WATERLOO, Canada, Nov 9, 2016 – Maplesoft announced that James (Jim) Cooper, its president and CEO, has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo (UW). The University presented Cooper with a doctor of engineering degree at a recent graduation ceremony held at the university.
Cooper was recognized for his business and engineering leadership. His contributions as an engineer, during his time as CEO, have transformed Maplesoft into one of the world’s leading providers of mathematics-based software solutions for educators, engineers, and researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Maplesoft provides mathematical software engineering tools best suited to education and research, and to engineering modeling and simulation. A UW alumnus, Jim Cooper graduated on the Dean’s Honour list, in 1980, from the University of Waterloo’s Mechanical Engineering program. Jim entered his current position as CEO of Maplesoft in 2000, and in that time, Maplesoft has collaborated with UW on multiple research projects. Most notably, in 2009, the university was awarded the NSERC/TOYOTA/ Maplesoft Industrial Research Chair in Mathematics-Based Modeling and Design. Maplesoft and UW were later presented with the NSERC Synergy Award by the governor general of Canada. Currently, half of all employees at Maplesoft’s Waterloo headquarters are former UW graduates.
“Mr. Cooper has dedicated his career to improving the quality of university education and research through the development of software to perform symbolic mathematical calculations and engineering analyses and through continued support for our students, and our institution as a whole,” said Pearl Sullivan, dean of Engineering at the University of Waterloo. “We have worked closely with Jim for many years and he embodies the hard work, dedication and values that we align ourselves with at the University of Waterloo. We are proud to present him with this honorary degree.”
Addressing the new graduates at the University of Waterloo, Cooper urged them to use their abilities to drive real innovation and progress, making technology act as a full partner in finding new, novel solutions to problems. “Make technology act as a full partner … make it what it promised to be, a helper, an advocate, an intelligence to glean with, and not an adversary for your attention”. He asked them to use their abilities to “clear a path to better” and reminded them of the importance of surrounding themselves with people who will motivate and energize them in this world of endless online distractions. “Remember, travelling far is better than travelling fast. So, climb into your flying car, built for two or more and travel far…”
A video of Jim Cooper’s address to the graduating engineers at UW can be viewed here.
About James (Jim) Cooper
C. James “Jim” Cooper is CEO and president of Maplesoft; a company which he has successfully built into the world’s premier advanced mathematics, modeling and simulation software provider. He has devoted his professional career to uniting the engineering and mathematics perspectives into ground-breaking technology. This technology is used globally, in teaching, learning, and in advanced research and engineering. Cooper brings over two decades of experience in the corporate management of advanced technology business ventures, to his role at Maplesoft. He is a long-standing member of the Engineering.com board of directors, The Fields Institute board of directors, and the Perimeter Institute Leadership Council. Cooper graduated on the Dean’s honor list from the University of Waterloo in 1980 with a bachelor’s of engineering. Cooper started his professional career as a control engineer, developing advanced control systems for aircraft flight simulators.
About Maplesoft
Maplesoft provides mathematics-based software solutions to educators, engineers, and researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). For the past 25 years, Maplesoft’s flagship product, Maple, has combined the world’s most powerful mathematics engine with an interface that makes it extremely easy to analyze, explore, visualize, and solve mathematical problems. Building on this technology, the product line includes solutions for online assessment, system-level modeling and simulation, and online STEM courseware. Maplesoft products provide modern, innovative solutions to meet today’s challenges; from exploring math concepts on a smartphone to enabling a model-driven innovative approach for companies to reduce risk and bring high-quality products to market faster. Maplesoft products and services are used by more than 8000 educational institutions, research labs, and professional companies, in over 90 countries.
Maplesoft is a subsidiary of Cybernet Systems Group. For further details, please visit www.maplesoft.com.