Remembering David Sprott, first Dean of Math

Distinguished Professor Emeritus David Sprott died on December 13.

Sprott, who spent 38 years at the University of Waterloo, is remembered as the institution's first Dean of Mathematics.

He joined Waterloo in September 1958 as an associate professor of mathematics, at a time when the university campus consisted of about 250 acres of farmland, a single academic building (Chemical Engineering), and the Schweitzer farmhouse (today known as the Graduate House), where he had his office. Sprott was appointed professor of mathematics in 1962 and was cross-appointed to the psychology department. His research interests included statistical inference, likelihood methods, probability, genetics, and biostatistics.

In those days, mathematics was a department in the Faculty of Arts. Under the leadership of department chair Ralph Stanton (who had recruited Sprott), the increased growth and specialization of the department resulted in the creation of a dedicated Faculty of Mathematics in 1966, which was up and running by January 1967. Sprott was appointed the Faculty’s first dean, with Arthur Beaumont and Ken Fryer serving as associate deans.

“Becoming the dean was a bit of a shock to me,” Sprott told the UW Gazette in 1996 after his retirement. “I suddenly found myself serving on (or so it seemed) every committee on the campus…I soon began to realize that the most important questions always related to finances—the budget was at the core of virtually every problem we faced.”

Sprott also played a fundamental role in the development of the statistics department, serving as its Founding Chair in 1967.

Sprott led the fledgling faculty’s first hiring boom after its decoupling from Arts, in the face of explosive enrolment growth, adopting a “visiting professor” approach that enabled the faculty to attract top talent without having to make long-term commitments. Many of the visiting professors subsequently stayed on and brought distinction to Mathematics in its early years, including Jiri Cizek, Joseph Paldus, and Bruno Forte.

Sprott’s initial appointment was for two years, and he was elected for another three years. He did not seek a second five-year term, and continued as chair of Statistics and Actuarial Science for several years.

In the early years of mathematics at Waterloo, a number of students who were interested in statistics benefited from David Sprott's guidance as their professor, supervisor, or mentor, and went on to become noted researchers and academic administrators in their own right, including Jim Kalbfleisch, who served in many administrative roles, including that of the University’s vice-president, academic & provost, Jack Kalbfleisch, who was dean of mathematics for 8 years in the 1990s, and Jerry Lawless, a Waterloo faculty member from 1972-2007 who served as chair of Statistics and Actuarial Science from 1979 to 1984, 1987-88, and from 2004 to 2005.

Sprott was named Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1997.

He was also a noted nature photographer and an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society.

Sprott was predeceased by his spouse, Professor Muriel Vogel Sprott, also a University of Waterloo retiree, in 2009.

A memorial will be held on Friday, March 28 at 3:00 p.m. in the Bruce White Atrium of Mathematics 3. The Statistics and Actuarial Science website has more details, including how to RSVP.

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Starting up with the Upstart Festival

The University of Waterloo drama department is presenting the 2014 edition of Upstart, the Festival of Innovative Theatre.

The Upstart Festival is a biannual festival of one-act plays run by Waterloo Drama students who present original and innovative works of theatre. This year, all 8 shows have been produced, directed and acted by Waterloo students, and seven of the eight plays are original works with a wide range of performance styles on offer, including comedy, drama, movement-based and commedia dell'arte:

