Philadelphia, PA-- The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is pleased to announce that Jennifer Tour Chayes of Microsoft is the 2015 John von Neumann Lecturer.
The 2015 John von Neumann Lecture is awarded to Dr. Chayes for her leadership in the research community, as well as her seminal contributions to the study of phase transitions in both mathematical physics and the theory of computing. As co-founder, Managing Director and Distinguished Scientist at Microsoft Research New England and Microsoft Research New York City, she has gone on to tackle network models and algorithms, algorithmic game theory, and computational biology; through her multiple leadership roles, she continues to inspire and innovate.
Chayes received her B.A. in biology and physics at Wesleyan University and her Ph.D. in mathematical physics from Princeton University. She did her postdoctoral work in the mathematics and physics departments at Harvard and Cornell.
Chayes has twice been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She is a Fellow of the AAAS, ACM, AMS, and the Fields Institute, and an Elected Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her research areas include phase transitions in discrete mathematics and computer science, structural and dynamical properties of self-engineered networks, graph algorithms, algorithmic game theory, and computational biology.
Chayes will deliver the associated prize lecture "Once upon a graph: How to get from now to then in massive networks" on Wednesday, August 12, from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. in Room 74 of the convention center.
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About SIAM
The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an international society of over 14,000 individual members, including applied and computational mathematicians and computer scientists, as well as other scientists and engineers. Members from 85 countries are researchers, educators, students, and practitioners in industry, government, laboratories, and academia. The Society, which also includes nearly 500 academic and corporate institutional members, serves and advances the disciplines of applied mathematics and computational science by publishing a variety of books and prestigious peer-reviewed research journals, by conducting conferences, and by hosting activity groups in various areas of mathematics. SIAM provides many opportunities for students including regional sections and student chapters. Further information is available at http://www.siam.org .