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The Big E and Special K contests (PDF) were held on Saturday, November 1. These are mathematics contests for undergraduate University of Waterloo students.

The Special K contest is for first-year students and the Big E contest is for upper-year students.

Both contests consist of six problems, and complete written solutions are required. This year, 40 students participated, and in both contests there was a tie for first place.

The winners of the Big E contest:

The inaugural U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Ranking shows University of Waterloo's computer science at #1 in Canada and 18th globally.

In mathematics, University of Waterloo ranks fourth in Canada and 86th globally.

The U.S. News & World Report rankings are based on schools' academic research and reputation. See the methodology.

From the University of Waterloo Daily Bulletin

This afternoon will see 509 students from the Faculty of Mathematics receive their degrees at the 2:30 pm ceremony, along with graduates of the Faculty of Environment.

Congratulations to University of Waterloo BMath alumnus Martin Wainwright, winner of the 2014 Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) Award.

The award is presented annually to a young member of the statistical community in recognition of outstanding contributions to the profession.

Past Waterloo alumni to receive this honour include Ross Prentice (University of Washington), Nancy Reid (University of Toronto) and Rob Tibshirani (Stanford).

On September 19, more than 375 first- and second-year students participated in the 2014 Small c Math Contest. I am thrilled at the turnout for an hour of math fun on a Friday evening!

The following students earned a perfect score of 150 out of 150. 

First-year students: Dancheng Hu, Antonio Molina Lovett, and Nihal Pednekar.

Second-year student: Daniel Spivak.

Honourable mentions go to Letian Chen, Xinle Dai, Tianxiao Liu, Kassem Bazzi, and Charles Zinn.

Thanks to generous alumni donors, scholarships have been established and awarded to female graduate students in the Faculty of Mathematics.

Troy Vasiga and I are happy to report from the 2014 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Taipei, Taiwan. Jacob Jackson, Timothy Li, Ben Zhang and Zihao Zhang represented Canada at this year's algorithm and programming competition.

The team is bringing home one gold medal and two bronze medals.

Jacob, Timothy and Ben will be returning to high school in the Toronto area this fall. Zihao, from Windsor, is looking forward to his first year as a UWaterloo computer science student.

A funding announcement was held on campus today, featuring (pictured left to right):

Congratulations to Professors Penny Haxell and Javid Ali, winners of the 2014 Faculty of Mathematics Award for Distinction in Teaching!

Professor Haxell has received consistent applause from her peers and students for not only being an effective instructor with high standards but, for being a teacher that inspires enthusiasm for the material she teaches. Her lighthearted nature and logical, straightforward manner have made her a favourite among students.