Appendix B: Strategic Plan consultation and participants

In support of the Faculty of Mathematics strategic planning process, broad consultation with the Faculty’s internal and external community members took place from September to November, 2017. These consultations aimed to identify current perspectives on the Faculty and to gather insights into the context in which the Faculty operates and the external environment to which it responds.

Following a mixed-methods qualitative research model, consultation included an electronic survey, focus groups, and key informant interviews. In total, 352 surveys were submitted, 40 individuals participated in focus groups, and 35 individuals were interviewed. Approximately 55 additional undergraduate students participated in two MathSoc-organized discussion groups.

Survey Respondents

Electronic survey invitations were distributed to undergraduate students by MathSoc, to graduate students by Math GSA, and to faculty, staff, retirees, postdoctoral fellows, and visitors by the Dean of Mathematics Office. This data collection did not aspire to be statistically valid (due to known response-rate challenges in open-ended surveys and to the anticipated impacts of response bias); however, sufficient responses were achieved within most respondent groups to allow for the identification of common themes and the development of a consistent codebook for analysis. Respondent groups with low responses were combined with similar groups (eight retiree responses with the faculty responses and one postdoctoral fellow response with the graduate student responses). In total, 352 surveys were submitted. Table 1 provides response rates for the major survey response groups.

Table 1: Survey response rates for major respondent groups

RESPONDENT GROUP
TOTAL RESPONSES
APPROX. CENSUS
RESPONSE RATE
Faculty
65
250
26.0%
Graduate students
40
932
4.3%
Staff
24
130
18.5%
Undergraduate students
173
6218
2.8%

NOTES:

  • Faculty and staff census counts reflect the number of regular faculty and staff as of July 1, 2017.
  • Undergraduate and graduate student census counts reflect the number of individuals on the survey invitation email distribution.
  • Response rates not calculated for retirees, visitors, and postdoctoral fellows because the size of this email distribution is unknown.

Focus Group Participants

Invitations to attend a focus group were emailed to faculty and staff by the Dean of Mathematics Office and to graduate students by Math GSA. Co-operative education employers were identified and invited in collaboration with the University of Waterloo Co-operative Education Office.

Co-op Employer Participants (2 virtual groups)

  • Google
  • Humber College
  • Microsoft
  • PwC Canada
  • Square Inc.
  • Toronto District School Board
  • Vidyard

Graduate Student Participants (1 in-person group)

  • Jamie de Jong, PhD candidate, C&O
  • Zarif Masud, Master candidate, CS
  • Benjamin Storer, PhD candidate, AMATH
  • Christopher van Bommel, PhD candidate, C&O
  • Cathy Wang, PhD candidate, C&O

Lecturer Participants (1 in-person group)

  • Shane Bauman, CEMC
  • Carmen Bruni, CS
  • Dina Dawoud, SAS
  • Fiona Dunbar, CEMC
  • Robert Garbary, CEMC
  • Lesley Istead, CS
  • Carrie Knoll, CEMC
  • Paul McGrath, Faculty of Mathematics
  • Riley Metzger, SAS
  • Ian VanderBurgh, CEMC
  • Dan Wolczuk, Faculty of Mathematics

Staff Participants (1 in-person group)

  • Robyn Landers, MFCF
  • Jessica Leung, Faculty of Mathematics
  • Carlos Mendes, SAS
  • Isaac Morland, CS
  • Alice Pfeifer Hanov, SAS
  • Heather Steinmetz, CS

Tenured/Tenure-stream Faculty Participants (1 in-person group)

  • Assoc. Prof. Benoit Charbonneau, PMATH
  • Assoc. Prof. Ricardo Fukasawa, C&O
  • Prof. Ian Goldberg, CS
  • Assoc. Prof. Spiro Karigiannis, PMATH
  • Prof. Achim Kempf, AMATH
  • Prof. David Landriault, SAS
  • Asst. Prof. Eduardo Martin-Martinez, AMATH
  • Prof. Marek Stastna, Professor, AMATH

Undergraduate Student Participants (2 in-person groups)

Because attendance was not taken at the drop-in discussion group or MathSoc General Meeting, individual participants are not identifiable. Eleven students attended the drop-in discussion group. Approximately 45 students were present at the MathSoc General Meeting.

