The 2023 ICIAM Su Buchin Prize is awarded to Jose Mario Martinez Perez (University of Campinas, Brazil) for outstanding achievements in research---a combination of theory, practice, software, and applications for solving large-scale optimization problems---and in fostering the development of the optimization and applied mathematics communities in Latin America.
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. This includes efforts to improve mathematical research and teaching in those countries. Created as an initiative of CSIAM and first awarded in 2007, the prize carries a cash award of USD 5000 and is presently funded by CSIAM.
In 1971, Jose Mario Martinez Perez received his 1st degree in mathematics from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 1978 he received a Ph.D. in systems engineering and computer sciences from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a professor at the University of Campinas, Brazil, between 1978 and 2018, transitioning to emeritus professor in 2019. Professor Martinez Perez was awarded the Brazilian National Order of Scientific Merit and is a full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
Jose Mario Martinez Perez is both an outstanding researcher with numerous contributions to applied mathematics and an exemplary teacher, whose efforts have motivated countless students. He has devoted his career to optimization and numerical analysis, authoring numerous articles that address topics such as augmented Lagrangians, sequential quadratic programming, and trust region methods. His contributions represent remarkable advances for solving large-scale optimization problems through published algorithms and software, along with deep involvement in a wide range of applications.
The work of Jose Mario Martinez Perez has been fundamental in the development of applied mathematics research in Latin America. He has supervised more than 30 master's students and more than 30 Ph.D. students from various countries in the region, maintaining strong connections over time and promoting collaborations that strengthen the development of research groups in each of those countries. For example, his former students are now professors at universities in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, and Chile. Also, he has been an important actor in the creation, expansion and consolidation of Sociedade Brasileria de Mathematica Aplicada e Computacional (SBMAC), which was created in 1978. Taken together, Professor Martinez Perez’s achievements in research and in building the optimization and applied mathematics communities in Latin America are an extraordinarily influential body of professional work.
Subcommittee for the 2023 ICIAM Su Buchin Prize
- Lois Curfman McInnes (Argonne National Laboratory, US), Chair;
- Tanniemola Liverpool (University of Bristol, UK);
- Amiya Kumar Pani (Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India);
- Precious Sibanda (University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa);
- Pingwen Zhang (Peking University, China).