor Emeritus. During the last forty years, Professor  Wong has had a long and distinguished career at Waterloo with significant contributions to research, teaching and administration. His prolific research career includes thirty-nine journal publications, 78 articles in refereed conference proceedings and a patent for early work on telephony over the internet. His most significant work concerns the architecture and performance of communication networks, and he is regarded as a pioneer in the use of queuing theory and simulation for analysis of communication algorithms in distributed systems.

He has supervised 17 doctoral students to completion, as well as 48 master’s students; many of these students have gone on to prominent careers in academic and industrial fields. He has been on the editorial boards of several high ranking journals, has served on technical program committees for numerous prominent conferences, and has served on several NSERC committees. He is also is well-known for his many roles in administration, including: Associate Provost, Computing (1989-94); Director, Institute for Computer Research; coordinator, Bell University Laboratories (1998-02); and Director of the Cheriton School of Computer Science (2003-2006).

David Taylor will be named Honorary Member of the University. Professor Taylor provided 38 years of outstanding service to the University of Waterloo, including a distinguished career of service in administrative roles.

He served a six-year term as associate dean for undergraduate studies and a four-year term as director of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. He also served a term on Senate, and a term on the Board of Governors (as one of the elected faculty Senators) including on the Board Executive Committee. Further, Professor Taylor served twice as associate chair (curriculum), once in the 1980s and once in the 1990s; he also served his research field well in conference committees and journal editorships as a senior researcher of his notable stature.

His painstaking, exacting work was driven by his consistent goal of identifying what is good for the university (rather than just his corner of it), his excellent preparation, and his sense of justice and fairness. His work on staff relations within computer science is one of the more unsung of his achievements. Perhaps most important, he spent much of his career lending his skills to the betterment of the university such that many in the university community would affirm that he served when necessary, not only when desirable.

Photograph of Barry Mazur by Jim Harrison.

Photograph of David Taylor by Katelyn Debus.

Convocation concludes Saturday with Engineering

Convocation draws to a close Saturday with two ceremonies featuring graduates from the Faculty of Engineering. Follow along with the Convocation livestream.

At 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, students from Architecture and Architectural Studies, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geological Engineering, Management Engineering, Management Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, and Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering will receive their degrees. 622 undergraduate students, 160 Master's students, and 50 PhD candidates will receive their degrees.

The Mace Bearer will be Rick Haldenby, Professor, School of Architecture. Julie-Anne Desrochers will sing the national anthem.

Jim Stephenson will deliver the morning valedictory address.

Dylan Dowling will receive the Alumni Gold Medal.

Alison Brooks will receive an Honorary Doctor of Engineering. Brooks is one of the leading architects of her generation, and she has designed some of the most original and important buildings in the United Kingdom over the last two decades. A proud Canadian and educated at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture, she moved to England in 1989 after she graduated, helping to establish Ron Arad Architect before going out on her own to launch Alison Brooks Architects in 1996.

Her work has been recognized in national design awards programs in every year but one since 2006, and she is the only UK architect to have won all three of the most prestigious awards for architecture: the Stephen Lawrence Prize, the Manser Medal and the 2008 RIBA Stirling Prize. Among many other awards, in 2012 she and her team were awarded BD Architect of the Year, Housing Architect of the Year, and Architects Journal named her the outstanding female architect in 2013. In 2014 she was named to the Times of London/Debrett list of the 500 most influential people in the UK, and her work and that of her firm has been published in dozens of professional journals in the UK, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Brazil, the United States and Canada.

Robert McKillop will receive the Distinguished Teacher Award. McKillop is known simply as “Bob” to students and colleagues alike. Since joining the university full time in 1999, he has taught a variety of courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. McKillop is recognized for his one-on-one support of students, consistently high level of preparation, real world relevance in his courses, and setting demanding but realistic standards. These factors contribute to McKillop’s students being more successful. “It is noteworthy,” commented one of McKillops colleagues, “that in recent years, the Electrical, Computer, and Management Engineering programs have begun to implement Bob’s strategies in their 1A term so that their students can benefit from the ‘Bob Effect.’” As a current undergrad noted, “Dr. McKillop is one of the first faces they see, and he stays with them until they have successfully navigated their first year of undergrad.” An alumna elaborates, “In the 15 years that I have known him, there is one thing that has never changed: he is as excited each September to meet his new first-year students as he was the previous September. Bob is not only excited to meet his new students, he is hopeful for their future and what they can accomplish.”

Mark Pritzker with receive the Distinguished Teacher Award. Pritzker is the Teaching Champion for the Department of Chemical Engineering. Many nominators noted Pritzker’s natural ability to engage students, his organization of lectures, and his enthusiasm towards the course material – “it is impossible not to be impressed.” One undergraduate noted that “he’ll ask the students questions to prompt them into thinking, if he observes that they aren’t retaining the material well. He pays very close attention to the students’ body language and adapts his teaching accordingly.” An alumnus turned faculty member remarked that “Sixteen years after taking Mark’s course I still vividly remember his lectures on half-cell potential and corrosion.” Pritzker, who started at the University of Waterloo in 1989, is well known for going above and beyond the expectations of both students and colleagues. A faculty member raved, “His teaching packages and the notes for the courses he has taught are used by numerous other faculty members which is a testament to the quality of the instruction and overall organization and presentation of the material.” One student recognized that “Professors like Dr. Pritzker show students that post-secondary education is more than just getting a degree.”

