Congratulations to the following members of the SIAM community who will receive awards throughout the month of June. Additional information about each recipient, including a Q&A, can be found below!
Matthew Kwan - Dénes König Prize
Matthew Kwan of Stanford University has been awarded the 2020 Dénes König Prize. The award recognizes Kwan for his paper, “Proof of a conjecture on induced subgraphs of Ramsey graphs,” Transactions of the American Mathematical Society (2019), and for his contributions to establishing the “richness” of Ramsey graphs.
The SIAM Activity Group on Discrete Mathematics (SIAG/DM) awards the Dénes König Prize every two years to an individual in their early career for outstanding research contributions in an area of discrete mathematics. The candidate’s work must contain significant research contributions and a key paper representing this work must have been published in English in a peer-reviewed journal in the three calendar years prior to the award year. The candidate must be a graduate student or, at the time of the award, be within four calendar years after completing their PhD. The committee may consider exceptions to the four-years-from-PhD rule for career interruptions or delays occurring, e.g., for child bearing, child rearing, or elder care.
Matthew Kwan is currently a Szegő Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Stanford University. After completing a BS degree at the University of New South Wales in his home country of Australia, he earned his PhD in mathematics from ETH Zürich under the supervision of Benny Sudakov. His research interests fall broadly under the umbrellas of probability, combinatorics and graph theory.
Q: Why are you excited to receive the Dénes König Prize?
A: It is a great honor to be awarded the König Prize and to have my research with Benny Sudakov recognized among the brilliant work of the previous awardees. I’m excited to continue working in the field!
Q: Could you tell us a bit about the research that won you the prize?
A: My paper, “Proof of a conjecture on induced subgraphs of Ramsey graphs,” with Benny Sudakov answers an old question posed by Paul Erdős, Ralph Faudree, and Vera Sós concerning Ramsey graphs, graphs which are in a certain sense “maximally disordered.” Despite their important role in graph theory and computer science, Ramsey graphs remain poorly understood, and our work represents a step towards greater understanding of their properties.
Q: What does your work mean to the public?
A: Many aspects of our world can be described or modelled by graphs: for example, transportation networks, our brain’s neural network, or the internet. Theoretical research on graphs underpins the work of many scientists and engineers working in these fields. In addition, a major theme in my research is the interaction between probability and combinatorics. Previous work in this direction has led to important ideas that are intimately connected with the design and analysis of algorithms.
Q: What does participation in SIAM mean to you?
A: I have been enthusiastically attending SIAM conferences and publishing in SIAM journals since the start of my doctoral studies. In particular, the SIAM Conference on Discrete Mathematics has consistently been an excellent opportunity to meet, learn and collaborate with other researchers in my own and adjacent fields.
Christopher K. R. T. Jones - SIAM Activity Group on Mathematics of Planet Earth Prize
Christopher K. R. T. Jones of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the recipient of the 2020 SIAM Activity Group on Mathematics of Planet Earth Prize. The award recognizes him for his leadership in engaging mathematicians in climate research, and for fundamental research contributions to Lagrangian data assimilation.
This is the first award of this new prize. The SIAM Activity Group on Mathematics of Planet Earth (SIAG/MPE) will award the SIAG/MPE Prize at its biennial conference.
The SIAG/MPE Prize is awarded every two years to one individual for significant scientific work in topic areas that are relevant to the mathematics of planet earth or for sustained or seminal contributions to the broad scientific agenda of SIAG/MPE. The award may be given to any scientist who has held a PhD or equivalent degree for at least five years. The award can be received only once in a lifetime.
Mathematics of Planet Earth activities incorporate a broad range of disciplines and involve a diverse, international group of researchers. Nominations for the prize should reflect the composition of this scientific community and reward excellent work on this broad research agenda. Thus, the scientific record of the candidates should show a history of resolving complex MPE problems through interdisciplinary research, unique synergistic contributions to the field, or sustained or seminal contributions that advance the mathematical and scientific knowledge base of Planet Earth applications. One particular effort, such as a seminal paper, sustained success in training and mentoring junior researchers, or unique synergistic activities must be cited as evidence of the contributions. Preferably, the effort should have occurred within the ten calendar years preceding the award year. The committee may consider exceptions to this timeframe, for career interruptions or delays occurring, e.g., for child bearing, child rearing, or elder care.
Christopher K.R.T. Jones is the Bill Guthridge Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his PhD in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1979, and, prior to joining UNC-Chapel Hill, was a Professor of Applied Mathematics at Brown University for thirteen years. The main thrust of his research is the use of dynamical systems as a tool for solving problems that originate in applications; in particular the use of dynamical systems methods in the study of nonlinear wave motion in neuroscience and optics, ocean dynamics and, more recently, climate. Jones’s recent work has included contributions to the area of Data Assimilation, with a particular focus on assimilating data in ocean and sea-ice models. He is currently Director of the Mathematics and Climate Research Network (MCRN). He is a Fellow of SIAM, and he received the SIAM Activity Group on Nonlinear Waves and Coherent Structures (SIAG/NWCS) Martin Kruskal Lecture Prize in 2016.
Q: Why are you excited to be awarded the SIAG/MPE Prize?
A: I have devoted considerable effort for more than ten years toward promoting the mathematics of climate as an area of research. This is great vindication that I have been doing the right thing!
Q: Could you tell us a bit about the research that won you the prize?
