Announcements

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Victoria invites applications for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in Statistics or Data Science, to commence July 1, 2026. We are particularly interested in early-career candidates whose research develops and applies innovative statistical, machine learning, or AI methods to solve complex problems in biostatistics, epidemiology, public health, or related areas.

There are approximately 55 positions ranging from 49 to 196 hours each, for the period between January and April 2026. Most positions are for about 98 hours in total, and are distributed as 8 to 12 weekly hours for 12 to 14 weeks. Teaching Assistants mark assignments and midterms, instruct tutorials, or work in the Assistance Centre, which provides one-to-one tutoring with University of Victoria students who are enrolled in our first and second year Mathematics and Statistics courses.

Congratulations to Mehnaz Jahid for winning the Survey Methods Section Student Research Oral Presentation Award at the 2025 Statistical Society Canada Meeting. Mehnaz is supervised by Laura Cowen and the title of her talk is "Integrated model for dependent spatial capture-recapture and presence-absence data".

Congratulations to Shibai Zhang on being runner up to the WNAR 2025 student most outstanding oral presentation award! Her presentation is titled "A Conditionally Markovian Reformulation of Memory-Mediated Animal Movement Using Cognitive Maps". She is supervised by Professors Mark Lewis and Farouk Nathoo.

Congratulations to Lina Li, Yushan Hu, and Soo Kim. At the poster competition at the 13th Annual Canadian Statistics Student Conference, Lina and Yushan came first and second, respectively, in the PhD group, and Soo came first in the MSc group. All three students work with Xuekui Zhang; Lina is a visiting student.

Congratulations to Laura Cowen, who has been chosen to receive the 2025 Bob Riffenburgh Award.

Congratulations to Mark Lewis, Kennedy Chair in Mathematical Biology, for being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society UK.

Congratulations to Dr. Min Tsao who has been selected by the Statistical Society of Canada as the recipient of the Canadian Journal of Statistics Award!

Congratulations to our PhD student Arjun Banik, who will receive an Andy Farquharson Award for Teaching Excellence on May 1.

Congratulations to our Math student winners at Honours Fest 2025! Kira Hodge won third place overall and Haley Freigang won best in Math.

Congratulations to Heather Berringer for winning the Dr. Arne H. Lane Graduate Fellowship in Marine Sciences! Heather is a PhD student in statistics, supervised by Laura Cowen, and her work on abalone is in collaboration with the Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans Canada / Pêches et Océans Canada.

Applications for admission into the Data Science Program are being accepted from April 1 to April 30.