Who are we

SIGMAS is the departmental graduate student group of the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences. Upon joining the department, every graduate student also becomes a member of SIGMAS, which makes meeting new peers and friends easy. With our events, we aim to build a sense of community in our department. We welcome everyone to participate and contribute to our events. Even if you are not one of our executive members, we always look for volunteers that help us organize more events. Do you have a great idea what we could do as a student group? Let us know, and we will try use our experience and student group advantage to make it happen!

Our Executive Team

If you want to increase your involvement in our student group, becoming an executive member is the next step. Any member of SIGMAS can become a part of our executive team, regardless of whether you have previous experience or not. We are glad to lend a helping hand if you are motivated, but unsure how to get started. Our elections are in the month of March for the following academic year, but if you want to get involved immediately, contact us as there might be some unfilled positions. Below is our executive team of the academic year 2021/2022. See our constitution for a detailed description of the executive positions and their responsibilities.

Yurij Salmaniw, President & Applied Math/Math Physics Representative

Yurij is a fourth year PhD student in Applied Mathematics. He received his BSc from Cape Breton University (NS) and his MSc from McMaster University (ON). His research interests include partial differential equations and dynamical systems with applications in biology. In his spare time he likes to play guitar, basketball and spend time with his cat, Atticus.

Ryan Thiessen, Vice-President

Ryan is a second year PhD student in Applied Mathematics. He received his BSc from the University of Saskatchewan and his MSc from the University of Alberta. His research is focused on partial differential equation models of network formation. In his spare time, Ryan can be found at the gym or eating spinach.

Bryan Kettle, Treasurer & Pure Math Representative

Bryan is a PhD student in Mathematics studying algebra and representation theory. He likes oranges and Blade Runner. Bryan is often cited as a major role model for Ryan, the Vice-President.

Brandon Gill, Academic Coordinator

Brandon graduated form the university of Saskatchewan in 2019 with an Honours degree in mathematics, after which he came here and has recently transferred into the PhD program under professor Terry Gannon. In his research currently he is developing the theory of multi-vectored Jacobi forms and is working toward helping with the reconstruction conjecture. In his spare time he enjoys a passion for food, family, friends, and boardgames.

Liane Solomon, Co-Outreach Coordinator

Liane is PhD student studying Applied Mathematics. Her research is focused on stochastic models of bacteria movement in fluids. Liane's spare time is often occupied by watching Gilmore Girls.

Katie Burak, Co-Outreach Coordinator

Katie is a PhD student in Statistics. Her research interests include concentration inequalities and nonasymptotic statistics. In her spare time, she likes going hiking, camping and playing basketball.

Pablo Venegas Garcia, Social & Sports Coordinator

Pablo is currently in his fourth year of his PhD program and his research interests are principally in biodegradation processes using stoichiometric constraints. In his spare time he enjoys cooking mexican cuisine, and finding peaceful sites surrounded by nature. He can often be found biking around the city early in the morning.

Neha Sharma, Stats/Math Finance Representative

Neha is a third year PhD Student in Mathematical Finance, working on Ornstein Uhlenbeck type process with underlying Levy type process. In her leisure time she likes to paint, spend time with her friends and travel.

Alain Gervais, GSA Representative

Alain is a 4th year PhD student in Applied Mathematics studying internal gravity waves, which propagate within fluids such as Earth's oceans and atmosphere. Outside of research, he enjoys cooking (especially spicy cuisine), hiking/camping, and listening to music (mostly rock and metal).

Adam Rhodes, Webmaster

Adam is a PhD student in Applied Mathematics. His research is focused on the development and analysis of models for cancer growth and spread. When he is not in his office, he can be found exploring the river valley by foot, cycle, or paddle. He is not the biggest fan of illeism ...