News

The road to entrepreneurship begins with an idea. For Pooja Viswanathan (BMath ’06) and Joseph Lee (BMath ’99), their journeys began with ideas that sparked during their co-op student work term experiences.  
Viswanathan (she/her), CEO and founder of Braze Mobility, provides navigation solutions for wheelchair users. She has spent over a decade researching smart wheelchairs to make them safer and increase user independence.  

Building on an entrepreneurial tradition

The Faculty of Mathematics’ entrepreneurial prowess is no secret. We’re known in Canada and across the world as a hotbed for innovative new ventures. I like to think the entrepreneurial spirit is embedded in our institutional DNA and thus central to who we are and how we see the world. Our early visionaries—giants like Don Cowan and Wes Graham—were among the first to recognize the revolutionary potential of the computer. Unwavering in their conviction that computing would shape the future and that Waterloo could be one of its birthplaces, they worked tirelessly to bring an IBM 360/75 mainframe—the most powerful computer in Canada at the time—to the Davis Centre.

Waterloo’s unique education helped Ronuk Raval (BMath ’15) become the successful founder of Encircle. Now he’s training the next generation of math entrepreneurs.

Ronuk Raval had a mix of hardware and software focus in high school and felt it was a tie between computer science and mechatronics when deciding what to study at university, but the flexibility of computer science really won him over. Ronuk specifically applied to Waterloo because the idea of trying out six different jobs through co-op in a short time frame was a unique experience and something you seldom get the chance to do in your professional career.

Mathematics for a green future

Our climate is changing rapidly. And the impacts can be seen all around us, from uncontrollable wildfires to devastating floods to severe heat waves. 

Waterloo startup SkyWatch is using satellite imagery to protect the planet

When Hurricane Dorian battered the Bahamas in the Fall of 2019, Waterloo-based satellite imagery startup SkyWatchwas quick to assist the reeling nation.

Researchers in the Faculty of Mathematics are developing artificial intelligence that could assess climate change tipping points. 

In the world of climate change, sustainability and environmental work, co-op students use math to help develop solutions for the future.

Waterloo Applied Mathematics professor Michael Waite is helping weather forecasters and climatologists make more accurate and localized predictions

Climate change is making wild weather increasingly common—and raising the stakes for weather forecasters. 

Facebook’s Rico Mariani (BMath ’88) is taking action on diversity and equity—and he hopes others will follow his example. 

A recent gift from Waterloo alumnus Rico Mariani is creating a new scholarship for Black and Indigenous students in the Cheriton School of Computer Science. The gift extends Mariani’s commitment to diversity and equity. In 2015, he created similar scholarships to support female students in computer science.

Only a few years ago, KC Leong leveraged the skills he acquired from his actuarial science courses to land a co-op position at a leading professional services firm. Now, as a vice president of the company, he recruits co-op students from his alma mater. 

KC Leong (BMath ’16) is modest about his six-year meteoric rise from co-op student to Vice President for Analytics at Aon, a professional services firm with a presence in 120 countries. “I’ve found that as long as you’re eager to contribute, there’s always an opportunity to advance at Aon,” he says.