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.

2014

Prof. Richard J. Gaylord

University of Illinois

Areas: Authoring and Publishing, Authoring in Mathematica, Biology, Computer Science, Computer-Aided Education, Education, Physics

Richard Gaylord is one of Mathematica’s earliest users and is a self-described evangelist for the Wolfram Language. He taught computer programming in the Wolfram Language at many universities, companies, government agencies, and scientific conferences for more than 25 years. He has co-authored several texts, including An Introduction to Programming with Mathematica, and three other books on programming computer simulations in a wide variety of fields using the Wolfram Language. Gaylord has made a three-part video explaining the fundamentals of the Wolfram Language.

2014

Dr. János Karsai

Bolyai Institute, University of Szeged

Areas: Authoring in Mathematica, Computer-Aided Education, Impulsive Systems, Modeling Dynamical Systems with Mathematica, Nonlinear Oscillations, Population Dynamics

János Karsai has been using Mathematica since 1994 in teaching and research. He teaches mathematics and Mathematica-aided modeling to math, pharmacy, biology, and engineering students in Szeged and Berlin, and has given several Mathematica trainings of different levels and topics in Hungary, Czech Republic, Serbia, and Romania. He has supervised several outstanding students in Mathematica-related research. Karsai applies Mathematica experiments in his research; works on modernizing mathematical education, especially in applied sciences; and manages several projects in these fields. He developed a package and wrote a book on impulsive systems with Mathematica in 2002 and has prepared several dynamic teaching materials in Mathematica for his courses. Karsai manages the website www.model.u-szeged.hu.

2014

Mark Kotanchek

Areas: Data Mining and Analysis, Economics, Financial Risk, Mathematica Consulting, Probability Theory, Risk, Risk Analysis

Mark Kotanchek left Dow Chemical in 2005 to form the startup Evolved Analytics. DataModeler, one of the largest Mathematica applications produced outside of Wolfram Research, handles data modeling via evolutionary programs. It also performs data analysis and makes sophisticated use of both user interface and kernel technology. At the 2014 Wolfram Technology Conference, Kotanchek revealed a GUI for DataModeler that makes it even easier to use Wolfram’s world-class analysis capabilities.

2014

John Michopoulos

Naval Research Laboratory

Areas: Control, Control Engineering, Materials Science, Modeling Dynamical Systems with Mathematica, Physics, System Modeling

John Michopoulos uses Mathematica in his professional research with composite materials and has been published in the International Journal for Multiscale Computational Engineering, Composite Structures, and the Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering. He applies the global optimization capabilities of Mathematica to solve inverse problems and better understand the physics of materials and composite material designs.

2014

Rodrigo Murta

St Marche Supermercados

Areas: Data Mining and Analysis, Economics, Finance, Interface Design, Physics, Population Dynamics, Risk, Risk Analysis

Rodrigo Murta is Retail Intelligence Manager for St Marche Supermercados, a high-end supermarket chain, and the first customer to purchase Mathematica Enterprise Edition in Brazil. He uses Mathematica as a hub for all of the company’s data, workflows, computation, and processing, and EnterpriseCDF to construct reports for store managers and company executives. He is currently experimenting with a web-based report interface that provides even greater access to intelligence reports.

2014

Yves Papegay

French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control

Areas: Authoring and Publishing, Computer Science, Education, Mathematics

Yves Papegay integrates new Wolfram technologies into his workflow and has used Wolfram Development Platform (formerly Wolfram Programming Cloud) and Mathematica on Raspberry Pi for his robotics projects. Papegay is also a Wolfram certified instructor and develops industrial Mathematica tools for C code generation in the aerospace and energy industries for companies including Airbus and French energy company, EDF.

2014

Frank Scherbaum

University of Potsdam

Areas: Musicology, Probability Theory, Seismology, Signal Processing

Frank Scherbaum, a professor of geophysics at the University of Potsdam, has been using Wolfram technologies since Mathematica 1. He has developed packages for signal processing, seismology, and seismic hazard analysis, which are widely used in research and teaching. His most recent book on probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, developed with the help of his students Nico Kuehn and Annabel Hëndel, covers widely diverse areas such as probability theory, earthquake seismology, strong motion processing, and geotechnical engineering, and has been fully generated with Mathematica and CDF technology. In addition, he uses Mathematica extensively as a hobby musicologist to explore new ways to represent and classify polyphonic vocal music.

2014

Chad Slaughter

Enova Financial

Areas: Actuarial Sciences, Data Mining and Analysis, Economics, Finance, Financial Risk, Risk, Risk Analysis

At Enova Financial, Chad Slaughter used Mathematica’s deep analysis capabilities to better understand the relationship between performance data and top-level business metrics. This led to the Colossus Project, a completely automated platform that handles Enova’s online loan approval system and can process more than 20,000 loans per hour. Now a consultant, Slaughter is also using Wolfram Development Platform (formerly Wolfram Programming Cloud) to create solutions for Eligo Energy.

