The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is presenting several prizes at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2009. Included in the prize presentation are two prizes that are awarded jointly with two other mathematics organizations, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). In addition, one is awarded by the the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM), and another by the Leonard M. and Eleanor B. Blumenthal Trust for the Advancement of Mathematics.
AMS Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement: LUIS CAFFARELLI of the University of Texas at Austin, one of the world's greatest mathematicians studying nonlinear partial differential equations.
AMS Steele Prize for a Seminal Contribution to Research: RICHARD HAMILTON of Columbia University, for his paper "Three-manifolds with positive Ricci curvature," J. DIFFERENTIAL GEOM. 17 (1982), 255-306.
AMS Steele Prize for Exposition: I. G. MACDONALD of University of London, for his book SYMMETRIC FUNCTIONS AND HALL POLYNOMIALS (second edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1995).
AMS-SIAM Birkhoff Prize in Applied Mathematics: JOEL SMOLLER of the University of Michigan, "for his leadership, originality, depth, and breadth of work in dynamical systems, differential equations, mathematical biology, shock wave theory, and general relativity".
AMS Cole Prize in Algebra: CHRISTOPHER HACON of the University of Utah and JAMES MCKERNAN of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "for their groundbreaking joint work on higher dimensional birational algebraic geometry".
AMS Conant Prize: JOHN W. MORGAN of Columbia University, for his article, "Recent Progress on the Poincare Conjecture and the Classification of 3-Manifolds," BULLETIN OF THE AMS 42 (2005), 57-78.
AMS Satter Prize: LAURE SAINT-RAYMOND of the Ecole Normale Superieure, "for her fundamental work on the hydrodynamic limits of the Boltzmann equation in the kinetic theory of gases".
AMS Whiteman Prize: JEREMY J. GRAY of the Open University and the University of Warwick, for "many historical works, which have not only shed great light on the history of modern mathematics but also have given an example of the ways in which historical scholarship can contribute to the understanding of mathematics and its philosophy".
AMS-MAA-SIAM Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student: AARON PIXTON, Princeton University and University of Cambridge, "for five impressive papers he has written, in addition to his Princeton senior thesis".
JPBM Communications Award: GEORGE CSICSERY, independent filmmaker, "an artist who has employed his talents to communicate the beauty and fascination of mathematics and the passion of those who pursue it".
Leonard M. and Eleanor B. Blumenthal Award for the Advancement of Research in Pure Mathematics: MARYAM MIRZAKHANI of Princeton University, "for her exceptionally creative, highly original [PhD] thesis".
The full citations for these prize and additional information can be found in the Prize Booklet, at http://www.ams.org/ams/prizebooklet-2009.pdf. Find out more about AMS prizes at http://www.ams.org/ams/prizes-awards.
Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, today the American Mathematical Society has more than 32,000 members. The Society fulfills its mission through programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses, strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.
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