This year’s recipients of the Dr. John and Barbara Petkau Scholarships are Xinpei Li and Huanqing (William) Wang.
Xinpei Li is entering third year in the double Honours program in Computer Science and Statistics. Xinpei has taken an impressive array of courses in both departments, all with stellar grades. Although entering third year, Xinpei is already within a few courses of being promoted to fourth year.
Huanqing (William) Wang is entering fourth year in the combined Honours Mathematics and Statistics Program, also receiving stellar grades in a string of very challenging courses. This past summer, he worked with Statistics Professor Harry Joe as an NSERC Researcher/Work Study student on a project called Prediction of Credit Ratings for Companies (a project within the Scotiabank-UBC Risk Analytics Initiative).
About the Dr. John and Barbara Petkau Scholarships
In 2016, John and Barbara Petkau endowed two scholarships to recognize the academic merit of the next generation of statisticians and the impact these statisticians will have on solving world problems. One scholarship is for a student entering third year, and the other is for a student entering fourth year.
John Petkau, a professor emeritus in the Department, has contributed in many ways to the Department and the discipline with his vision and leadership, statistical expertise, generosity of time, and his mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students. John’s wife, Barbara, deserves special thanks, for generously sharing John's time with us.
See a list of previous recipients of the scholarships here.