2014

Bruce Torrence

Randolph-Macon College

Areas: Authoring and Publishing, Authoring in Mathematica, Computer Graphics and Visual Arts, Computer-Aided Education, Education, Mathematics

Bruce Torrence is the author of numerous Mathematica books and articles including The Student’s Introduction to Mathematica, a popular general reference book for students and educators. In addition to publishing dozens of articles on the use of Mathematica in education and research, Torrence recently completed a five-year editorship at Math Horizons and is a Wolfram Science Summer School alumni.

2013

Prof. Dr. Frank Brand

Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany

Areas: Finance, High-Performance and Parallel Computing, Industrial Engineering Economics, Mathematics

Physicist Frank Brand teaches courses in business mathematics, statistics, econometrics, and optimization using Mathematica. He has used Mathematica for many years, starting with his PhD thesis, “Optimization of Complex Optical Systems with Evolution Strategies.” Frank’s achievements using Mathematica in his research include the automatic construction of quality functions related to optimization problems. He also used Wolfram technology to write books—very recently he published a book on the analysis of complex systems, based on applications of graph theory.

2013

Stefan Braun

Managing Director of SmartCAE

Areas: Aerospace, Biotechnology, Chemical Engineering, Control, Data Mining and Analysis, Engineering, Finance, Financial Risk, High-Performance and Parallel Computing, Image Processing, Industrial Engineering, Interface Design, Materials Science, Mathematica Consulting, Mechanical Engineering, Pharmaceutical, Physics, Risk Analysis, Signal Processing, Structural Engineering

Stefan Braun is recognized for using Mathematica in industrial applications. He has used Mathematica and the SmartCAEFab in more that 150+ industrial projects in different application areas. SmartCAE’s software solutions allow practical users to simulate complex applications problems, with a lot of parameters, without being a simulation or Mathematica expert.

2013

Sam Daniel

Engineering Fellow, Raytheon

Areas: Control Engineering, Engineering, Signal Processing

Sam Daniel has been using Mathematica since 1988—the year Mathematica 1.0 was launched—to complete a range of innovative projects from patented work on fingerprint identification algorithms for Motorola to spearheading signal processing projects for Raytheon Missile Systems. His mastery of Mathematica has enabled him to document his work and share those results with others, bringing invaluable insights to areas from adaptive antenna simulation to radar ground clutter characterization. Sam’s continued work with Mathematica will include creating elaborate Enterprise CDFs from Wolfram SystemModeler for possible automatic extraction of parameters and control placement.

2013

George Danner

President, Business Laboratory, LLC

Areas: Industrial Engineering, Industrial Engineering Economics

In his role as President of Business Laboratory, LLC, George Danner uses Mathematica to solve complex problems for mid-size and large businesses and government organizations. Following the flu outbreaks that took health agencies by surprise in 2008, Danner simulated a hypothetical outbreak in Alabama. As a result, state and federal health officials were able to role-play a series of outbreaks and identify barriers to outbreak response. Other accomplishments include assisting an energy company with over 1,100 natural gas wells in identifying an optimal drilling sequence and helping a large national retailer double its number of stores by using simulated shopper agents to determine optimal locations.

2013

Brian Frezza & Emerald Therapeutics

Co-CEO and Co-founder, Emerald Therapeutics

Areas: Biotechnology

Brian Frezza, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Emerald Therapeutics, has integrated Mathematica at many organizational levels within the company—from using it as a standard documentation tool for the Emerald Therapeutics computer platform to controlling laboratory robots. Although the business is small, Mathematica has been broadly integrated in a manner rarely seen, even by Mathematica’s power users. Emerald’s small team has used Mathematica to conduct more than half a million biotech experiments.

2013

Grigory Fridman

Saint Petersburg State University of Economics

Areas: Computer Science, Education, Finance, Mathematics, Risk

Grigory Fridman is Head of the Department of Economical Cybernetics and Mathematical Methods for Economics at Saint Petersburg State University of Economics in Saint Petersburg, Russia. With his help StPSUE became the first university in Russia to offer access to Mathematica to all faculty and students.

2013

Charles Macal

Director, Center for Complex Adaptive Agent Systems Simulation, Argonne National Laboratory

Areas: Engineering, System Modeling

As Director of the Center for Complex Adaptive Agent Systems Simulation at Argonne National Lab, Charles Macal uses Mathematica to develop models for studying behavioral factors that contribute to the spread of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and to study how human reactions to political and military action can be quantified and used to simulate when and if conflicts will arise. Macal has been asked to work with the Federal Highway Administration on an innovative new project to develop models for understanding driver behavior for route planning and improving vehicular safety.

2013

Rolf Mertig

GluonVision GmbH

Areas: Actuarial Sciences, Data Mining and Analysis, Mathematica Consulting, Physics

Rolf Mertig is a physicist working in different fields as a software consultant. His specialties include efficient webMathematica programming and programmatic CDF generation. Through his own consulting company, GluonVision GmbH based in Berlin, Germany, he works with companies and universities in order for them to get the most out of Mathematica, webMathematica, and CDF.

