Prize History

Citation

Dr. Yongjie Jessica Zhang is a distinguished scholar renowned for her pioneering work in computational geometry and finite element methods, with profound impacts across biomedical and engineering applications. As a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, she has advanced meshing techniques that enable precise simulations in complex domains that appear in medical imaging and biological modeling. Dr. Zhang's innovative research on isogeometric analysis has set new standards in numerical accuracy and computational efficiency. Her numerous publications, leadership roles, and accolades, including her status as a fellow of several scientific societies, underscore her dedication to advancing the field and inspiring the next generation of computational scientists.

Selection Committee

• Alina Chertock (Chair)
• Claudia Falcon
• Judith Hill
• Noemi Petra

Citation

Professor Sunčica Čanić is a highly influential applied mathematician working in modeling, analysis, and computations of partial differential equations. She has made profound contributions across a wide spectrum of mathematics, ranging from mathematical analysis of complex physical phenomena, designing new numerical methods, proving their convergence, testing them in rigorous environments, and then applying these workhorse tools to highly practical problems of breakthrough practical importance.

Selection Committee

• Fioralba Cakoni (Chair)
• Alina Chertock
• Judith Hill
• Andrea R. Nahmod

Citation

Professor Annalisa Buffa is among the most influential applied mathematicians of her generation; she has made pioneering contributions to modelling electromagnetism in non-smooth spaces, numerical methods in electromagnetics and beyond, as well optimizing the design-through analysis process. These results are of seminal importance as they impact engineering applications and industrial mathematics, as well as offer deep contributions to the development and analysis of numerical methods in their own right.

Selection Committee

• Rosemary Renaut (Chair)
• Fioralba Cakoni
• Andrea R. Nahmod
• Jennifer Ryan

Citation

Professor Anne Greenbaum has had a long lasting and significant impact on many aspects of numerical linear algebra. She was one of the original developers of the LAPACK software that has been a workhorse of scientific computing for several decades. She is an expert in the mathematical behavior of iterative methods and an author of highly respected books on the subject. She is a dedicated and effective teacher and mentor. Professor Greenbaum solved many fundamental problems in convergence theory for linear systems and eigenvalue problems, non-normal matrices and functions of matrices.

Selection Committee

• Malgorzata Peszynska (Chair)
• Rosemary Renaut
• Jennifer Ryan
• Mayya Tokman

Citation

The 2021 AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture is awarded to Vivette Girault for being an outstanding numerical analyst with a long and distinguished career, who continues to have both deep and broad impact on computational science. Her work in finite element methods, computational fluid dynamics and mechanics is widely known and has been highly cited. The letters in support of this nomination suggest that what sets Professor Girault apart from others is her "uncompromising attitude towards making sure that she fully understands the underlying physics of the problems she works on", and this assessment explains her broad influence within as well as outside numerical analysis. Professor Girault has also been a fantastic mentor and role model for many junior mathematicians, being" quick-witted, rigorous, and excellent, with a radiant and humble personality".

Selection Committee

• Malgorzata Peszynska (Chair)
• Linda Allen
• Susanne Brenner
• Mayya Tokman

Citation

Bonnie Berger has an outstanding record of research contributions in the area of computational biology which have furthered our understanding of the structure of proteins and the genome. Berger's work is characterized by its successful interdisciplinarity and mathematical depth. In addition to theoretical and algorithmic contributions, she has contributed significantly to the rapid advancement of the fields of systems biology and genomics by her numerous software developments, which are widely used by researchers in other disciplines. Her work has received, and continues to receive, numerous accolades and national and international awards. In addition to being a highly accomplished research leader in bioinformatics and computational biology, Berger has an enviable record of mentorship of young investigators and service to the profession. Her intellectual impact is multifaceted and far-reaching.

