Siddhartha Mishra, ETH Zurich, is the 2021 Germund Dahlquist Prize recipient; the award was delayed due to the conference being postponed to 2022. The prize was announced on Monday, July 25 at the 2022 International Conference on Scientific Computation and Differential Equations (SciCADE), in Reykjavík, Iceland; Mishra gave a talk associated with the prize on Monday evening.
Mishra received the award for his outstanding contributions to the theory of numerical methods for nonlinear hyperbolic conservation and balance laws, and their application to problems in physics.
The prize was established in 1995 and named in honor of Germund Dahlquist for his early contributions to the theory of numerical analysis as applied to differential equations. It is awarded every two years to one individual for original contributions to numerical solution of differential equations and numerical methods for scientific computing.
Mishra is currently a professor for applied mathematics at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He was born in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India in 1980 and received his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Physics from Utkal University. He obtained masters' and PhD degrees in mathematics from the Indian Institute of Science and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India. After a postdoctoral stint at the University of Oslo, Norway, Mishra moved to Zurich in 2009.
Mishra's research interests are in the areas of numerical analysis, scientific computing, nonlinear PDEs, computational fluid and plasma dynamics, computational geosciences, and in machine learning. His work on the design and analysis of efficient numerical methods for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, their implementation on state-of-the-art HPC platforms, and applications in science and engineering have been recognized by many awards and honors. These include European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (2012), Richard von Mises prize (2015), ERC Consolidator Grant (2017), Jacques Louis Lions Award (2018), Collatz Prize (2019), and Infosys Prize (2019). He has also been an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians (2018).
Q: Why are you excited to receive the Germund Dahlquist Prize?
A: I am really excited to receive the Germund Dahlquist Prize for 2021. This is a very prestigious award in the areas of numerical analysis and scientific computing, and the list of previous prize winners is very distinguished. I am delighted that my contributions and the work of my research group has been recognized by this award.
Q: Could you tell us a bit about the research that won you the prize?
A: A large part of my research program is focused on the design and analysis of efficient numerical methods for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. These nonlinear PDEs arise in many different contexts, particularly in fluid dynamics, and their solutions are quite complicated as they include shock waves and turbulent flow at multiple scales. We obtained some first rigorous results on numerical algorithms approximating these PDEs; for instance, the design of structure preserving discretizations such as high-order finite volume and DG entropy stable schemes, well-balanced schemes, and algorithms, which can accurately approximate small-scale dependent shock waves. Moreover, we showed convergence of some of these schemes to generalized solution frameworks such as measure-valued and statistical solutions. This research was highlighted by the prize committee in its citation.
Q: What does your work mean to the public?
A: The design of efficient algorithms for the class of nonlinear PDEs that I work on has major implications in many different fields ranging from the design of more efficient aircrafts to more robust predictions of the global climate. Hence, this work can lead to advances in many fields in science and engineering, making it useful for our society.
Q: What does being a SIAM member mean to you?
A: Being a SIAM member provides me with the opportunity to connect with many of my colleagues and students worldwide, and to be a part of a community that works at the forefront of trying address interesting problems in science with mathematical and computational methods. Participating in SIAM activities and conferences, as well as editing and publishing in SIAM journals has been a source of great pleasure.