Letter from the Dean

I love fall on campus: the crisp air, the changing colours, the energy of returning students. It is a busy time, with events ranging from Homecoming to Convocation to the Alumni Awards, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. These yearly traditions bring great joy and set the tone for the year ahead. 

This year, the familiarity of our fall rituals stands in contrast to a growing sense of strangeness. There’s a feeling that we find ourselves, quite suddenly, in a world transformed by technological advances. 

You’ve no doubt seen the headlines. Over the summer, the Hugging Face–OpenAI incident raised alarms about the safety and security of our AI systems. Then, this fall, OpenAI announced proposed solutions to hundreds of open math problems, including Navier–Stokes. Mathematicians have responded both with enthusiasm (are we entering a golden age of mathematics?) and unease (how will our discipline adjust in this new era?).  

Additionally, there remain persistent questions about the value of a math or computer science degree in an age of increasing AI automation.  

Like many of you, I've spent a great deal of time thinking about these questions and, this fall, many of our events have provided opportunities to discuss them with members of our community, including alumni, students and researchers. Let me tell you about three. 

Alumni discuss the AI moment with our students

It was a privilege to introduce an alumni career panel in early October featuring our 2026 Alumni Award winners: Heath Windcliff, Han Zhao, Jacob Jackson and Susan Heystee.

When the conversation inevitably turned to AI, I was fascinated to hear what they’d say. The expertise in the room was exceptional. Jacob builds frontier models at SpaceXAI. Han leads research on trustworthy machine learning at the University of Illinois. Heath has shaped quantitative finance from Morgan Stanley to Quadrature. And Susan serves on the boards of many technology companies navigating the AI era.

Their responses were largely reassuring. Though their careers have taken them in different directions, they agreed on the benefits and continued relevance of a Waterloo Math education. In their view, what students gain here is exactly what companies need in this moment of widespread AI adoption and transition: strong mathematical fundamentals, practical experience and an entrepreneurial mindset.

Words of encouragement for our graduating class

Later in October, I addressed the Class of 2026 at Convocation, and I echoed the message of many of our Alumni Award winners.

I told our graduates that the value of a mathematical education has never been the ability to produce a proof that no one else (or no machine) can or to master a specific programming language. Rather, mathematics teaches you to think abstractly, to model a problem precisely, to reason from assumptions and axioms, to recognize structure and to understand why a conclusion follows.

In an age when AI gives us increasingly powerful tools, these abilities become more important, not less. What our graduates gained during their time here will prove invaluable in their careers and I am excited to see what these brilliant graduates will accomplish in the future!

Experts convene to discuss AI’s risks and opportunities 

Shortly after Convocation, I once again found myself among brilliant minds discussing AI, this time at AI: Opportunity, Risk and the Choices Ahead. This public conversation was co-hosted by the Waterloo Region AI Coalition, Balsillie School of International Affairs and the Faculty of Mathematics at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. 

It was a pleasure to take part in this open and highly productive dialogue. We explored what today’s AI systems can and cannot do—what benefits they make possible and what risks they introduce.  

If one message shone through, it was this: the world needs more Waterloo in this moment of technological disruption. Our researchers are engaging with every dimension of AI, from its mathematical foundations to interpretability, security, and policy. And they're doing so responsibly, helping realize the technology’s promise in fields like health and sustainability while simultaneously working to guard against its dangers. 

Our alumni are part of this story too. Many of you are AI leaders and living through these changes in your own workplaces. We would love to hear about your experience. How is AI reshaping the way you work? What makes a math, computer science or statistics degree worth pursuing today? If you’re willing to share your thoughts, please email us at mathalumni@uwaterloo.ca. 

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the latest issue of E-Ties. It features stories about: 

• How the Oxford English Dictionary Project helped create the modern search engine, an important part of our history and especially worth celebrating as we approach our 60th anniversary.  

• New research from Anita Layton showing that a small mismatch in the timing of how the kidneys process salt may keep blood pressure elevated overnight.  

• The latest updates on our newest building, M4, including construction photos, words from supporters, and a video tour of the site.  

• Alumni taking unconventional paths, including a couple who built a food forest, a blockchain entrepreneur's journey to founding a company, a New York City real estate leader's unique story, and a statistics alum who turned classroom learning into a blackjack calculator. 

We’ve also included a challenge problem from the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) for your enjoyment. This is a tradition revived from Mail Ties, the print newsletter that preceded E-Ties. We hope you enjoy it! 

Warmest regards, 
Jochen Koenemann