Current students

Katia Naccarato has never shied away from exploring an unfamiliar path, hitting a dead end, and trying a different one. Before she enrolled in the Master of Actuarial Science (MActSc) program at the Faculty of Mathematics, she was laser-focused on pursuing a career in medicine. Her current trajectory looks nothing like she expected, but she’s confident that she’s heading in the right direction.

Samantha Wallis’s enthusiasm for statistics is matched only by her longtime passion for visual arts.Even before setting foot on campus, she experienced significant internal conflict about her career direction. “It’s difficult to envision the future when you have so many options and interests,” she admitted.

Jodie Wallis (BMath ’93) is always in pursuit of the most efficient way to get something done. “Sometimes my partner will tell me to stop optimizing him when I point out small ways to save time and effort,” she laughed.

University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Mathematics master’s student, Luke Hagar, is among the 25 finalists in this year’s GRADflix competition. 

Hagar’s project, entitled “Beyond p-values: Sample size determination using Bayesian statistics,” will be shown along with the other finalists in the showcase event on Friday, January 29, 2021, where the winners will be announced. 

“Math and medicine are like the two solitudes,” reflected Professor Siv Sivaloganathan, chair of the Department of Applied Mathematics. “They represent two separate cultures and ways of thinking.” When the two combine into mathematical medicine, the results are nothing short of astonishing.

In 1988, Sivaloganathan was a newly minted professor at the University of Alberta.

Two years into his undergraduate degree at Sichuan University, Chao Qian regretted his decision to study business management. “I came to the realization that management skills are better learned outside of the classroom,” he said. “I wanted to learn something more solid and quantitative. That’s where my journey to Waterloo began.”