Florida State University Professor Max Gunzburger will receive a prestigious mathematics prize in recognition of his work in computational mathematics and developing mathematical models of science and engineering problems.
Gunzburger, a Francis Eppes Professor and director of the School of Computational Science, will receive the W.T. and Idalia Reid Prize in Mathematics July 8 at the annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) in San Diego, Calif., and deliver the Reid Prize Lecture the following day. The prize includes an engraved medal and a $10,000 cash award.
“Joining the list of the very distinguished mathematicians who have previously been awarded the Reid Prize is truly a great honor,” Gunzburger said. “It is extremely gratifying to be recognized by my peers. At the same time, I recognize that my work has very much depended on the help of many colleagues, postdoctoral researchers and especially students, so I feel the prize also belongs to them.”
SIAM established the Reid Prize in 1993 to recognize outstanding work in, or other contributions to, the broadly defined areas of differential equations and control theory. The prize, one of the most coveted in the field of applied mathematics, is awarded annually and may be given either for a single notable achievement or a collection of achievements.
Gunzburger came to FSU in 2002 from Iowa State University where he served as a distinguished professor and chair of the mathematics department. As an Eppes professor, Gunzburger is among the university’s most eminent scholars.
His research involves developing, analyzing, implementing and applying computational algorithms to help engineers and scientists solve problems in areas including aerodynamics, materials, acoustics, climate change, groundwater, image processing, risk assessment and superconductivity.
For example, he has developed algorithms for controlling fluid flows in order to reduce the drag around moving objects, such as airplane wings. The practical implications of such research could mean a reduction of fuel consumption in commercial aircraft.
Before Iowa State, Gunzburger was on the faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Carnegie Mellon University; and the University of Tennessee. He began his career as a research scientist and assistant professor at New York University and followed that with research positions at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory and the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering.
He received his doctorate in 1969 from New York University, where he also earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Gunzburger is a member of SIAM and has served as editor-in-chief of the SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis and as chair of the Board of Trustees of SIAM. SIAM is an international community of more than 11,000 members, including applied and computational mathematicians, computer scientists and other scientists and engineers.