Kevin Hare

New graduate program: Computational mathematics

Kevin Hare spent much of Fall 2006 helping to create a Computational Mathematics graduate program. The program outline is with the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies (OCGS) for approval and looking forward to accepting its first MMath students in September 2007. The course is designed as a 12-month program with six courses and a one-term supervised research project.

Computational math is increasingly becoming important to industry. Employers are now requiring individuals who can speak the languages of math and computer science. As Kevin puts it, “You can’t just go into industry and not know any math, because it’s need. And you can’t go in with math and not know any computers, because that’s needed too.”

It’s a good fit for the diversity of experience, research and interests represented in the Faculty. “Every department and the School of Computer Science is involved in the program,” notes Kevin. “We have Biomedical, Earth and Space, Data Mining and Economics options which will be great for the students, the Faculty and the University.”

Kevin has also been administering an infrastructure grant for computer clusters from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (June 2006). Many University of Waterloo groups will use the clusters – for everything from Artificial Intelligence (AI) exploration to experiments on distributed networks, weather modelling and pure math problems.

In his personal research, Kevin uses modern computation to explore old problems. His research includes the exploration of fundamental questions in number theory including odd perfect numbers, quasi crystals and the properties of polynomials.

University of Waterloo Mathematics, Annual Report 2006