A: I have worked on data assimilation for two decades and my work is known for a methodology that optimizes the assimilation of Lagrangian data, which I developed with Kayo Ide (University of Maryland, US). These are data that come from instruments moving with the underlying fluid flow, say the ocean. This is a natural area for somebody like me who comes from dynamical systems. Interestingly, it has led to my thinking about data assimilation for Arctic sea ice modeling as the next generation models have a Lagrangian aspect, which is a joint effort with Alberto Carrassi (University of Reading, UK) and others.
Nevertheless, I believe I was awarded this prize as much for my leadership as my research. With a number of other colleagues, I started the Mathematics and Climate Research Network in 2010. It has been funded in some form or another since then by NSF. We currently run year-long engagement programs for undergrad and grad students to get involved in climate mathematics. The program involves weekly online group meetings and a face-to-face summer or winter school. As part of this, I promote work on reduced (conceptual) models of climate processes. I am particularly proud of the work on El Niño spearheaded by my former student, Andrew Roberts. This appears in a joint paper with Andrew Roberts, John Guckenheimer, Esther Widiasih, and Alex Timmerman in Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences (2016). In that paper, we exposed a structure of mixed-mode oscillations in a particularly relevant singular limit. The “mixed” modes can be viewed as related to the different modes of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, namely the big and small “El Niño’s.”
Q: What does your research mean to the public?
A: Many climate indices are changing at an alarmingly rapid rate: concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, globally averaged surface temperature, Arctic sea ice loss, etc. One question we need to ask is whether there are consequences that will result from this rapidity, rather than just the exceeding of thresholds. We know the danger of abrupt transitions, for instance: the Greenland ice-sheet and sea level rise, the opening of methane clathrates and the increase of methane (a greenhouse gas) in the atmosphere, deforestation and the decrease of CO2 absorption. But these are usually viewed in terms of bifurcation-induced tipping.
In my talk at MPE20, I will discuss a recently understood phenomenon of rate-induced tipping which is highly relevant to this issue. This is, to a great extent, due to the work of Sebastian Wieczorek (University College Cork, Ireland), and I have had the privilege recently of working with him on the underlying mathematics. This is an aspect of climate change that is important to understand as we, the public, our businesses and our governments, make plans for the mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its inevitable impacts. It is my contention that the impacts of rate-induced tipping can only be understood through a dynamical systems analysis of reduced models and it will be hard, if not impossible, to anticipate these potentially abrupt transitions in the big climate models that are the bread-and-butter of climate science.
Q: What does being a SIAM member mean to you?
A: SIAM has provided me a context for research for three decades. I particularly appreciate the way SIAM is able to build and promote new areas through its activity groups, and I am deeply honored to have been recognized by two of these groups (SIAG/NWCS and SIAG/MPE) for my contributions.
Kevin Hannay - SIAM Activity Group on Life Sciences Early Career Prize
Kevin Hannay of Schreiner University has been awarded the 2020 SIAM Activity Group on Life Sciences Early Career Prize. The award recognizes him for his major advancement of coupled oscillator systems through identification of a new macroscopic reduction that captures properties of phase distributions observed in experimental data.
The l Early Career Prize is awarded every two years to one individual in their early career for distinguished research contributions in the field of mathematics applied to the life sciences. One key paper must be cited as evidence of the contribution. The qualifying key paper must have been published in English in a peer-reviewed journal or conference proceedings in the three calendar years preceding the award year and no more than three calendar years later than the year the candidate received their PhD. The committee may consider exceptions to the three-years-from PhD rule, for career interruptions or delays occurring, e.g., for child bearing, child rearing, or elder care.
Kevin M. Hannay is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas. He studied at the University of Texas at Austin as an undergraduate, earning BS degrees in both mathematics and biology. He did his doctoral work in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Michigan under the guidance of Danny Forger and Victoria Booth. His doctoral thesis was selected for his department’s Peter Smereka Thesis Award in 2018. His current research focuses on developing low-dimensional models for coupled oscillator systems with applications to human circadian rhythms and sleep.
Q: Why are you excited about winning this prize?
A: I am thrilled to have been selected to receive the SIAM Activity Group on the Life Sciences Early Career Prize! I am deeply indebted to my advisors and collaborators without whom this work would not have been possible. I'm also thankful to the wonderful community of mathematical biologists in SIAM for their support and encouragement.
Q: Could you tell us a bit about the research that won you the prize?
A: Much of my work has focused on developing mathematical techniques to reduce detailed high-dimensional models for oscillating systems to low dimensional "macroscopic" models. Coupled oscillator theory provides a selection of elegant reduction techniques dating back through the entire history of the field. However, in my work we make use of biological data to isolate a low-dimensional relationship which can be exploited to reduce a wide-class of biological oscillator systems.
Q: What does your research mean to the public?
A: The application of my reduction techniques to study human daily (circadian) rhythms provides an exciting direction. I have recently derived some low-dimensional models for human circadian rhythms and fit them to experimental data. These models can be used to predict the disruption of circadian rhythms that occur during a jet-lagged trip or shift work rotations. My hope is that these models can be used to guide light-based therapies for circadian and sleep disorders.
Q: What does participation in SIAM mean to you?
A: SIAM has provided a supportive and collaborative backdrop for me to develop and share my ideas and learn from my colleagues. I always leave a SIAM conference feeling stimulated and inspired to push forward as an applied mathematician and teacher.