Daily Bulletin

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New math and business program

The new co-op "double degree" business administration and mathematics program between UW's math faculty and WLU's school of business and economics will require 24 half-courses in business at WLU and 24 in math at UW, plus other courses from outside the school or faculty.

"The math component will be controlled at UW," explains Paul Schellenberg, math associate dean for undergraduate studies, "with math courses taken at UW, and vice versa. It's a partnership. You take our math; we'll take your business and economics courses."

The result, says Schellenberg, will enable students to take advantage of two programs with excellent reputations at two universities. "This program will be unique in Canada, building as it does on one of the strengths of UW, math, and one of the strengths of WLU, business. Graduates of this program will compare favourably with students who get a BMath degree and then go on to do an MBA," he added.

"It's a unique and really timely program," which addresses the business need for quantitative methods in decision making. "Graduates should be able to get good jobs and make valuable contributions to society."

Although the math faculty has a similar arrangement with Queen's University, through which UW math students can earn a Bachelor of Education degree during an eight-month stint at Queen's, this is the first joint degree program with WLU.

Schellenberg termed the program "unique . . . unusual in that we will be giving a BMath degree to students not registered here. We don't know how a lot of things will shake down yet."

Talks are continuing between the registrars to work out logistics for the program. "Just getting from class to class will present challenges in terms of time and distance."

The program will officially accept its first students in September 2001, with a target of about 30 from each institution. "The goal is to achieve parity, the same number from UW and WLU," he said. "Admissions will be handled by each school, with communication between the two bodies. . . .

"A program like this that combines one of UW's strengths with one of WLU's seems to be worth whatever risk might be involved. We think it makes sense for us as a faculty. We also believe it makes sense from the broader perspective of the provincial government."

Putnam competition is Saturday

It's the 60th annual writing of the Putnam, which attracts math students from across the United States and Canada. UW teams have been taking part since 1968 (when Waterloo took second place). The UW team took first place in 1974 and second place in 1982 and 1991. Last year, the Waterloo team of Sabin Cautis, Derek Kisman, and Soroosh Yazdani was in fifth place. Cautis was ranked 10th and Donny Cheung was ranked "13.5th", Small says. Derek Kisman and Ian VanderBurgh of UW received Honourable Mentions.

This Saturday's competition welcomes students both from mathematics and from other faculties, including -- as much as possible -- those who haven't preregistered. Small gives the details:

"Students who have pre-registered for the competition should come to MC 4059 no later than 9:45 am this Saturday, as the contest starts at 10:00 a.m. sharp. The morning session of the contest will be from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. We will break for lunch at 1:00 and be back in MC 4059 just before 3:00 p.m. to begin the afternoon session. The afternoon session will finish at 6:00.

"Students who have not pre-registered for the contest, but would like to write the Putnam can also come to MC4059. Contest papers are provided only for those students who have pre-registered. However, some of the pre-registered students are likely not to show. Therefore, some students will be able to write if contest papers are available. (So far, we have never turned away an eligible student!)

"To be eligible, the student must be a full time undergraduate at Waterloo who has not yet received a degree. No individual may participate in the Putnam more than four times."

Computer scientist here from Texas

He'll speak twice while on campus, starting with a talk today at 1:30 (Davis Centre room 1302) on "Calculational Mathematics". Says an abstract: "This talk will use partal orders, lattice theory, and, if time permits, the Galois connection as carriers to illustrate the use of calculi in mathematics. We hope to show the brevity of many calculations (in order to fight the superstition that formal proofs are necessarily unpractically long), and the strong heuristic guidance that is available for their design."

Tomorrow's talk starts at 10 a.m. in Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's University. The title: "Proofs and Programs". The abstract: "This talk will show the use of programs for the proving of theorems. Its purpose is to show how our experience gained in the derivations of programs might be transferred to the derivation of proofs in general. The examples will go beyond the (traditional) existence theorems."

Dijkstra, according to a citation for his Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery, "was a principal contributor in the late 1950's to the development of the ALGOL, a high level programming language which has become a model of clarity and mathematical rigor". He's well known for, among other things, terse dismissals of programming languages that don't reach his standards -- calling APL, for example, "a mistake, carried through to perfection".

His more recent publications touch on such topics as concurrent programming control, "the economy of doing mathematics", and "making a fair roulette from a possibly biased coin".

Poetry book launched tonight

The "collage of texts (historical and fictional)" is based on the life of the legendary nineteenth-century Sri Lankan Robin Hood figure, Sardiel, who Crusz "reconstructs" on human terms, according to one critic, James Panabaker, in a review of the work. "The poet's intent," says Panabaker, "stated clearly in his introductory note, is to restore the 'patina of humanity' to the one-dimensional figure of legend." In the process, themes from earlier works -- "the oppressive heritage of empire, the role of exile/outsider, the crisis of identity, and the clash between karmic and Christian visions" -- re-emerge.

Canadian poet Irving Layton says of the work: "I can't think of a single Canadian poet who, groin-tickled and happy, could achieve such delirium on paper. The raw passion is there despite the control the poems insist on."

A native of Sri Lanka, Crusz is the author of eight previous books of poetry. The jacket of his new work is illustrated with a photo of a sculpture by artist Virgil Burnett, a retired UW fine arts professor.

Crusz will read from his new book at the event, billed by retail services as the "first-annual Holiday Celebration" for faculty and staff. "Holiday refreshments will be served, and invited guests will receive a special holiday discount of 25% off general books, clothing and giftware."

The talk of the campus

UW's senate has a new member, the university secretariat says. An election was called for a representative of faculty members in applied health sciences, and Nancy Theberge of the kinesiology department has been acclaimed to the position.

"Hot tips for holiday eating" are promised at a noon-hour session next Monday: "There are a few place available for this noon-hour talk by nutritionist Linda Barton. Learn how to enjoy your favourite holiday goodies guilt-free! Take away recipes for good food made fast and sample Linda's Power Shake for a quick energy boost. To register call ext. 3665 or reply to gshellar@healthy." The session on Monday, December 6, runs from noon to 1 p.m. in Lyle Hallman Institute (Matthews Hall) room 1633.

And on Wednesday, December 15, the Employee Assistance Program will hold a noon-hour session on "Stress Management for the Holidays", led by Paul Dimeck of applied health sciences and Helena Hahn of the dean of science office.

"Fourteen Not Forgotten" is the theme each year of memorial events recalling December 6, 1989. That was the day that a gunman killed 14 female students and staff in the faculty of engineering at Ecole Polytechnique in Montréal. The "massacre" is remembered on campuses, and in communities, across Canada. This year's commemoration at UW will take place at 4:30 on December 6 (next Monday) in the Theatre of the Arts, with candle-lighting, a speaker "and reflections".

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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