William Kath and Jorge Nocedal Named SIAM Fellows
The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) recently named two McCormick professors as fellows during its annual meeting.
William Kath, professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics, and Jorge Nocedal, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, were nominated by other fellows of SIAM, which encourages interactions between mathematics and other scientific and technological communities through membership activities, publication of journals and books, and conferences.
Kath and Nocedal were nominated for their outstanding contributions to the field. Kath was nominated for contributions to wave propagation, nonlinear dynamics, optical fibers and waveguides, and computational neuroscience. Nocedal was nominated for contributions to the theory and practice of continuous optimization.
Kath's research involves mathematical modeling in optics and neuroscience, including modeling of high bit-rate fiber-optic communications and investigating microcircuits composed of principal neurons and interneurons in the brain. Kath is also developing computational models of the neural circuitry of the mammalian retina that links the pathways responsible for night (rod photoreceptor) and daylight (cone photoreceptor) vision.
Nocedal's research interests are in the interface between computer science, operations research, and applied mathematics. His research involves optimization, numerical analysis, and scientific computing. His work contributes to optimization in computer-aided design, applications in finance (option pricing, portfolio optimization), and non-linear optimization. His non-linear optimization software KNITRO is used in the energy, oil, auto, and financial industries to optimize everything from grooves on tires to the production and delivery of electricity.
The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is an international community of over 13,000 individual members, including applied and computational mathematicians, computer scientists, and other scientists and engineers.