Kevin Hyun, a computer science major at the University of Waterloo, has been awarded a 2019 Jessie W.H. Zou Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. Hyun has focused much of his work on algorithms to solve various kinds of linear and non-linear systems of equations.
Working with Cheriton School of Computer Science Professor Éric Schost, after he completed a term as a part-time undergraduate research assistant, Hyun worked three terms of full-time research, one of which was at the University of Limoges in France. He will complete another term of full-time research during the spring with Professor Schost.
“Kevin is passionate about research, has broad interests, and is a pleasure to work with,” said Professor Schost. “He has already attended several international meetings, gave presentations at the main conference in our field, and has started to develop international collaborations.”
Hyun co-authored three papers — one in 2017 and two in 2019 — that were accepted at ISAAC, the International Symposium on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation, the premier annual conference in symbolic mathematical computation. He also submitted a paper to the Journal of Symbolic Computation, which has just gone through the first round of views, and he gave two poster presentations at ISSAC. Hyun was a major contributor of a fourth publication during which he developed and implemented several algorithms through the course of his research — some in the published article and others that will form the basis of future work.
The Jessie W.H. Zou Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research recognizes the research excellence of an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Mathematics. The award will be given at convocation.
About the Jessie W.H. Zou Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research
Professor Ming Li and his family have created this award in honour and memory of his late wife, Jessie Wenhui Zou.
Jessie was born August 27, 1968 in Wuhan, China. She received a PhD degree from Wuhan University in physics when she was 26 years old. Jessie loved the field of finance and continued to pursue her studies and graduated from the University of Waterloo’s statistical finance master’s program in 2000. During this time, she also studied computer science at Waterloo and took a course in Java programming (CS 134). Upon graduation, she worked at the Bank of Montreal, specializing in risk control management.
With this award, the family wishes to support research activities at the undergraduate level within the Faculty of Mathematics to carry on Jessie’s passion for education.
The Jessie W.H. Zou Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research is valued at $1,000 and presented annually to an undergraduate student enrolled in his or her final year of any program within the Faculty of Mathematics. Students must have demonstrated excellence in research and have been nominated by a faculty member who has supervised that research. The awardee is chosen by the Faculty of Mathematics Research Advisory Committee, chaired by the associate dean, research.
Past awardees and nominees
