The C&O department has 36 faculty members and 60 graduate students. We are intensely research oriented and hold a strong international reputation in each of our six major areas:
- Algebraic combinatorics
- Combinatorial optimization
- Continuous optimization
- Cryptography
- Graph theory
- Quantum computing
Read more about the department's research to learn of our contributions to the world of mathematics!
News
Laura Pierson wins Governor General's Gold Medal
The Governor General’s Gold Medal is one of the highest student honours awarded by the University of Waterloo.
Sepehr Hajebi wins Graduate Research Excellence Award, Mathematics Doctoral Prize, and finalist designation for Governor General's Gold Medal
The Mathematics Doctoral Prizes are given annually to recognize the achievement of graduating doctoral students in the Faculty of Mathematics. The Graduate Research Excellence Awards are given to students who authored or co-authored an outstanding research paper.
Three C&O faculty win Outstanding Performance Awards
The awards are given each year to faculty members across the University of Waterloo who demonstrate excellence in teaching and research.
Events
Algebraic and enumerative combinatorics seminar - Nathan Pagliaroli- Counting triangulations from bootstrapping tensor integrals
| Speaker: | Nathan Pagliaroli |
| Affiliation: | University of Waterloo |
| Location: | MC 5417 |
Abstract: Tensor integrals are the generating functions of triangulations of pseudo-manifolds. Such triangulations are constructed by gluing simplices along facets. These generating functions satisfy an infinite system of recursive equations called the Dyson-Schwinger equations, derived by reclusively gluing together triangulations. Such integrals also satisfy positivity constraints. By combining the Dyson-Schwinger equations and positivity constraints in a process called bootstrapping we are able to deduce known results for the generating functions of certain classes of triangulations as well as find new explicit formulae. This talk is based on joint work with Carlos I. Perez-Sanchez and Brayden Smith.
There will be a pre-seminar presenting relevant background at the beginning graduate level starting at 1:30pm.
Crypto Reading Group -Mojtaba Fadavi-TBA
| Speaker | Mojtaba Fadavi |
| Affiliation | University of Waterloo |
| Location | MC 6029 |
Abstract: TBA
Tutte Colloquium - Jonathan Leake-Log-concavity, Sampling, and Lorentzian Polynomials
| Speaker: | Jonathan Leake |
| Affiliation: | University of Waterloo |
| Location: | MC 5501 |
Abstract: In this talk, we demonstrate a connection between log-concavity statements and sampling algorithms via high-dimensional expanders and Lorentzian polynomials. To do this, we first discuss two conjectures which were resolved about 5-10 years ago: one on the log-concavity of independent sets of matroids (due to Brändén-Huh and Anari-Liu-Oveis Gharan-Vinzant), and one on efficiently sampling bases of matroids (due to Anari-Liu-Oveis Gharan-Vinzant). From there we will present some new results on generalized graph colorings which extend these and other previous results. In particular, we will discuss how this can be used to obtain log-concavity statements and sampling algorithms for linear extensions of posets. Joint work with Kasper Lindberg and Shayan Oveis Gharan.