Selection Committee

• Susanne Brenner (Chair)
• Linda Allen
• Nilima Nigam
• Malgorzata Peszynska

Citation

The 2019 AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture is awarded to Catherine Sulem for her contributions in the area of nonlinear analysis and partial differential equations, specializing on the topic of singularity development in solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS), on the problem of free surface water waves, and on Hamiltonian partial differential equations. Her book on the NLS is the central and most highly cited reference monograph in the field. Her continuing work on the problem of water waves, their time evolution, and their approximation by model dispersive equations is opening new territory, both in studies of wave propagation and in the analysis of the Euler equations.

Selection Committee

• Heike Fassbender (Chair)
• Nilima Nigam
• Yuriko Renardy
• Susanne Brenner

Citation

The 2018 AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture is awarded to Eva Tardos for her distinguished scientific contributions to the efficient methods for combinatorial optimization problems on graphs and networks, and her work on issues at the interface of computing and economics.

Selection Committee

• Irene Gamba (Chair)
• Heike Fassbender
• Helen Moore
• Yuriko Renardy

Citation

The 2017 AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture is awarded to Liliana Borcea for distinguished scientific contributions to the mathematical and numerical analysis of wave propagation in random media, array imaging in complex environments, and inverse problems in high-contrast electrical impedance tomography, as well as model reduction techniques for parabolic and hyperbolic partial differential equations.

Citation

The 2016 AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture is awarded to Lisa J. Fauci for pioneering contributions to mathematical and computational modeling of aquatic locomotion, microorganism motility, and fluid dynamics of human reproduction. Her career combines rigorous asymptotic analysis and biological data to validate computational models, a history of service to the community, and a lasting legacy of mentoring early career scientists.

Citation

The 2015 AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture is awarded to Linda J. S. Allen for outstanding contributions in ordinary differential equations, difference equations and stochastic models, with significant applications in the areas of infectious diseases and ecology.

2014 Irene M. Gamba

Citation

The 2014 AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture is awarded to Irene M. Gamba for her significant contributions to analytical and numerical methods for statistical transport problems in complex particle systems. Professor Gamba also has an outstanding record of service to the applied mathematics community, including serving on scientific, policy, and editorial committees and boards and training postdocs and graduate students, including women applied mathematicians.

2013 Margaret Cheney

Citation

Margaret Cheney has spear-headed a broad line of research that is coupling disparate radar solutions in ways previously unrecognized. Her application of Microlocal Analysis to high-frequency radar scattering — a method largely unknown to the radar community — has proven to be especially relevant to the problems of radar target detection, tracking, and imaging. Using these tools, she has shown how the essential behavior of a wide variety of radar scattering scenarios can be isolated from secondary phenomena. Moreover, her unconventional approach has developed solutions to several longstanding problems in radar imaging that have heretofore defied complete analysis. In this way, Professor Cheney has demonstrated how a class of important issues in modern radar can finally be addressed.

2012 Barbara Lee Keyfitz

Citation

Barbara Keyfitz, the Dr. Charles Saltzer Professor of Mathematics at the Ohio State University, has made pioneering and seminal contributions to the field of hyperbolic conservation laws. In collaboration with Herbert Kranzer, she introduced the novel and important notion of singular (also called delta) shocks, and made the original study of their properties. Furthermore, her research group spearheaded the revival of the rigorous treatment of transonic gas flow, now a very active research area. Important applications of her work include aerodynamics and multiphase flow models in porous media. Professor Keyfitz also has an outstanding record of national and international professional service in the mathematical community, and as a leader and mentor of future generations of mathematicians. Her numerous roles include serving as AWM President and as a Vice President of SIAM, as Director of the Fields Institute of Canada, and she is the current President of ICIAM (the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics). AWM and SIAM are honored that Professor Barbara Keyfitz will deliver the 2012 Sonia Kovalevsky.

2011 Susanne C. Brenner

2010 Suzanne Lenhart

2009 Andrea Bertozzi

2008 Dianne O'Leary

2007 Lai-Sang Young

2006 Irene Fonseca

2005 Ingrid Daubechies

2004 Joyce R. McLaughlin

2003 Linda R. Petzold