We are home to 30 faculty, four staff, approximately 60 graduate students, several research visitors, and numerous undergraduate students. We offer exciting and challenging programs leading to BMath, MMath and PhD degrees. We nurture a very active research environment and are intensely devoted to both ground-breaking research and excellent teaching.
News
Two Pure Math professors win Outstanding Performance Awards
The awards are given each year to faculty members across the University of Waterloo who demonstrate excellence in teaching and research.
Pure Math PhD student wins Amit and Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching
The award ($1000), which is given to up to four recipients annually, recognizes excellence in teaching by students, including intellectual vigour, skill in communication and presentation of subject matter, and concern for the needs of students.
Spring 2023 Graduands
Congratulations to Clement Wan, MMath and Eric Boulter, PhD, who convocated in Spring 2023. Best of luck in your future endeavours!
Events
Pure Math Dept Colloquium
Robert Haslhofer, University of Toronto, University of Wisconsin Madison
Mean curvature flow through singularities
A family of surfaces moves by mean curvature flow if the velocity at each point is given by the mean curvature vector. Mean curvature flow first arose as a model of evolving interfaces in material science and has been extensively studied over the last 40 years. In this talk, I will give an introduction and overview for a general mathematical audience. To gain some intuition we will first consider the one-dimensional case of evolving curves. We will then discuss Huisken's classical result that the flow of convex surfaces always converges to a round point. On the other hand, if the initial surface is not convex we will see that the flow typically encounters singularities. Getting a hold of these singularities is crucial for most striking applications in geometry, topology and physics. In particular, we will see that flow through conical singularities is nonunique, but flow through neck singularities is unique. Finally, I will report on recent work with various collaborators on the classification of noncollapsed singularities in R^4.
MC 5501
Pure Math Dept Colloquium
Gregory G. Smith, Queen's University
Sums of Squares and Projective Geometry
A multivariate real polynomial is nonnegative if its value at any real point is greater than or equal to zero. These special polynomials play a central role in many branches of mathematics including algebraic geometry, optimization theory, and dynamical systems. However, it is very difficult, in general, to decide whether a given polynomial is nonnegative. In this talk, we will review some classical methods for certifying that a polynomial is nonnegative. We will then present novel certificates in some important cases. This talk is based on joint work with Grigoriy Blekherman, Rainer Sinn, and Mauricio Velasco.
MC 5501