Stephen Vavasis is a Professor in the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization at the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Mathematics, where he serves on the Steering Committee for the Math Business and Accounting Unit. His research is supported by NSERC grants. Education: B.A. in Mathematics, Princeton University (1984) M.A. (Part III Tripos) in Mathematics, University of Cambridge (1985) Ph.D. in Computer Science, Stanford University (1989) Research Focus: Vavasis specializes in continuous optimization with applications to data science, numerical linear algebra, and computational geometry. His work bridges theoretical foundations and practical implementations in scientific computing and mechanics, emphasizing algorithmic efficiency and real-world problem-solving. Awards & Honors: Guggenheim Fellowship Presidential Young Investigator Award Churchill Scholarship Hertz Graduate Fellowship Administrative & Teaching Roles: Served as Associate Dean of Computing (2017–2020) and Interim Director of Data Science Graduate Programs (2021). Currently teaches optimization courses including CO372 (Portfolio Optimization), CO466/666 (Convex Optimization), and CO673/CS794 (Optimization for Data Science).










