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
The Right Direction
Katia Naccarato has never shied away from exploring an unfamiliar path, hitting a dead end, and trying a different one. Before she enrolled in the Master of Actuarial Science (MActSc) program at the Faculty of Mathematics, she was laser-focused on pursuing a career in medicine. Her current trajectory looks nothing like she expected, but she’s confident she’s heading in the right direction.
Laying a foundation
Samantha Wallis’s enthusiasm for statistics is matched only by her longtime passion for visual arts. As she considers her path forward after graduating with a degree in mathematics, Wallis thinks about how to meld her two interests into a single career. While she hasn’t landed on a definitive answer, she has a strong hunch where she will go next.
Asking the right questions
Eli Margolis learned to appreciate math at a young age. “There was always a right and wrong answer, always a correct way of figuring something out if you searched hard enough,” she reflected.
Events
Seminar by Michaël Lalancette
Statistics and Biostatistics seminar series
Michaël Lalancette
Université du Québec à Montréal
Room: M3 3127
Seminar by Junnan He
Actuarial Science and Financial Mathematics seminar series
Joint seminar with Department of Economics
Junnan He
SciencePo
Room: HH 334
Florence Nightingale Day 2026
CANSSI Ontario and the University of Waterloo Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science are pleased to host our first Florence Nightingale Day on Saturday, February 28, 2026.
Open to high school students in grades 10–12 across the Waterloo Region, the event will feature hands-on activities, games, and panels of professional speakers, followed by networking and lunch. Registration is limited to the first 30 participants on a first-come, first-served basis.
Florence Nightingale Day promotes gender diversity in statistics and data science by encouraging and inspiring people of underrepresented genders to explore these fields. Named after Florence Nightingale, a pioneer of modern nursing and early innovator in data visualization, the event celebrates her legacy and the contributions of women in statistics, while showcasing career opportunities and mentorship in data science.