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Mathematics People

Wu Awarded 2019 Micius Quantum Prizes CAIMS-Fields Industrial The Micius Quantum Foundation has inaugurated the Micius Quantum Mathematics Prize Prize to recognize scientists who have made outstanding contributions in Jianhong Wu of York University has the field of quantum communica- been awarded the 2019 CAIMS-Fields tions, quantum simulation, quantum Industrial Mathematics Prize of the computation, and quantum metrol- Canadian Applied and Industrial ogy. The prizes for 2018 were awarded Mathematics Society (CAIMS) and in the area of quantum computation. the Fields Institute “in recognition of David Deutsch The awardees are David Deutsch his many contributions to dynamical of the University of Oxford “for his systems in mathematical epidemi- seminal conceptual contribution on ology and in particular his collab- quantum Turing machine and quan- Jianhong Wu orative research with public health tum algorithms”; Peter Shor of the professionals in government and Massachusetts Institute of Technol- industry: applying his expert knowledge to infectious dis- ogy “for his groundbreaking theoret- ease mitigation strategies and preparedness.” Wu received ical work on factoring algorithm and his PhD from Hunan University in 1987 and joined York quantum error correction”; and Juan University in 1990. His major research interests are nonlin- Ignacio Cirac of the Max Planck In- ear dynamics and delay differential equations, neural net- stitute of Quantum Optics and Peter works and pattern recognition, mathematical ecology and Peter Shor Zoller of the University of Innsbruck epidemiology, and big data analytics. Wu tells the Notices: “for their outstanding theoretical “I like all team sports in general, particularly basketball and contributions that enabled the scal- soccer. Whenever possible, during major training and pro- able implementations of quantum fessional events that I have organized, I coordinated efforts information processing such as quan- to facilitate team sport activities among all participants. I tum computation with trapped ions, have found these opportunities particularly useful to build quantum simulation with ultracold interdisciplinary and bilateral collaborations, especially atoms, and quantum repeaters.” The when participants come from different disciplines. Bringing prizes carry cash awards of 1 mil- diversified culture and scientific backgrounds together pro- lion Chinese yuan (approximately vides a great experience. For these reasons, I enjoy playing US$150,000). cards as well. I also enjoy gardening. I am very proud that Juan Ignacio Cirac my front garden has received multiple annual Outstanding —From a Micius Quantum Garden awards from the city (in Toronto).” Foundation announcement

—From a CAIMS-Fields announcement

Peter Zoller

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Award and both the Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence Mulholland Awarded and the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Pittsburgh. She has served on boards of PIMS Education Prize the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics and Jamie Mulholland of Simon Fraser the NCTM, as well as many committees and associations, University has been awarded the and was one of the foundational editors of the journal Math 2019 PIMS Education Prize of the Teacher Educator. With Mary Kay Stein, she authored the Pacific Institute of the Mathemati- book Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics cal Sciences “in recognition of his Discussion. important work on mathematics The citation for Stiff states: “Stiff's work is foundational outreach and popularization. With in providing and encouraging learning to students of color. Malgorzata Dubiel, he has organized Equity has played a major role in Dr. Stiff's work and re- a series of Student Math Camps and search, often speaking to this subject.” Stiff received his PhD in mathematics education in 1978 from the North Jamie Mulholland Math Camps for Teachers. In addi- tion, he has produced a large number Carolina State College of Education. He has served as the of high-quality video teaching resources that have been president of NCTM, as well as a member of and participant made available through YouTube, making his valuable in various committees and associations. His work “has work accessible to a broad audience.” Mulholland received positively impacted the quality of science and mathematics his PhD from the University of British Columbia. He has education for current and prospective teachers.” He is an received Excellence in Teaching awards from Simon Fraser advocate of including more technology in the learning and University and the Canadian Mathematical Society. He tells use of mathematics. Stiff received the Benjamin Banneker the Notices: “I'm married with two children and I spend the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 and the TODOS Iris vast majority of my spring and summer evenings/weekends M. Carl Leadership and Equity Award in 2017. on the baseball field coaching my kids’ teams. This is some- Lott’s citation states: “Through thing I look forward to doing every year. I try to maintain his years as a mathematician and an active lifestyle: snowboarding in the winter, stand-up educator, Dr. Lott has impacted many paddle boarding in the summer, and jiu jitsu all year long.” careers: providing support, advice, and direction to those around him.” —From a PIMS announcement Lott received his PhD in mathematics education from Georgia State Univer- sity in 1973. He has served as presi- NCTM Lifetime dent of NCTM and as vice president of the Montana Academy of Science, Johnny Lott Achievement Awards and he was a board member of the Montana Council of Teachers of Mathematics. He was also The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) professor of mathematics and of education at the University has selected three educators to receive Lifetime Achieve- of Mississippi. He has been the recipient of both the Dean ment Awards for 2019. They are Margaret (Peg) Smith of Preble Memorial Award and the Meritorious Service Award the University of Pittsburgh, Lee V. Stiff of North Carolina of the Montana Council of Teachers of Mathematics and State University, and Johnny Lott of the University of of the George and Jane Dennison Faculty Award from the Montana. University of Montana, and he has written and contributed According to the prize citation, to several books and authored a number of journal arti- Smith “has had a career thoroughly cles. Lott tells the Notices: “I have a few hobbies, including dedicated to mathematics and fur- painting watercolors (having taken ten classes since retire- thering the knowledge of other ed- ment), quilting (which began long before I retired and ucators.” She received her EdD in continue), writing short stories for my personal satisfaction, mathematics education from the working many hours every month for the Lafayette County University of Pittsburgh in 1995. Democratic Party in Mississippi as editor of the biweekly She has taught in New York, Ohio, newsletter (among other things), and cohosting a biweekly Michigan, and Pennsylvania, in ad- men's lunch group where progressive ideas are discussed.” dition to her service at the University Margaret Smith of Pittsburgh. She has been awarded —From NCTM announcements numerous grants in continuing education and mathematics research. Her awards include the Susan Loucks-Horsley

