Dean's Message - April 2016

Spring is here! With goose nesting season in full swing, we’re reminded of the challenges that come with sharing our campus with local wildlife.

It’s an exciting time for faculty and students as well. I’m pleased to share a number of opportunities and events that are coming up:

• The Faculty Association is hosting promotion and tenure workshops on April 5 for faculty members applying for promotion to full professor as well as those recently hired to their first probationary term.
• Also taking place April 5, is a teaching workshop on clicker use for lectures in our faculty
• We hear that there are Math students behind two of the ventures to receive funding at the St. Paul’s GreenHouse Social Impact Showcase.  This takes place later in the day on April 5.
• Staff members are invited to learn about the Staff International Experience Fund at an information session on April 14.
• The late Professor Tutte will be inducted into the Waterloo Region Museum Hall of Fame in a public ceremony taking place on April 24. This honour recognizes significant contributions to the community. In addition to his work as a mathematician and codebreaker, Tutte will be celebrated for being “instrumental in the development of the University, in particular the creation of its Faculty of Mathematics.”

Congratulations are in order for these colleagues:

• Kate Larson, honoured with the Canadian Association for Computer Science Outstanding Young Canadian Computer Science Researcher Award.
• Ian VanderBurgh, honoured with the 2016 Canadian Mathematical Society Excellence in Teaching Award

and students:

• PhD candidates John Doucette and Hadi Hosseini, recipients of 2016 Amit and Meena Chakma Awards for Exceptional Teaching by a Student
• Demetri Pananos, winner of the Three Minute Thesis competition Faculty of Mathematics heat (who represented us brilliantly at the UW competition yesterday)
  Joey Pereira, Co-op Student of the Year for the Faculty of Mathematics
• Yujie Zhong, winner of the 2016 Murray Martin Prize for the best research paper by a Faculty of Mathematics graduate student

I’d like to welcome Tracy Dietrich to the Faculty. Tracy is the new Assistant to the Director in Computer Science.

Stephen Watt, Dean

Faculty of Mathematics
University of Waterloo