Congratulations to today's graduates and honorees!
From the University of Waterloo Daily Bulletin:
Today, graduating students in the Faculty of Mathematics will receive their degrees. Follow along with the Convocation livestream.
The first ceremony takes place at 10:00 a.m. today. 420 undergraduates, 100 Master's, and 14 PhDs will cross the stage. Katherine Bergman, President and Vice-Chancellor, St. Jerome’s University, will bear the mace. Michael Klein will sing the national anthem.
Efim
Zelmanov
will
receive
an
Honorary
Doctor
of
Mathematics
and
address
Convocation. Zelmanov
earned
his
PhD
at
Novosibirsk
State
University
in
1980
under
the
joint
supervision
of
Leonid
Bokut
and
Anatoly
Shirshov,
is
currently
the
Rita
L.
Atkinson
Endowed
Chair
in
Mathematics
at
the
University
of
California,
San
Diego,
and
is
a
distinguished
professor
at
the
Korea
Institute
for
Advanced
Study.
Having
previously
held
positions
at
Yale,
Chicago,
University
of
Wisconsin,
and
Novoskibirsk State
University,
he
has
applied
his
talents
in
numerous
disciplines
within
noncommutative
algebra,
and,
for
his
outstanding
contributions,
he
received
the
Fields
Medal
in
1994.
Giancarlo Lahura will deliver the valedictory address.
David
McKinnon
of
Pure
Mathematics will
receive
the
Distinguished
Teacher
Award.
"As
the
Associate
Chair
for
undergraduate
affairs
in
the
department
of
Pure
Mathematics,
David
McKinnon
has
a
strong
rapport
with
his
students
and
colleagues
through
his
dedication,
enthusiasm,
and
consistency,"
says
his
award
citation."When
it
comes
to
his
work
in
the
classroom,
students
say
that
McKinnon
goes
“above
and
beyond,”
and
makes
them
“genuinely
excited
to
come
to
class
every
day.”
Students
find
his
lectures
thoughtfully
prepared
and
well
organized,
and
remark
that
“he
readily
accepts
questions,
and
pauses
during
lectures
to
make
sure
that
everyone
understands
what
is
being
taught.”
McKinnon
has
been
a
recipient
of
a
number
of
teaching
awards,
including
the
Faculty
of
Mathematics
Award
for
Distinction
in
Teaching."
Keiran Hendrickson-Gracie will receive the Alumni Gold Medal.
Richard
Cook
will
receive
the
Award
of
Excellence
in
Graduate
Supervision. Professor Cook
has
been
a
faculty
member
in
the
Department
of
Statistics
and
Actuarial
Science
since
1995.
He
is
one
of
the
most
influential
biostatisticians
in
the
Canadian
and
international
medical
community
and
has
been
awarded
many
distinctions
and
several
prestigious
awards
for
his
methodological
research
work.
Over his career, Professor Cook supervised 10 postdoctoral fellows, 19 doctoral and 29 master’s students. His students have successfully obtained academic positions and have established themselves as independent researchers or taken on leading scientist roles in the pharmaceutical industry or biomedical community. The quality and rigor of the research work by students under Professor Cook’s supervision sets a very high standard. His PhD students have earned many major awards including: 4 winners of the annual Statistical Society of Canada’s Pierre‐Robillard Award for the best PhD thesis; 6 winners of the annual Sprott Award for the best PhD thesis proposal in the department; 3 winners of the Distinguished Student Award from the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics and the International Biometrics Society Eastern North American Region; and one winner of the Canadian Journal of Statistics Prize for the best paper of the year.
At 2:30 p.m. a second ceremony will take place. 423 undergraduates, 50 Master's, and 10 PhDs will receive their degrees. Dan Brown, Professor and Director, Undergraduate Studies, Cheriton School of Computer Science will bear the mace. Michael Klein will sing the national anthem.
Peter
Forsyth
will
be
named
Distinguished
Professor
Emeritus. Forsyth
obtained
his
PhD
in
applied
mathematics
from
Western
University
in
1979.
From
there
he
moved
to
Calgary
working
in
industry
on
reservoir
simulation,
first
at
the
Computer
Modeling
Group
(CMG)
and
then
at
his
own
start
up,
Dynamic
Reservoir
Systems.
He
returned
to
academia
and
to
computer
science
at
Waterloo
in
1987.
His
research
centres
on
scientific
computation
with
a
strong
emphasis
on
industrial
applications,
with
his
particular
research
focus
for
the
past
20
years
centering
on
computational
problems
in
finance.
Terry
Lyons
will
receive
an
Honorary
Doctor
of
Mathematics
and
address
Convocation. Lyons
is
Wallis
Professor
of
Mathematics
at
Oxford
University,
and
Founding
Member
&
Current
Director
of
the
Oxford-Man
Institute
for
Quantitative
Finance.
Previously,
he
was
professor
of
mathematics
at
Imperial
College
London
and
before
that
was
the
youngest
individual
to
hold
the
Colin
Maclaurin
Chair
at
the
University
of
Edinburgh.
He
earned
his
undergraduate
degree
in
mathematics
from
Cambridge
and
his
DPhil
(PhD)
from
Oxford.
Recipient
of
numerous
recognitions
and
honours,
he
received
the Rollo
Davidson
Prize
(1985),
the
Whitehead
Prize
of
the
London
Math
Society
(1986),
and
the Polya
Prize
(2000),
and
is
fellow
of
numerous
distinguished
learned
societies.
He
received
an
honorary
degree
from
the
University
of
Toulouse
in
2007,
and
was
also
awarded
honorary
fellowships
by
Aberystwyth
University
(2010)
and
the
University
of
Cardiff
in
2012.
Clarisse Schneider will deliver the valedictory address.
Vicki Iverson will receive the J.W. Graham Medal in Computing and Innovation.
Geoffrey Song will receive the Governor General's Silver Medal.
Rudi Chen will receive the Jessie W.H. Zou Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.
The Samuel Eckler Medal for Highest Standing in Actuarial Science will go to Kieran Hendrickson-Gracie.
Michael Peter Hartz will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies award at the Doctoral level.
Jason Shao will receive the Sandford Fleming Foundation medal for Academic Excellence and Joshua Otto will receive the Sandford Fleming Foundation medal for Co-operative Work Term Proficiency.