On Tuesday, July 8 at its 2008 annual meeting in San Diego, California, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) will award the SIAM Prize for Distinguished Service to the Profession to Dr. Philippe Tondeur. Tondeur, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will be honored for his extensive and highly effective advocacy and support for the mathematical sciences.
Tondeur is being recognized for his creative and dedicated leadership of the Division of Mathematical Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF), including the initiation of the Mathematical Sciences Priority Area and numerous partnerships that reinforce the centrality of mathematics that has left an impact that will continue to benefit the discipline for decades. Both at NSF and afterwards, through governance and advisory activities, he has supported the flourishing of mathematical science research institutes worldwide. His effective communication of a vision of contemporary mathematical research and its role in science and technology continues to influence policy makers at many levels.
A consultant for mathematics, science, and technology, Tondeur's current interests include mathematics research and education, the enabling role of mathematics in science and engineering, innovation policy, institutional governance, and leadership development. He retired a few years ago as Director of the Division of Mathematical Sciences at the National Science Foundation. Tondeur previously served as Chair of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and is currently Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at UIUC.
Tondeur earned an engineering degree in Zurich, and a PhD in mathematics from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He subsequently was a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Paris, France, Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and an associate professor at Wesleyan University, before joining the UIUC faculty in 1968, where he became a full professor in 1970.
Established in 1985, the SIAM Prize for Distinguished Service to the Profession is awarded each year at the SIAM Annual Meeting to an applied mathematician who has made distinguished contributions to the furtherance of applied mathematics on the national level. The selection committee for the 2008 award included David Keyes, Columbia University (Chair); Douglas Arnold, University of Minnesota; L. Pamela Cook, University of Delaware; Martin Golubitsky, Ohio State University; Konstantin Mischaikow, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; and Cleve Moler, The MathWorks, Inc.
About SIAM
The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is an international community of over 11,000 individual members, including applied and computational mathematicians, computer scientists, and other scientists and engineers. The Society advances the fields of applied mathematics and computational science by publishing a series of premier journals and a variety of books, sponsoring a wide selection of conferences, and through various other programs. More information about SIAM is available at www.siam.org.