• The First by William Innes is a collaboration of music and bodies, exploring the highs and lows of potential love;
• Less than Three by Jackie Mahoney is an exploration of the endless list of questions we have about love. Told through the use of true stories, it is a reminder that when it comes to love, sometimes the best answer is one that ends with another question mark (and there's even a trailer!);
• Crows in Dream Time (the biggest Murder) by Sam Beuerle is a work of highly physical and text-based theatre, exploring the way dreams and thoughts can be portrayed on the stage;
• Signs of Life by Derek McGill follows Brock, who seems to have no positive outlook on his awkward teenage life. But all he really needs is just a good lesson in driving, a bit of confidence, and to learn to follow the signs: the signs of life!
• Bambino by Kelly Hornung uses the traditional archetypes from the Italian commedia dell’arte, and explores personal identity and what can happen when people are faced with change in their lives;
• Post Its (Notes on a Marriage), an adaptation by Tyler Collins features two lives that intersect with one another by their families, friends, and lifestyle over the last fifty years. The only consistent means of communication between them, however, has been Post-It sticky notes;
• Fake Plastic Trees by Alan Shonfield is a play about semantics, metaphors, Hamlet, Keanu Reeves, love and Margaret Atwood; and
• The Testimony of Sister Veronica by Laura McVey follows a young nun at the height of the Spanish Inquisition who claims to have received visions of Christ commanding her to dissolve her convent and go out into the wider world to preach.
  

The festival runs from February 6 and 7 and February 13 and 14 at 7:00 p.m., and February 8 and 15 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. in Studio 180 in Hagey Hall. Tickets are $12 for general admission, $8 for students and seniors, and $5 for eyeGO.

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Feeling the need for speed (networking)

by Mari-Beth Davis.

Applied Health Sciences student Val Bigelow (pictured above centre with AHS alum Laura Becotte (BA ‘10) Home at Last Coordinator with Community Care Concepts), a fourth year recreation and leisure studies student, doesn’t miss a beat when asked why she braved the polar vortex to attend AHS’ alumni speed networking event, held Tuesday, January 21 at 6:00 p.m.

"The speed networking event was a very valuable experience where I was able to meet and talk with several alumni in a variety of health related fields. I was able to ask questions and find careers that were of interest to me while gathering valuable information."

This opportunity allowed alumni to offer insight and share their experiences with students, as well as provide advice for the students finishing their undergrad. Speed networking is a great way to get your foot in the door and I would recommend it to students of every year.

This popular career event united 25 Applied Health Sciences alumni with over 150 career minded AHS students who were exploring career opportunities beyond graduation. Students connect with alumni to learn about their career path after graduation, to hear more about their chosen field and to seek insightful advice as they prepare to enter the workforce.

AHS students were excited to see the variety of AHS alumni returning to campus to share their advice with students. Rob Parkinson (MSc ’04, PhD ’08), a forensic biomechanist from Giffin Koerth Forensics shared that his wife attended the AHS speed networking event when she was a student and completely changed her career aspirations because of insight she received from an AHS alum.

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The Good, The Bad, and The Friday

Rejoice! Today is payday, the first one of 2014, and, in a bit of synchronicity, the dates line up for employees on both the biweekly and monthly pay schedules. A full list of 2014 pay dates for the rest of 2014 is available on the Human Resources website.

Information Systems and Technology (IST) is reminding campus that SharePoint is being upgraded from SharePoint 2010 to the latest version, SharePoint 2013 on Saturday between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. During this maintenance window, SharePoint will be unavailable to users. After the upgrade is completed, SharePoint administrators should verify that site content has been properly migrated and that site permissions are working correctly. Anyone with questions or concerns can contact the IST Service desk via email or by calling extension 84357.

Now that's what I call classic rock: Classical Studies is hosting Peter Bing of Emory University today for a public lecture entitled: “Anacreon: The Destiny of an Ancient Rock Star in the 5^th Century B.C.” The lecture takes place at 1:30 p.m. in ML 349. Anacreon was a Greek lyric poet of renown, and could really wail on a lyre. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Also today, Chris Eliasmith of the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience will be presenting his talk, "How to build a brain" at 2:30 p.m. in B1 266. Earlier this week, Eliasmith spoke about his work in creating Spaun, an advanced model of a working brain at the January meeting of the University's Senate. Eliasmith's lab's goal is no less than figuring out how the brain works. Doing so once and for all, according to Eliasmith, would save the country $51 billion in medical costs, help people with mental illness, and help us build new kinds of machines. "Most of all," he says, "it would be really cool."

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