James H. Wilkinson Prize

Lek-Heng Lim has been awarded the James H. Wilkinson Prize in Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing. He was educated at Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, Cornell University, and the National University of Singapore. Lim was a Morrey Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley and thereafter an assistant professor at the University of Chicago. He has received an AFOSR Young Investigator Award, a DARPA Young Faculty Award, an NSF Faculty Early Career Award, a Smale Prize from the Foundations of Computational Mathematics Society, and a Director’s Fellowship from DARPA.

“Looking at the list of past winners, I am deeply honored and humbled that the prize committee decided I belong on this list,” Lim said. “SIAM President Nick Higham’s email informing me of the prize came as a very pleasant surprise. I am extremely grateful to the people who kindly nominated me.” 

Lim went on to describe an aspect of his research related to real-world application. “In joint work with Thomas Schultz, an exceptionally talented computer/neuroscientist in Bonn, we figured out a way to get high-resolution 3D images of neural fibers in the human brain from diffusion MRI measurements,” Lim said. “Among other things, mapping major bundles of neural fibers in the human brain is vitally important in neurosurgical planning.”

Lim will present the James H. Wilkinson Prize in Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing Lecture, “Tensors in Computational Mathematics,” on Wednesday, July 12, from 3:00-3:30 p.m. in the David Lawrence Convention Center (room Spirit of Pittsburgh A – 3rd Floor) as part of the 2017 SIAM Annual Meeting to be held in Pittsburgh, Pa., from July 10-14. He will receive his prize at the Prizes and Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, July 11 at the Allegheny Ballroom of the Westin Hotel. All other major SIAM prizes will also be awarded at the luncheon.