About me
Hi, I’m Sherry Zhou. Teaching Professor and Data Scientist.
Sherry Pei-Yuan Zhou earned her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computing from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Hong Kong, in 2011 and 2016, respectively, and an M.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada, in 2020.
She is currently a faculty member at Conestoga College in the School of Applied Computer Science & Information Technology (ACSIT), and a Research Associate in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
Her research focuses on healthcare data analysis, financial big data analytics, temporal pattern analysis, deep knowledge mining, and pattern discovery.
FIND WITH ME
Teaching
Conestoga College:
- MATH71010: Linear Algebra and Discrete Mathematics
- STAT72000: Probability and Statistics
- PROG8430: Data Analysis, Mathematics, Algorithms and Modeling
- PROG73030: Algorithm of Analysis
University of Waterloo:
- SYDE675: Pattern Recognition
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- COMP6833: Advanced Topics in Data Analytics
- COMP406: Artificial Intelligent
- COMP206: Mathematics.
Publications
My Publications
Awards
07/2017
Best Paper Award in The 13th International Conference on Data Mining
DMIN’ 17
06/2015
Best Presenter in Computing Annual Research Day in the Department of Computing
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
08/2014
Best Presenter
IBM CRL
09/2014
PolyU Micro Fund for Entrepreneurship (HKD100,000)
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
09/2014 – 08/2016
Studentship Award (HKD 40,000/year)
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
11/2013
Student Scholarship
IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (BIBM2013)
11/2013
Alan Turing Entrance Scholarship (HKD8,000)
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
06/2010
The Special Contribution Award of the University
Macau University of Science and Technology
11/2009
The Second Prize
Contemporary Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling (CUMCM)
Organizer: CSIAM
09/2006 – 06/2010
Dean’s List (8 terms total)
Macau University of Science and Technology
09/2006 – 06/2010
Dean’s Scholarship for Top 3 students (MOP40,000 per year for four years)
Macau University of Science and Technology
Certificates
12/2018
Certificate of Completion of Expectations Teaching Assistant Workshop
University of Waterloo
09/2014
Certificate of Becoming an Effective Teaching Assistant Workshop
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
12/2018
Certificate of Completion of Introduction to University Teaching (IUT) Workshop
University of Waterloo
12/2013
Certificate of Online Course “An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python”
Rice University through Coursera
11/2013
Certificate of Online Course “Writing in the Sciences” (with distinction)
Stanford Online OpenEdx
15+ YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
My RESUME
2011 – 2020
Education Quality
PhD in Computing Department
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
(2012-2016)
3.9/4
Thesis: Pattern Discovery from Multivariate Time Series Data
MASc in
System Design Engineering Department
University of Waterloo (2018 – 2020)
95/100
Thesis: Pattern Discovery and Disentanglement for Clinical Data Analysis
MSc in Computing Department
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
With Distinguish (2011-2012)
3.7/4
Thesis: Time Series Clustering with Applications in Stock Market Analysis
2016 – 2026
Teaching and Research Experience
Faculty Member and RA
Conestoga College (2023 – now)
University of Waterloo – (2020 – 2023)
CANADA
Research Topics:
Pattern Discovery and Disentanglement (PDD)
Interpretable Machine Learning
Teaching Assistant and RA
Computing Department (2012-2020)
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
HONG KONG
Research Topic: Big Data Analysis
Pattern Discovery from Multivariate Time Series
Post Analysis of Pattern Discovery
IBM CRL Internship
IBM China Research Lab – (2014)
CHINA
Research Topic: Event-based Time Series Analysis
Students Feedback
What Students Say
Master Student
Tony JC Wang
Prof. Zhou has been an outstanding mentor as my co-supervisor and team lead since 2023. Her guidance is consistently prompt, detailed, and patient, reflecting both deep expertise and a constructive teaching style. Furthermore, her leadership and problem-solving skills are integral to our team’s productivity and efficiency. Above all, her exceptional work ethic is the trait I most admire and strive to emulate.
Undergraduate Student
Faith Lum
Professor Zhou is the best supervisor I’ve had throughout undergrad. She is brilliant with incredible insight and knowledge about mathematics, data mining, and pattern recognition. She is humble, patient, and kind – going above and beyond to invest in my growth as a researcher. She listens thoughtfully to questions and concerns before identifying the core problem and providing feedback that gets straight to the central issue. She efficiently guides our team in the right direction while considering our individual learning goals. She is always very well prepared, organized, and willing to help – spending countless hours of her own time to explain algorithms and answer questions. I’ve learned more from our research team than I have in the majority of the courses I’ve taken. It’s really special to meet mentors who are extremely competent, innovative, and organized but also care deeply about their students and make time to build them up. I greatly admire Professor Zhou and would not have been able to pursue our current research and publish without her support.
MATH71010-Linear Algebra and Discrete Mathematics
via Evaluation – 2026 Winter
- The menti meter that helps a lot as we all engage together as a class and see different answers or the same, which helps me learn
- I enjoy going through examples in class. It helps strengthen the lecture material being taught. The Mentimeter questions/quiz provide an interactive way to see if the class is understanding the material as well. It is helpful when we go through each answer and determine the correct one together as well.
- To be honest, I’m enjoying this course and the pace, the teaching method and the enviroment in the class is just perfect.
- The course was helpful and improved my logical thinking. The exercises supported my learning.
PROG73030-Analysis of Algorithms
via Evaluation – 2023 Spring
- Professor Zhou explains the concepts well. She has a very strong knowledge of the subject she is dealing with.
- The professor teaches in a good way, and is open to questions about the content
STAT72000-Probability and Statistics
via Evaluation – 2023 Winter
- Everything is good. I am satisfied with the professor’s teaching style.
- Great math teacher. Makes an effort to ensure that she is clear and that students have an understanding of taught material.
- Wonderful professor, lovely and professional!