The CMS Launches the Cathleen Synge Morawetz Prize

The Canadian Mathematical Society is pleased to announce the launch of the Cathleen Synge Morawetz Prize. The Prize is established in honour of the late Canadian mathematician, Cathleen Synge Morawetz, to reflect the remarkable breadth and influence of her research achievements in pure and applied mathematics.

The Prize is awarded for an outstanding research publication (or a series of related publications) that has had a profound impact on an area of mathematics. It is an annual prize which will rotate between several broadly specified subject areas of mathematics. The recipient shall be a member of the Canadian mathematical community. The objective is to broaden the discipline’s diversity of the awards given by the CMS.

The Cathleen Synge Morawetz Prize will be awarded according to the following 6-year rotation of subject areas:

1. Geometry and Topology (2021, and every six years thereafter);
2. Combinatorics, Discrete mathematics, Logic and foundations, and Mathematical Aspects of Computer Science (2022 , and every six years thereafter);
3. Applied mathematics, including but not limited to Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Control Theory and Optimization, and Applications of Mathematics in Science and Technology  (2023, and every six years thereafter);
4. Probability and Mathematical Physics (2024, and every six years thereafter);
5. Algebra, Number theory, Algebraic geometry (2025, and every six years thereafter);
6. Analysis and Dynamic systems (2026, and every six years thereafter).

All of the above fields will be understood most broadly, to ensure that any outstanding publication can be considered under at least one of the categories. A paper (or a series of papers) which has significantly  impacted more than one of the listed fields can be nominated more than once during the six-year rotation. The nomination must focus on a single topic, rather than a broad body of work by the nominee.

About Cathleen Synge Morawetz

Cathleen Synge Morawetz was a brilliant Canadian mathematician with a truly remarkable career. She was born in Toronto, and did her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto. She was encouraged to pursue a PhD in Mathematics by Cecilia Krieger (of Krieger-Nelson Prize). She went to MIT for a master’s degree and then obtained her PhD at NYU, where she would spend the bulk of her career, becoming the director of Courant Institute in 1984. Cathleen Synge Morawetz was a recipient of Jeffrey-Williams Prize in 1984 (the only woman to win the Prize), Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2004), George David Birkhoff Prize in Applied Mathematics (2006), the National Medal of Science, and many other awards and recognitions.

About the CMS

Founded in 1945, the CMS is the main national organization whose goal is to promote and advance the discovery, learning and application of mathematics. The Society’s activities cover the whole spectrum of mathematics including scientific meetings, publications, grants, math camps and national and international mathematics competitions, as well as awards and prizes that recognize outstanding achievements.

For more information please contact:

Prof. Kai Behrend (UBC)
Chair, CMS Research Committee
Canadian Mathematical Society
behrend@math.ubc.ca
604-822-1719

or

Dr. Termeh Kousha
Executive Director
Canadian Mathematical Society
tkousha@cms.math.ca
613-733-2662