News

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.

Congratulations to today's graduates and honorees!

Watch webcasts of the morning ceremony and the afternoon ceremony.

From the University of Waterloo Daily Bulletin:

The third annual Jessie W.H. Zou Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research will be awarded to graduating student Gareth Davies (PDF) at convocation on June 13.

Gareth was nominated by Professor Janusz Brzozowski, with whom he worked as an undergraduate research assistant. He is completing a Bachelor of Mathematics degree, with a Pure Mathematics major and Computer Science (CS) minor.

“Ping had never smoked in her life, but was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in September 2010. She underwent a slew of treatments over the next three years, which did forestall the advance of the disease for periods of time.

Since 2004, the local control community has held a regional meeting on systems and control every two years. The primary objectives of these meetings are to share ideas and create a forum for interaction among local colleagues. The meeting has successfully been held at Queen's University (2004, 2010), the University of Toronto (2006, 2012), and the University of Waterloo (2008).

The future looks bright for University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics graduates, based on the results of this year's 'best jobs' ranking by CareerCast.

The top eight jobs for 2014 are listed as:

1. Mathematician
2. University professor (tenured)
3. Statistician
4. Actuary
5. Audiologist
6. Dental hygienist
7. Software engineer
8. Computer systems analyst

The University of Waterloo team did extremely well in the 2013 Putnam Mathematical Competition, finishing seventh overall, and first among Canadian universities. The top five teams were Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Harvard, and California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech).

Congratulations to UWaterloo team members Kangning (Colin) Chen, Volodymyr Lyubinets, and Hao Sun, and to coach Professor Stephen New of the Pure Mathematics department.