UBC mathematicians have been recognized at the national level with four research awards over the past several weeks.
Professor Rachel Kuske, head of the Department of Mathematics, was awarded the 2011 Krieger-Nelson Prize for Research Excellence by the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS). The citation notes Kuske's important contributions to the study of ordinary, stochastic and partial differential equations for a wide range of applications--neuroscience, mathematical biology, buckling under compression, mathematical finance, and hydraulic-fracture mechanics.
This marks the fourth time in the last decade that a member of the department has received the prize, which recognizes outstanding female researchers.
The Society's 2011 Jeffery-William Prize for Research Excellence was awarded to Professor Kai Behrend, one of the world's leading experts in the theory of algebraic stacks and the geometry of moduli spaces of stable maps.
"Behrend’s work on Gromov-Witten theory, Donaldson-Thomas theory, and the virtual fundamental class has had a large and lasting impact on algebraic geometry," noted David Brydges, Chair of the CMS Research Committee. "In particular, his 1996 Duke paper and his two 1997 Inventiones papers are among the most heavily cited papers in the subject."
This marks the fifth time in the last decade that a UBC mathematician has won this award.
Associate Professor Daniel Coombs has received the 2010 Early Career Award in Applied Mathematics, adjudicated by the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society (CAIMS) and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences. The award recognizes exceptional research in any branch of applied mathematics where the recipient is less than ten years past the date of PhD at the time of nomination.
Coombs is an expert in computational immunology, which addresses a wide range of problems in viral disease dynamics and HIV modelling, and in the dynamics of receptors on cell surfaces. The award consists of a cash prize of $1,000 and a commemorative plaque that will be presented at the CAIMS annual meeting at Memorial University at St. John's this July. Coombs will deliver a plenary lecture at the meeting as part of the award ceremony.
Professor Nassif Ghoussoub has been awarded the 2010 CMS Borwein Career Award. This award recognizes individuals who have made exceptional, broad, and continued contributions to Canadian mathematics. The Society cites Ghoussoub's role in revolutionizing Canadian mathematics and elevating its world status. He also serves as scientific director of the Banff International Research Station.