Key Informant Interviews

Academic Interview Subjects

Members of MSPC identified global academic leaders whose insights would be valuable to this exercise. From this group 19 individuals were individually consulted, using a structured interview guide.

  • Prof. Hansjoerg Albrecher, Professor, Department of Actuarial Science, Université de Lausanne
  • Prof. Noga Alon, Professor, Department of Mathematics, Princeton University and School of Mathematical Sciences, Tel Aviv University; Waterloo DMATH 2015
  • Prof. Anne Condon, Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia
  • Prof. Friedrich Eisenbrand, Professor, Mathematics Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
  • Prof. Paul Glasserman, Jack R. Anderson Professor of Business, Decision, Risk and Operations Division, and Research Director, Program for Financial Studies, Columbia Business School
  • Prof. Fan Chung Graham, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and of Computer Science and Engineering, Department of Mathematics, UC San Diego; Waterloo DMATH 2017
  • Prof. Ronald Graham, Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, UC San Diego; Waterloo DMATH 2010
  • Prof. Ian Hambleton, Director, Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences; past Chair, Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University
  • Prof. John Hennessy, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, School of Engineering, and past Department Chair, Dean of the School of Engineering, Provost, and President, Stanford University; Turing Award Recipient; Waterloo DMATH 2012
  • Prof. Ursula Martin, Professor of Computer Science, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
  • Prof. Barry Mazur, Gerhard Gade University Professor, Department of Mathematics, Harvard University; Waterloo DMATH 2017
  • Prof. Joel Moses, Institute Professor, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, and past Dean of Engineering and Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Prof. Nancy Reid, University Professor of Statistical Sciences and Canada Research Chair, Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Toronto; Director, Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute; Waterloo DMATH 2015
  • Prof. Robert Sedgewick, William O. Baker Professor and founding Chair, Department of Computer Science, Princeton University
  • Prof. Keith Taylor, Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, past Dean of Science and Vice President (Academic), Dalhousie University; past President Canadian Mathematical Society
  • Prof. Anne Trefethen, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Scientific Computing, and former Chief Information Officer, University of Oxford
  • Prof. Moshe Vardi, Karen Ostrum George Distinguished Service Professor in Computational Engineering, Department of Computer Science, Rice University
  • Prof. Nick Woodhouse, President, Clay Mathematics Institute and Emeritus Professor, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
  • Prof. Efim Zelmanov, Professor, Department of Mathematics, UC San Diego; Fields medalist; Waterloo DMATH 2017

Alumni Interview Subjects

Sixteen alumni who have long relationships with the advancement team were consulted individually or in small groups.

  • Andrew Abrahamowicz, BMath Computer Science, 2002
  • David Ash, BMath Pure Mathematics, 1987
  • Jose Blakeley, PhD Computer Science, 1987
  • Su Chang, BMath Computer Science, 1994
  • Laurent Charlin, MMath Computer Science, 2007
  • Allen Clarke, BMath Mathematics/Business and Statistics, 1992
  • April Gale-Seixeiro, BMath Actuarial Science, 1995
  • Russell Hiscock, BMath Mathematical Statistics and Probability, 1975
  • Niky Kamran, PhD Applied Mathematics, 1984
  • Olivia Li, BMath Computer Science, Pure and Applied Math, Combinatorics and Optimization, 1999
  • Rico Mariani, BMath Computer Science/ Electrical Engineering, 1988
  • Charles Martin, BMath Pure Mathematics and Computer Science, 1991
  • Lylan Masterman, BMath Computer Science, 2001
  • Shanku Niyogi, BMath Computer Science, 1994
  • Steve Seixeiro, BMath Computer Science, 1995
  • Alexandra Ungureanu, BMath Mathematics and Business, 2006