Department of Mathematics and Statistics

The winner of the Peter Rodney book prize, given for the best student talk at the 2015 Ontario Combinatorics Workshop, is Elizabeth Maltais, for her talk “Covering Arrays with Alphabet Graphs”.  “She very successfully made a complex result accessible to a broader audience, by use of examples, colorful diagrams and beautiful slides handwritten on a tablet,” notes Lucia Moura. “The slides are just a part of her interesting 20-minute talk but they give the reader a flavor of her style of communicating mathematical ideas and joy

Elizabeth is currently completing her PhD in our department, working with Profs. Mike Newman and Lucia Moura. She was also recently distinguished as the Department of Mathematics and Statistics Teaching Assistant of the Year 2014-15, at the Faculty of Science Awards Ceremony in November.

Congratulations, Elizabeth!

Mayer Alvo, a professor of Statistics, was named a Fellow of the Fields Institute for the Mathematical Sciences  on June 25, 2015,  in recognition of having “contributed in a significant way to activities at the Fields Institute and within the Canadian mathematical community.”  Among many other contributions, Mayer Alvo was the driving force which led to the University of Ottawa becoming a Principal Sponsoring University of the Fields Institute in 2002, a sponsorship which directly benefits our department, through the funding of postdoctoral fellows and of several research workshops and conferences each year.

Victor Leblanc, professor of Applied Mathematics, was nominated by his students in MAT2322 for the prestigious Excellence in Teaching Award, citing his “tremendous commitment” and his contagious “enthusiasm and positive attitude.”  The nomination concluded “He truly inspires the students to strive to success through hard work.  That is due to the fact that he is challenging and motivating while having high expectations towards attainable goals.”  Dozens of other students, from many other classes over the years, agreed, and the Faculty of Science chose him as the winner for 2014-15.  Congratulations on this well-earned award!

Charles Starling, a postdoctoral fellow working with Thierry Giordano and Vladimir Pestov, is the winner of the inaugural Junior Excellence in Mathematics Teaching Award 2014-15.  This award distinguishes an exceptional teacher from among all graduate students and postdoctoral fellows teaching in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.   To quote from his letter of nomination:  “Charles’ devotion to teaching is exemplary and he is already an outstanding teacher of high caliber appreciated by the students.”