“I started out as a student in mathematics,” said Professor Yuying Li. “It was a huge, scary move to come to Waterloo for computer science. Thankfully, it has worked out.”
Jyler Menard’s experience during his undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo encouraged him to return to pursue graduate studies in the Faculty of Mathematics. However, Menard, who is currently doing a master’s in Computational Mathematics, also wanted to help other students have a more wholesome experience during their university years.
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.
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.”
A year into his undergraduate degree at the University of Waterloo’s School of Accounting and Finance, Jonathan Lucki felt pulled in an unexpected direction. “My whole life, I had plans to be an accountant,” he remembered. "I ended up enrolling in the Math/Business Accounting program within the Faculty of Mathematics. But even before university, math had become my favourite subject in school and I found myself writing computer programs in my spare time for fun."
Jinjiang ‘J.J.’ Lian first realized he wanted to become a data scientist while working as a data manager for clinical research at a university healthcare facility in the US. “I noticed that many healthcare workers lacked the skill set to collect and interpret patient data correctly, which negatively impacted patient care,” he recalls. “I decided that whether I ended up in healthcare, tech, or another industry altogether, I wanted to use my data skills to help people.”
Hayley Reid almost attended another university. “I was leaning in a different direction, but Waterloo Math blew me away on Visitation Day,” she remembers. “There was a real sense of community, which was a key factor for me.” Hayley also had the opportunity to meet Dr. David McKinnon, her future PhD supervisor who introduced her to an area of research that blends geometry with number theory. “It was my first exposure to the field, and I was sold,” she says. She committed to a master’s degree in pure mathematics and never looked back.