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and has provided support and mentoring to many junior Prizes of the ICA colleagues. Shuxing Li of Simon Fraser University and Alexander The Institute of and Its Applications (ICA) Bors of the University of Western Australia have been has awarded a number of prizes in 2019. awarded Kirkman Medals for excellent research by Fellows Kai-Uwe Schmidt of the University of Paderborn has or Associate Fellows of ICA early in their research careers. been awarded the Hall Medal, given for extensive quality The citation for Li reads in part: “Dr. Shuxing Li has made research with substantial international impact. The prize significant contributions on a number of central problems citation reads: “Dr. Kai-Uwe Schmidt has repeatedly made in algebraic coding theory, discrete geometry, combinato- outstanding contributions concerning algebraic, analytic, rial design theory, and information theory. He applies deep and probabilistic techniques for combinatorial problems theory and powerful tools to answer fundamental ques- in coding theory and cryptography. He has published about tions, not only in combinatorics but also in practical digital forty papers in the best journals, covering a substantial communications applications such as coding, compressed breadth. The hallmark of Dr. Schmidt’s research is the sensing, and energy minimization.” The citation for Bors development of novel, fundamental theory that addresses reads in part: “Dr. Alexander Bors has made outstanding practical applications. In particular, his research on merit contributions to the understanding of combinatorial and factor, exceptional polynomials, configurations in finite quantitative problems on finite groups. He addresses fun- projective planes, and vector spaces over finite fields have damental theoretical questions, some of which are moti- all been influential in developing deep theory for practi- vated by practical applications. He seeks characterizations cal problems. Dr. Schmidt is increasingly recognized as a that support efficient algorithmic decidability.” leader in his field through invitations to speak at numerous Robin Wilson of Open University has been awarded international conferences and to join prestigious editorial the Stanton Medal for significant lifetime contributions boards.” to promoting the discipline of combinatorics. The prize Fan Chung of the University of California, San Diego, citation reads: “Dr. Robin Wilson has, for fifty years, been and Dieter Jungnickel of Augsburg University have been an outstanding ambassador for graph theory to the general awarded the Euler Medals for distinguished lifetime career public. He has lectured widely (giving some 1,500 public contributions to combinatorial research. The prize citation lectures), and extended the reach of his lectures through for Chung states: “Fan Chung has conducted research across television, radio, and videotape. He has also published a wide range of problems in theoretical and applied com- extensively (authoring or editing some forty books) on binatorics. Chung has been a role model and ambassador combinatorial ideas, written in a style that is engaging and for combinatorics throughout her distinguished career.” accessible. He has provided direction, encouragement, and Chung received her PhD from the University of Penn- support to colleagues and students at all levels. His superb sylvania in 1974. She has published around 275 papers, talents at conveying the beauty of graph-theoretic ideas and principally in graph theory, algorithm analysis, probability, inviting his readers and listeners to join in have enthused communications networks, and computation. Her awards many students, teachers, and researchers. Professor Wil- and honors include the Allendoerfer Award of the Mathe- son’s advocacy and outreach for combinatorics continue to matical Association of America (1990), the AMS Noether yield many positive impacts that are enjoyed by researchers Lectureship in 2009, and an invited plenary address at the and nonspecialists alike.” International Congress of Mathematicians in 1994. She is Carsten Thomassen of the Technical University of Den- a Fellow of the AMS and the Society for Industrial and Ap- mark was named an honorary fellow for his preeminent plied Mathematics (SIAM) and a member of the American contributions to combinatorics and its applications. The Academy of Arts and Sciences. The citation for Jungnickel citation names him “one of the most influential graph states: “Dieter Jungnickel’s research contributions span a theorists of our time.” He was a founding fellow of the very broad range of areas of and are ICA and a council member from 1990 through 2015. He characterized by his constant efforts to explore connections is coauthor with B. Mohar of the book Graphs on Surfaces among topics.” He received his PhD from the Free Univer- and has been editor in chief of the Journal of Graph Theory sity of Berlin in 1976 and has published more than 200 since 1989. He has served on editorial boards of a number research papers in design theory, coding theory, difference of combinatorics journals. He was an invited speaker at sets, finite fields, , operations research, and the International Congress of Mathematicians in Kyoto group theory. With Thomas Beth and , he in 1990 and received the Lester R. Ford Award from the authored the two-volume book Design Theory. He is edi- Mathematical Association of America in 1993. tor-in-chief of the journal Designs, Codes and Cryptography. The Institute of Combinatorics and Its Applications was He has organized numerous conferences and workshops established in 1990 for the purpose of promoting the devel-

