Awarded to Giulia Di Nunno, for her long-lasting record actively and efficiently encouraging top-level mathematical research and education in developing African countries.
The Su Buchin Prize was established to provide international recognition of an outstanding contribution by an individual in the application of Mathematics to emerging economies and human development, in particular at the economic and cultural level in developing countries. It was created on the initiative of the CSIAM, and was first awarded in 2007. Carrying a cash award of USD 5000, the Su Buchin Prize is presently funded by CSIAM.
Giulia di Nunno was born in Milano, Italy, in 1973. She graduated with honors at University of Milano in 1998 and got the PhD degree from University of Pavia in 2003. From 2003 to 2010 she occupied various positions at the universities of Oslo and Bergen, and from 2010 she is full professor at the University of Oslo. Between 2014 and 2015 she was Group Leader of the research program SEFE: "Stochastics in Environmental and Financial Economics" at the Centre of Advanced Studies, Norwegian Royal Academy of Science and Letters, and from 2014 to 2017, Group Leader of the Centre of Mathematics for Application (CMA).
For the past decade, in parallel with an active academic career, Giulia Di Nunno has contributed significantly to the promotion of high level mathematics, particulary in Africa. Di Nunno chairs the Committee for Developing Countries of the European Mathematical Society. She is at the heart of two groundbreaking initiatives encouraging excellence in research and education in the region: the EMS-Simons program of visiting professors and the Emerging Regional Centres of Excellence program.
The African continent is very diverse and the development of a career in mathematics faces a different and sometimes difficult progression. Thanks to Di Nunno's efforts, the Simons Foundation and the European Mathematical Society opened a joint program sponsoring visits to foster research opportunities for young and established researchers. The aims are to help the advancement of individual career possibilities and to improve the global capacity in African academic institutions. The program is open to all areas of pure and applied mathematics and statistics and it is directed to fellows based in Africa.
The Emerging Regional Centres of Excellence is a title of quality awarded to institutes that show an outstanding level in their geographical area of influence in research and education, making them an attractor of students from other regions and countries. The title is granted for a period of four years, and can be renewed. The focus of this program is the education of
students to the Master's level and possibly PhD's. Di Nunno coordinated the evaluation and selection procedures for the program's recruitment.
The award salutes Di Nunno's continued and long lasting record efficiently putting in place projects that help shape an intensive development of Mathematics in the African continent.
Subcommittee for the 2019 ICIAM Su Buchin Prize
- Zuowei Shen (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Chair;
- Kirk E. Jordan (IBM Research, USA);
- Bernd Krauskopf (University of Auckland, New Zealand);
- Hyung-Chun Lee (Ajou University, Suwon, Korea);
- Claudia Sagastizabal (IMPA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).