The Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science is a top-tier academic unit among statistical and actuarial science globally. Our community is engaged in topics such as actuarial science, biostatistics, data science, quantitative finance, statistics, & statistics-computing. Our department is home to 70 full-time faculty researching diverse and exciting areas, over 2000 undergraduate students from around the world, and approximately 200 graduate students in master, doctoral, and professional programs.
News
We are Hiring: Faculty Position in Quantitative Finance and Financial Risk Analytics
The Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in Quantitative Finance and Financial Risk Analytics, with an anticipated start date of July 1, 2027. We welcome candidates with expertise in areas such as financial econometrics, machine learning, portfolio optimization, risk management, computational finance, and related fields. The successful candidate will contribute to our internationally recognized research and teaching programs while joining one of the world's leading departments in statistical, actuarial, and quantitative finance education. Applications from exceptional candidates at the Associate or Full Professor level will also be considered. For full details and application information, please see the job posting.
WCA Welcomes Three New Outstanding National Fellowship Recipients
The Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics (WCA) is delighted to welcome three exceptional early-career researchers who have chosen to bring prestigious national fellowship awards to the WCA. Drs. David Dayi Li (SAS), Syeda Lammin Ahad, and Nicholas Kern join the WCA after securing highly competitive fellowship support. Drs. Li and Ahad were awarded the new Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA), while Dr. Kern brings a five-year SKA Fellowship to Waterloo.
Statistics and Actuarial Science researchers receive ASA Outstanding Statistical Application Award
Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science researchers Augustine Wigle and Audrey Béliveau have received the 2026 Outstanding Statistical Application Award from the American Statistical Association (ASA) for their paper, Estimating methane emissions from the upstream oil and gas industry using a multi-stage framework, published in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A. Wigle conducted the award-winning research as a Statistics PhD student at Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. Béliveau.
Events
Actuarial Science and Financial Mathematics seminar: Zhenyuan Zhang
Zhenyuan Zhang
Stanford University
Room: M3 3127
Branching processes, extremes, and random environments
Distinguished Lecture by Erhan Bayraktar
David Sprott Distinguished Lecture Series
Erhan Bayraktar
Professor of Mathematics & Susan M. Smith Professor
Director of the Quantitative Finance and Risk Management Masters Program
Department of Mathematics
University of Michigan
Room: DC 1302
Analytical Approach to Continuous-Time Causal Optimal Transport
We study continuous-time causal optimal transport with a Markovian cost, coupling a finite-state Markov source with a diffusion target. By representing the source through its conditional distribution given observations of the target, we characterize the transport value using a fully nonlinear parabolic master equation on an enlarged state space. We also establish equivalence with two stochastic control formulations on the probability simplex: a controlled Kushner–Stratonovich filtering equation subject to a zero-mean condition, and a state-constrained stochastic control problem. These formulations lead to implementable numerical schemes that approximate the value from above and below.
This is joint work with Julio Backhoff, Ibrahim Ekren, and Antonios Zitridis.
Waterloo Student Conference in Statistics, Actuarial Science and Finance
A conference run by students, for students.
Participate in the sixth Waterloo student conference hosted by the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science! Share your research, discuss career opportunities, and network with researchers and fellow graduate students at this in-person conference.