Student mathematician wins NSERC's André Hamer Prize

Christopher van Bommel, a master's student in mathematics and statistics, has won an NSERC 2013 Andr&e#180; Hamer Postgraduate Prize from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Valued at $10,000 each, the prize is awarded to five of the most outstanding candidates in NSERC's master's and doctoral scholarship competitions. Van Bommel's thesis research is addressing knowledge gaps in combinatorial design theory, a basic science that underpins the statistical experiments, algorithms and codes used to design puzzles, networks, cryptography, drug trials and lotteries.