August 2019 Notices of the American Mathematical Society 1169 Mathematics People NEWS opment of combinatorics and of encouraging publications The Challenge Champions Team Prize of US$20,000 and conferences in combinatorics and its applications. in scholarship money was awarded to a team from High Technology High School, Lincroft, New Jersey. The team —From ICA announcements members were Eric Chai, Gustav Hansen, Emily Jiang, Kyle Lui, and Jason Yan. They were coached by Raymond Eng. Vybíral Awarded The First Runner-Up Team Prize of US$15,000 in scholarship money was awarded to a team from Richard Traub Prize in IBC Montgomery High School, Rockville, Maryland. The team members were Matt Kolodner, Clarissa Xia, Jack Yang, Jan Vybíral of Czech Technical University has been named Laura Yao, and Lauren Zhou. They were coached by Matt the recipient of the Joseph F. Traub Prize for Achievement Davis. in Information-Based Complexity for 2019. He will receive The Third Place Team Prize of US$10,000 in scholarship a cash award of US$3,000 and a plaque, to be given at money was awarded to a team from Nicolet High School, the Dagstuhl Seminar on Algorithms and Complexity for Glendale, Wisconsin. The team members were Zach God- Continuous Problems in August 2019. kin, Gabe Guralnick, Savir Maskara, and Ryan Morton- son. Their coach was Mike Weidner. —Joseph F. Traub Prize Committee announcement Finalist Team Prizes of US$5,000 in scholarship money were awarded to three teams. The team from the Academy for Science and Design in Nashua, New Hampshire, con- National Academy sisted of Denver Blake, Daniel Bujno, Ian Coolidge, Fred- erick Lee, and Nathan Yeung; they were coached by Karen of Sciences Elections Legault. The team from Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, consisted of Matthew Jalnos, Joey Ten individuals in the mathematical sciences are among Rivkin, Tony Tan, Joshua Tsai, and Angela Zhang, and the 125 new members and foreign associates elected to the their coach was Paul Kim. The team from Wayzata High National Academy of Sciences (NAS). They are: School in Plymouth, Minnesota, consisted of Amanda •• Christopher S. Bretherton, University of Wash- Chan, George Lyu, Zachary Xiong, Caroline Zeng, and ington Alisha Zhu; they were coached by William Skerbitz. •• Russel E. Caflisch, Courant Institute of Mathemat- The M3 Challenge invites teams of high school juniors ical Sciences, New York University and seniors to solve an open-ended, realistic, challeng- •• Jennifer T. Chayes, Microsoft Research ing modeling problem focused on real-world issues. The •• Bryna Rebekah Kra, Northwestern University top five teams receive awards ranging from US$5,000 to •• Kathryn Roeder, Carnegie Mellon University US$20,000 in scholarship money. The competition is spon- •• Scott J. Shenker, University of California, Berkeley sored by MathWorks, a developer of computing software •• Barry Simon, California Institute of Technology for engineers and scientists, and is organized by the Society •• Karen E. Smith, University of Michigan for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Elected as Foreign Associates were Artur Avila, Zurich University, and David Harel, Weizmann Institute of Sci- —From a MathWorks/SIAM announcement ence. Caflisch, Chayes, Kra, and Simon are members of the Credits Inaugural Class of AMS Fellows. Photo of Jianhong Wu is courtesy of the Faculty of Sciences, York University. —From an NAS announcement Photo of David Deutsch is courtesy of Lulie Tanett. Photo of Peter Shor is courtesy of Charles H. Bennett. Photo of Juan Ignacio Cirac is courtesy of Thorsten Naeser. Photo of Peter Zoller is courtesy of IQOQI/M. Knabl. MathWorks Math Modeling Photo of Jamie Mulholland is courtesy of Dale Northey. Photo of Margaret Smith is courtesy of Margaret Smith. (M3) Challenge Photo of Johnny Lott is courtesy of Bailey Swearingen.

The 2019 MathWorks Math Modeling (M3) Challenge (formerly the Moody’s Mega Math Challenge) was held in New York City on April 29, 2019. This year’s challenge was to use mathematical modeling to recommend solutions to the spread of substance abuse in the United States.

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