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Congratulations, Mary Hardy, on receiving the Society of Actuaries (SOA) 2023 Lifetime Volunteer Award.

Mary's profound impact on the actuarial profession is immeasurable. Her extensive involvement within the SOA has left an indelible mark. With a remarkable history of service in various capacities, Mary's contributions have been nothing short of revolutionary.

Learn more on the Society of Actuaries website.

Congratulations to Mario Ghossoub and Gautam Kamath, this year’s recipients of the Golden Jubilee Research Excellence Award.

Mario Ghossoub is an associate professor of Statistics and Actuarial Science, as well as a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst. His research concerns the optimal design of risk-sharing arrangements, including both insurance markets (between policyholders and insurance companies) and decentralized risk-sharing markets (directly between economic agents without a centralized insurance provider).

Read the full story on the Faculty of Math's website.

This week, the University of Waterloo campus will host the second-ever CANSSI-NISS Health Data Science Workshop, taking place from August 3rd to 4th. This workshop is jointly sponsored by the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute (CANSSI) and the United States' National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS).

Jeffrey Negrea received his B.Math. from the University of Waterloo in 2014, with a major in Mathematical Finance and two minors in Pure Mathematics and Actuarial Science. He completed an M.Sc. in 2017 and a Ph.D. in 2022, both in Statistical Sciences at the University of Toronto. He joined the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo on July 1, 2023 as an Assistant Professor after a one-year stay at the University of Chicago’s Data Science Institute as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar.

The Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science congratulates professor Nathaniel Stevens on being named the winner of the European Network for Business and Industrial Statistics (ENBIS)2023 Young Statistician Award. This achievement is awarded for the "recognize the work of young people in introducing innovative methods, promoting the use of statistics and/or successfully using it in the daily practice."

Waterloo alum Dr. Joy (Shu) Jiang (PhD Statistics ‘18) continues to make headlines for her ground-breaking breast cancer research.

As an associate professor of Surgery at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Jiang develops “statistical methods for precision oncology with a direct focus on breast cancer.” Her broader research is particularly concerned with addressing racial disparities in the medical field and improving statistical models to better reflect differing experiences of women of various races.

“Women’s health, in the past, has not been a big focus compared to other areas of research,” Jiang says. “We know that breast cancer is the leading cancer in women, but the risk prediction stratification strategies are still not up to standards compared to other disease areas.”

Full story on the Faculty of Math site.

Dr. Carlos Andrés Araiza Iturria recently completed a PhD in actuarial science. His doctoral research and dissertation, “Discrimination in insurance pricing,” was co-supervised by Dr. Mary Hardy and Dr. Paul Marriott.

The main objective of his research is to understand when and how either direct or indirect discrimination can arise in insurance pricing and suggest feasible guidelines that can mitigate its detrimental impact on society.

“I think that people who finish their PhD with a smile on their face are those that do two things,” he continues. “They research what they are passionate about, and they don’t let their degree consume their whole life. At the end of the day, we need to love and be loved, have fun and stay healthy.”

Read the full profile of Dr. Araiza Iturria, and PhD graduates from the other five Faculties, on the UW News site.

Charmaine B. Dean, a professor in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science and vice-president, research and international at the University of Waterloo received the prestigious 2023 Gold Medal from the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC) for her outstanding contributions to statistical sciences. Her research spans various areas, including survival analysis, disease mapping, and interdisciplinary statistical and wildfire research. Dr. Dean is a Fellow of multiple renowned organizations and has served in editorial roles for esteemed journals. Her accomplishments have established her as a highly respected figure in the field of statistics.

Read more about Dr. Dean’s award on the SSC website.

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.

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.

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Mary Hardy, 2023 Lifetime Volunteer Award Recipient

Mario Ghossoub and Gautam Kamath receive Golden Jubilee Research Excellence Awards.

Waterloo hosts health data science workshop

Dr. Jeffrey Negrea Joins Statistics and Actuarial Science as Assistant Professor

Professor Nathaniel Stevens Recipient ENBIS 2023 Young Statistician Award

PhD alum Dr. Joy Jiang’s breast cancer research reaches The New York Times

Meet PhD graduate Dr. Carlos Andrés Araiza Iturria

2023 Statistical Society of Canada Gold Medal awarded to Charmaine Dean

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

Students delve deep into data at 2023 ASA DataFest