News archive - May 2023

Monday, May 29, 2023

Congratulations to Zhanyi Jiao, Benxuan Shi, and Yuanyuan Zhang for being awarded the 2023-2024 James C. Hickman Scholarship by the Society of Actuaries

The Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science would like to congratulate Zhanyi Jiao, Benxuan Shi, and Yuanyuan Zhang for being three of the six new recipients of the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Hickman Scholarship for 2023-2024, and to Yiping Guo, Liyuan Li, and Michael Zhu for having their stipend renewed.

The Hickman Scholars Program provides highly  prestigious awards for PhD students in North America who work in fields related to Actuarial Science. The program provides stipends to doctoral candidates who will, through their studies and careers, address the research and education needs of the actuarial profession.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Students delve deep into data at 2023 ASA DataFest

Teams Food, Data Divas, and DataCraft

DataFest Teams from left: Teams "Food," "Data Divas," and "DataCraft"

From April 28-30, the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science hosted the American Statistical Association (ASA) DataFest: an international data challenge in which teams of undergraduates work to “find and share meaning in a large, rich, and complex data set.” This year, 75 students participated in 20 teams, with 15 teams completing Waterloo’s intense 48-hour challenge. While teams were limited to undergraduates, they had the chance throughout to interact with graduate students, professors, and representatives of Scotiabank, the Waterloo challenge’s major sponsor.

"A key highlight from this competition was getting the opportunity to network with industry professionals, mentors, and professors,” says Inaara Somani. “It was so valuable and insightful to converse with them about their personal knowledge and experience, as well as pitch our ideas…Not only were these individuals great help during the competition, but it was so exciting to learn new things from them!"

Continue reading the full story on the Faculty of Mathematics website.