Dylan Dowling will receive the Alumni Gold Medal.

The afternoon ceremony, which begins at 2:30 p.m., will feature graduating students from Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Nanotechnology Engineering, Software Engineering, and Systems Design Engineering. 449 undergraduate students, 116 Master's students, and 33 PhD candidates will cross the stage. Follow along with the Convocation livestream.

The Mace Bearer will be Peter Douglas, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies. Julie-Anne Desrochers will sing the national anthem.

Shiping Shen is the valedictorian and will deliver an address.

Alexander Vena will receive the Governor General’s Silver Medal.

Shankar Sastry will receive an Honorary Doctor of Engineering and will address convocation. Sastry is dean and Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering at University of California, Berkeley where he holds appointments in the electrical engineering and computer science departments as well as the department of mechanical engineering. Having devoted decades to research and technology advancement, he has a tremendous record of scholarly achievement that includes more than 500 technical papers, nine books, and the supervision of more than 110 graduate students.

He stands tall among the world's leading authorities in non-linear control theory, and has played a pioneering role within the cyber-physical and control systems research community. He has made contributions to an impressively broad range of high-impact application areas spanning robotics, embedded and autonomous software, machine learning and vision, virtual surgery, hybrid systems control, sensor networks and biological motor control. Widely considered a technology visionary, he has led development of large-scale projects that have directly shaped his nation's cybersecurity and network infrastructure research agenda as former director of the Information Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the U.S. Department of Defense and later through programs supported by the National Science Foundation.

He was elected into the National Academy of Engineering in 2001, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) in 2004 and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 1994 among numerous other awards and honours. He has served on several advisory, technical, and editorial boards, and has been widely recognized by his peers with prestigious national and international awards. Dr. Sastry embodies many of the research, leadership, and entrepreneurial traits we seek to instill in our students and faculty members at Waterloo. 

Paul Fieguth will receive the Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision. Professor Fieguth has developed a distinguished record as a researcher, teacher, graduate student mentor and supervisor and as an administrator. He joined the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 1996 and has supervised 17 PhD and nine MASc students; he is currently supervising eight doctoral students. Some of his students describe him as “an ideal supervisor, dedicated and responsible to his work and students”, showing the exemplary quality of his technical abilities, supervisory skills, and dedication to mentorship. 

Professor Fieguth has also been a leader among his peers, currently serving as Chair of the department and previously serving as the Associate Chair Undergraduate Studies. Colleagues of Professor Fieguth describe him as being an excellent role model to graduate students and to other faculty members, with an amazingly strong work ethic and an outstanding ability to catalyze research success in his graduate students through compassionate mentoring. 

Professor Fieguth is a repeat recipient of both the Faculty of Engineering’s Outstanding Performance Award and the Faculty of Engineering’s Distinguished Performance Award and it is evident that he excels in research, teaching, and graduate supervision. The Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision is indeed meant for faculty members and impactful graduate supervisors like Professor Fieguth. The University of Waterloo is fortunate to have him as a mentor, educator, and researcher in the Faculty of Engineering. 

Magdy Salama will receive the award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision. Professor Salama has a long and distinguished record of outstanding research, teaching and graduate supervision in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He has managed a large research group and has supervised 40 PhD and 48 MASc students and is currently supervising 13 doctoral students, three postdoctoral fellows and six research associates. In addition to managing a large research program, he has developed and taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses and has consistently achieved excellent course evaluations. For Professor Salama, graduate teaching, research, and graduate student supervision go hand in hand. His excellence in these areas and his dedication to his graduate students demonstrates the qualities recognized in the Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision. 

In 2014 he was awarded the Faculty of Engineering’s Research Excellence Award. Between 2004 and 2011, he held the position as the University of Waterloo’s University Research Chair and has served on numerous committees at the department and Faculty level in Engineering. Highly regarded by colleagues in his department, Professor Salama “is an excellent educator who constantly draws on his research expertise to enrich classroom teaching.” 

With a profound impact on his current and past students, Professor Salama has contributed greatly to the field of Engineering and the profession as a whole. The University of Waterloo is fortunate to have him as a mentor, educator, and researcher in the Faculty of Engineering. 

Other students recognized at Saturday's convocation include:

Eric Ng, who will receive The Albert S. Barber Medal for Best Overall Work Term and Academic Performance.

Dilpreet Singh Bath, who will receive the Canadian Society For Mechanical Engineering Gold Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement in Mechanical Engineering.

Varun Jacob-John, who will receive the George Dufault Medal for Excellence in Communication.

Leila Joan Meema-Coleman, who will receive the John Fisher Award for Leadership.

Danni Luo, who will receive the Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation for Education Gold Medal for Academic Achievement.

Allyson Jean Francis, who will receive the Roy Duxbury Leadership Award.