Two mathematics faculty members named Canada Research Chairs

Jun Liu and Karen Yeats recognized for research excellence

Faculty members Jun Liu and Karen Yeats have been named Canada Research Chairs, as part of the Government of Canada’s - Canada Research Chairs Program. Jun is chairholder for his work in Hybrid Systems and Control, and Karen is chairholder for her work in Combinatorics of Quantum Field Theory.

“I applaud and congratulate Jun and Karen for their accomplishments and recognition as Canada Research Chairs,” said Stephen M. Watt, Dean, Faculty of Mathematics. “Waterloo is a unique and vibrant centre for mathematics and computer science, precisely because so many of Canada’s premiere researchers, like Jun and Karen, have chosen to make our university their home.”

A $500,000 investment over five years will support Jun’s research in cyber-physical systems and control. Jun’s research will develop fundamentally new theoretical and computational frameworks to facilitate the control design of trustworthy cyber-physical systems for a wide range of applications including automotive systems, robotics, medical devices and smart manufacturing.

A $500,000 investment over five years will support Karen’s research to understand quantum field theory and to develop new tools in combinatorial mathematics and physics that lead to new insights. This research has the potential to lead to significant advances in how we understand the building blocks which make up the universe.

The Canada Research Chairs Program invests close to $265 million per year to help postsecondary institutions attract and retain the world’s most accomplished and promising minds. There are 1,659 active chairholders at 76 institutions across Canada, including 61 chairholders from Waterloo, comprising of 14 math faculty members.