Wolfram Computation Meets Knowledge

Wolfram Innovator Award

Wolfram technologies have long been a major force in many areas of industry and research. Leaders in many top organizations and institutions have played a major role in using computational intelligence and pushing the boundaries of how the Wolfram technology stack is leveraged for innovation across fields and disciplines.

We recognize these deserving recipients with the Wolfram Innovator Award, which is awarded at the Wolfram Technology Conferences around the world.

Presented at the Wolfram Technology Conferences. Learn more

2012

Dr. Kazuhiro Iwadoh

Tokyo Women's Medical University

Areas: Biology, Data Mining and Analysis, Risk Analysis

Dr. Kazuhiro Iwadoh is a medical doctor who studies biostatistics at Tokyo Women’s Medical University. He constructed a decision-making support system in Mathematica to estimate the possibility of injury to a transplanted organ by determining examining parameters that could change over time. The end result is a program that displays an array of a patient’s information such as prescription history and other factors, allowing the physician to select a treatment option tailored to the patient. Dr. Iwadoh hopes the system will contribute to a higher rate of success in organ transplants and for medical procedures in general.

Learn more about Kazuhiro Iwadoh's work »

2012

Dr. Ryohei Miyadera

Kwansei Gakuin High School

Areas: Computer Science, Education, Mathematics

Dr. Ryohei Miyadera wants his Kwansei Gakuin High School students to love mathematics and encourages them to perform advanced research in non-traditional ways. He teaches his students to use Mathematica to examine and realize their ideas even if they don’t yet know the high-level mathematics at work. Dr. Miyadera thinks Mathematica enables young people to enjoy mathematics because they aren’t focused on the calculation, but instead on the underlying concepts. A recent example of his students’ work in Mathematica made them finalists for the Asia region in the Google Science Fair 2012 competition. Feedback from his students and successes like this support Dr. Miyadera’s approach to teaching.

See Ryohei Miyadera's Mathematica Demonstrations »

2012

Robert B. Nachbar

Mathematician, Chemist, Biologist, Modeling & Simulation; Merck Research Laboratories

Areas: Biology, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical

Robert Nachbar is recognized for using Mathematica at Merck. He was instrumental in the Gardasil HPV vaccine project, turning a research-grade model created by his coworkers Elamin Elbasha and Erik Dasbach into a production-grade simulation package. Robert is responsible for the Wolfram|Alpha trial at Merck, has used Mathematica frequently in his research on viral dynamics for the hepatitis C virus, and has modeled clinical trial data.

2012

Thomas Roux

Financial Risk Manager, BRED Banque Populaire

Areas: Finance, Financial Risk, Risk Analysis

Thomas Roux is recognized for developing an innovative web service solution for financial risk management, based on webMathematica and webUnRisk. Thomas has shown how Wolfram technologies are integral to the fundamental sustainability of the global banking system, from his native France to the United States.

2012

Fred Szabo

Mathematics and Statistics Professor, Concordia University

Areas: Education, Mathematics

Fred Szabo is recognized for his contributions in education. Using the phrase “A New Kind of Learning” in his presentations to demonstrate Mathematica’s usefulness throughout an educational curriculum, Fred has showcased Mathematica in broad discussion about the greater use of technology in Canadian schools and universities, citing his own mathematics courses where close to 90% of the students find Mathematica engaging and fun to use. Fred was among the first to embrace online courses, and began a plan for a series of videos to teach students in less technical areas how to use Mathematica. A recipient of numerous teaching awards, including the President’s Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Fred’s goal is to significantly contribute to global education, especially to making the instruction of mathematics more available in Latin America.

2011

Steve Bush

The Procter & Gamble Company

Areas: Computer Graphics and Visual Arts, Industrial Engineering, Physics

In Steve Bush’s role developing household consumer items at The Procter & Gamble Company, he’s involved in the physics behind products as well as their economic feasibility. His work with Mathematica includes developing sophisticated tools for computer-aided design and optimizing the orifice size needed to maximize jet momentum, as well as setting up an efficient workflow from idea to prototype.

Hear Steve Bush talk about optimizing face gear surfaces »

2011

Seth Chandler

University of Houston Law Center

Areas: Actuarial Sciences, Economics, Financial Risk, Risk Analysis

Seth Chandler, director of the Program on Law and Computation, studies insurance policy, patent law, and other facets of the US legal system. After Hurricane Ike in 2008, Chandler analyzed catastrophe models and other data in Mathematica to show how the insurance market can better handle paying for hurricane damages. He developed several interactive Demonstrations to help examine the allocation of losses from hurricanes and used them in his testimony before the Texas legislature.

Hear Seth Chandler talk about Mathematica's role in hurricane insurance research » View the interactive CDF transcript of Chandler's testimony before the Texas Legislature »

2011

Ronald Kurnik

Roche Molecular Systems

Areas: Chemical Engineering, Image Processing, Pharmaceutical, Signal Processing

Chemical engineer Ronald Kurnik develops medical devices, using Mathematica for rapid prototyping of algorithms for signal and image processing and for quantitative chemical reaction modeling. His work has led Roche to file for 15 patents, 7 of which have been issued so far.

2011

Diego Oviedo-Salcedo

Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana Bucaramanga

Areas: Authoring and Publishing, Mathematics, Structural Engineering

Diego Oviedo-Salcedo demonstrated innovative use of Wolfram technologies in the creation of homework, solutions, and presentations for his engineering classes, and also used Mathematica extensively for his PhD research. He is a Wolfram-certified instructor in Latin America.

2011

Eric Schulz & Pearson Education

Areas: Authoring and Publishing, Education, Interface Design, Mathematics

Eric Schulz, a mathematics instructor at Walla Walla Community College who created Mathematica’s Classroom Assistant palette, joined authors William Briggs, Lyle Cochran, and Bernard Gillett to write Calculus, an ebook published by Pearson Education in 2010. The textbook combines narrative material, examples, and exercises together with 650 interactive figures in an engaging and rigorous presentation. Using the free Wolfram CDF Player, students can immediately navigate through sections and explore the ebook’s interactive figures and intuitive text, which combine to bring hard-to-convey concepts to life.

Hear Eric Schulz talk about developing interactive textbooks with CDF » Interact with Calculus »

2011

Dana Scott

Carnegie Mellon University

Areas: Computer Science, Mathematics

Dana Scott was an early user of Wolfram technologies in teaching, including developing a Mathematica-based course in projective geometry. The co-inventor of nondeterministic finite automata, winner of the 1976 ACM Turing Award, and founder of domain theory, he continues to employ new Mathematica functionality in innovative ways, for example by using SatisfiabilityInstances to find tilings of pentominoes.

2011

Stan Wagon

Macalester College

Areas: Authoring and Publishing, Computer Graphics and Visual Arts, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering

Stan Wagon uses Mathematica for his teaching and research in computational dynamics, number theory, and Mathematical logic, and has published several books. He also created a square-wheeled bicycle and a track to ride it on, which landed him a spot in Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, and competes in the Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Contest with ice sculptures based on mathematical objects.

See Stan Wagon's Mathematica Demonstrations »
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