Waterloo Math

Congratulations to the Class of 2026! This is only the beginning of your accomplishments, we look forward to watching you succeed in your future endeavours!

Today we are honoured to award Gilles Brassard, Université de Montréal computer science professor and 2025 ACM - Association for Computing Machinery A. M. Turing Laureate, a Doctor of Mathematics, honoris causa.

Brassard’s fundamental research in quantum cryptography, quantum teleportation, quantum entanglement distillation, quantum pseudotelepathy, and the classical simulation of quantum entanglement have transformed the field, and earned him recognitions including the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal, the Killam Prize in Natural Sciences, the Wolf Prize in Physics, the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Society of London, and nominations as Officer in the Order of Canada and the Ordre national du Québec.

Read more here: https://uwaterloo.ca/math/news/invest-curiosity-interview-professor-gilles-brassard

Institute for Quantum Computing

Congratulations to Statistics and Actuarial Science researchersStefan Steiner, Mahsa Panahi and Jock MacKay, along with collaborator Jeroen de Mast of the University of Amsterdam on receiving the 2026 Brumbaugh Award from the American Society for Quality (ASQ) for their paper, A review of leveraged sample selection in variation reduction projects, published in Quality Engineering.

The Brumbaugh Award recognizes the paper judged to have made the largest single contribution to the development of industrial applications of quality control. The award honours research that advances the practical use of quality methods to improve processes, products and organizational performance.

Read more here: https://uwaterloo.ca/statistics-and-actuarial-science/news/statistics-and-actuarial-science-researchers-receive-2026

Congratulations to the incoming Data Science and Artificial Intelligence master’s students who are the recipients of the Vector Scholarship in Artificial Intelligence!

In addition to two students who opted to remain anonymous, the awardees include Sarvesh Ingale, Ramprakash Raja, and Shukun Zhang.

Read more about the winners here: https://uwaterloo.ca/math/news/five-incoming-data-science-and-artificial-intelligence

Congratulations to Nikhita Joshi, recipient of the 2026 Governor General’s Gold Medal at the doctoral level. The Governor General’s Gold Medal is one of the highest student honours awarded by the University of Waterloo and Joshi is the first person from the Cheriton School of Computer Science to win this award in ten years!

Joshi’s doctoral research has been praised widely by the human–computer interaction (HCI) community for revealing insights into digital reading, writing interfaces, and human–AI collaboration, with implications for the design of future technologies.

Read more about her research here: https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/nikhita-joshi-awarded-prestigious-governor-generals-gold

Congratulations to Sina Kalantarzadeh, recipient of the 2026 Governor General’s Gold Medal at the master’s level. The Governor General’s Gold Medal is one of the highest student honours awarded by the University of Waterloo .

Kalantarzadeh graduates this month with a MMath specializing in Combinatorics and Optimization.

Read more about his research here: https://uwaterloo.ca/math/news/sina-kalantarzadeh-receives-governor-generals-gold-medal

Congratulations to Dr. Jun Liu, professor of applied mathematics and Canada Research Chair in Hybrid Systems and Control, on receiving funding from the National Research Council (NRC)’s Applied Quantum Computing Challenge program!

The grant, which totals $337,315 over two years, supports a collaborative project titled “Efficient Quantum Algorithms for Long-Term Qualitative Analysis of Dynamical Systems.”

Liu is partnering on the research with Dr. Meenu Kumari, an NRC research officer working in quantum information, and his former PhD student, Dr. Maxwell Fitzsimmons.

Read more about their project here: https://uwaterloo.ca/math/news/jun-liu-receives-nrc-collaboration-grant-quantum-computin

Last week we were honoured to participate in a monumental milestone in Math 4’s development, Gillam’s traditional Coin Ceremony, an event to celebrate the last concrete pour of the project!

We added a Mathie touch to the ceremony by placing the hat tile instead of a coin. The discovery of the hat tile was a breakthrough in mathematics, it represents our Faculty’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of research, and its placement in the final concrete pour symbolizes the role M4 will play as our new hub for innovation.

Learn more about M4 here: https://uwaterloo.ca/mathematics-4/

In honour of we’re highlighting Enzo Porto, a Cheriton School of Computer Science student and founder of Oceanica, a Latin American-based organization that promotes ocean literacy and conservation among youth.

From organizing beach clean-ups to teaching kindergarteners about climate change, Oceanica has seen widespread reception with thousands attending their events and receiving a deeper understanding on ocean conservation.

Read more about Enzo’s mission to connect as many people as possible to the ocean: https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/beach

In honour of this week being National Accessibility Week, we are highlighting the ways in which our Faculty of Mathematics community members are working to improve accessibility measures in various areas of life.

Computer Science PhD student, Yue Lyu, is creating GenAI and AR-based games that equip children with autism spectrum disorder with social and emotional skills.

Read more about her projects here: https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/news/designing-games-children-autism-ar

Designing games for children with autism via AR | Cheriton School of Computer Science | University of Waterloo PhD student’s visionary plan could save estimated $1.4 billion in educational expenses for Ontario