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ICIAM Names Winners of Five 2011 Math Prizes

September 24, 2010 

The International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics has announced the winners of its five prizes for achievements in the practical uses of mathematics.

The prizes, awarded every four years, will be presented at the opening ceremony of the Council's meeting in Vancouver in July 2011.

Alexandre J. Chorin (University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), 72, will receive the Lagrange Prize, which honors mathematicians who have made exceptional contributions to applied mathematics throughout their careers. It carries a $3,000 honorarium.

Beginning with his pioneering work 40 years ago, Chorin developed some of the key mathematical and algorithmic ideas that underlie many of the most powerful computer codes in computational fluid dynamics. By performing careful numerical experiments along with theoretical convergence studies, Chorin placed the numerical solution of complex flow on a solid mathematical foundation.

James A. Sethian (UC Berkeley and head of LBNL's Mathematics Group), 56, will receive the Pioneer Prize for work introducing applied mathematical methods and scientific computing techniques to an industrial problem area or a new scientific field of applications. The prize carries a $1,000 award.

Sethian has displayed eagerness to learn thoroughly the engineering aspects of problems he works on, the accuracy and depth of his feeling for mathematical structure, and his broad mathematical knowledge, according to his citation. 

Emmanuel J. Candès (Stanford University and CalTech) will receive the Collatz Prize, which is awarded to scientists under 42 years of age for outstanding work on industrial and applied mathematics. His prize carries a $1,000 award.

Candès, who has served as a Ph.D. and postdoctoral adviser to aspiring mathematicians, displays mathematically sophisticated talent, reads his citation, and his work impacts widely ranged fields of application.

Vladimir Rokhlin (Yale University) will receive the Maxwell Prize for his work on fast multipole methods, which have revolutionized fields like numerical electromagnetism for radar and molecular dynamics for chemistry. His prize carries a $1,000 cash award.

Rokhlin's work on fast multipole methods has been cited as one of the ten algorithmic revolutions of the second half of the 20th century.

Edward Lungu (University of Botswana, in Gabarone) will receive the Su Buchin Prize, which recognizes significant applications of mathematics to emerging economies. It carries a cash award of $1,000. 

Lungu has played a fundamental role in the development of teaching methods and research in applied mathematics in Southern Africa. He founded the Southern Africa Mathematical Sciences Association and the Millennium Initiative

Source: ICIAM; redOrbit (September 20, 2010)

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Start Date: 
Friday, September 24, 2010