*From the American Mathematical Society (AMS)
Mathematician Ingrid Daubechies and computer scientist Cynthia Dwork were awarded the National Medal of Science by President Joe Biden on January 3, 2025.
Established by Congress in 1959, the medal is awarded for outstanding contributions to science in service to the United States, and is administered by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Daubechies is James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Duke University. She has been lauded for her research about wavelets. Her honors include the 2023 Wolf Prize in Mathematics, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research. She is an AMS member, author, Fellow, and former leader in AMS governance.
Ingrid Daubechies. Photo: Duke
Dwork is Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard University John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and affiliated faculty at Harvard Law School. “She uses theoretical computer science to place societal problems on a firm mathematical foundation,” according to her website. Dwork’s recent awards and honors include the 2020 ACM SIGACT and IEEE TCMF Knuth Prize, the 2020 IEEE Hamming Medal, and the 2017 Gödel Prize.
Cynthia Dwork. Photo: Harvard
“President Biden often says that America can be defined in a single word: possibilities,” said the White House press release. “Those who earn these awards embody the promise of America by pushing the boundaries of what is possible. These trailblazers have harnessed the power of science and technology to tackle challenging problems and deliver innovative solutions for Americans and for communities around the world.”