2013

Tom Meyer

Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut

Areas: Education, Geographic Information Systems

As a developer of Mathematica’s Geodesy package, Thomas Meyer has pioneered the use of Mathematica in geodesy and geographic information systems (GIS) throughout his career at the University of Connecticut. Meyer has published eight papers in two years in which Mathematica was used to conduct research. One paper, “The Direct and Indirect Problem for Loxodromes,” provides the mathematics of how to write an autopilot using a GPS to lay out the course, correctly using modern geodetic reference ellipsoids. Meyer also uses Mathematica in teaching a range of courses from geomatics and GNSS surveying to spatial statistics and programming.

2013

Bart ter Haar Romeny

Eindhoven University of Technology

Areas: Biotechnology, Image Processing, Mathematics

A professor in biomedical image analysis, Bart ter Haar Romeny uses Mathematica to design brain-inspired image analysis methods for computer-aided diagnosis. He is an enthusiastic teacher, and introduced Mathematica as a design tool in the curriculum for all students of his department and in most projects in his group. He advocates that Mathematica is ideal for designing innovative algorithms and for “playing with the math.” His PhD students van Almsick, Duits, Franken, (now Professor) Florack, Janssen, and Bekkers substantially contributed to the Mathematica packages on brain-inspired computing. He cochaired with Markus van Almsick the International Mathematica Symposium 2008 in Maastricht and teaches a popular national course on biologically inspired computing (book written in Mathematica), which was thrice awarded the BME Teaching Award.

2013

Keith Stroyan

Professor of Mathematics, University of Iowa

Areas: Education, Mathematics

As a mathematics professor at the University of Iowa, Keith Stroyan was an early adopter of Mathematica in calculus courses, reaching around 6,000 students and 100 teaching assistants in 24 years. In 2005, he was awarded Teacher of the Year by the Mathematical Association of America based on his work developing Mathematica course materials. Stroyan also conducted an early study showing that students who used Mathematica in calculus courses performed better in subsequent courses, even in traditional courses without much technology. In addition to these achievements, Stroyan developed one of the first custom kernel Mathematica programs, Calculus Wiz, and published the first CDF in a scientific journal. His work on iMultiCalc 2013 CDF edition continues to push the boundaries in delivering textbook content.

2013

Dr. Thomas Weber

HighQ-It

Areas: Data Mining and Analysis, Finance, Financial Risk, Risk Analysis

Thomas Weber is recognized as an expert on quantitative methods in finance and risk. Being a heavy user of Mathematica since Version 1.2, Thomas utilizes this powerful tool for his consultancy for big banks, energy suppliers, and other institutions. Over these many years he has extended Mathematica as needed. For example, he developed a database link long before the Data Access Kit was available. He also integrated different pricing libraries into Mathematica, which allow kinds of risk analysis that go way beyond what is normally possible within financial institutions.

2013

Jacqueline Zizi

MUM Research

Areas: Education

Jacqueline Zizi is a passionate and family-centered individual (mother of six and grandmother of 14) who loves mathematics and computation. She has been using Mathematica as a programming language for education and teaching as well as providing her Wolfram Training instructor services all around France. Furthermore, she wrote a simulation tool for high-risk boat navigation (CGA, Alstom Group), a tour in a protein associating music and zooming for IHES, and a conjecture about Grothendieck invariants solved in the special case of graph theory for Professor O. Mathieu in abstract mathematics. Twenty years ago Jacqueline wrote a trilogy of books in French about general considerations in programming and mathematics for education purposes. After the national curriculum was changed, leading to “Polytechnique” and “Grandes Écoles,” she published a book following such a curriculum which, although old, is still for sale.

2012

Richard Anderson

Computer Scientist

Areas: High-Performance and Parallel Computing, Mathematics

Richard Anderson is recognized for his pioneering use of gridMathematica to explore network properties using percolation and random graph theories. He has developed gridMathematica applications that use a probabilistic approach along with large-scale multiprocessor computing techniques to explore the underlying structure of complex networks. This work led to the development of new methodologies to identify nodes that are critical to network cohesion and connectivity.

2012

Rubén Berrocal and Marisa Talavera

National Secretary for Science and Technology (Berrocal), Director of Innovation in Learning (Talavera), Panama Government

Areas: Education, Mathematics

Rubén Berrocal and Marisa Talavera are recognized for revolutionizing the teaching of mathematics and science in Panama by incorporating Wolfram technology into their curriculum. SENACYT adopted the first countrywide provision for the computational software to be installed in all universities, and led plans to install it in high schools. SENACYT has trained professors, researchers, and students in Mathematica across Panama, ensuring that the country will become a bastion of scientific education recognized throughout the world as a supreme destination for intellectual enlightenment.

2012

W. Craig Carter

Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT

Areas: Computer Graphics and Visual Arts, Control Engineering, Materials Science

W. Craig Carter is recognized for his many uses of Mathematica over the years, starting with his PhD studies. He has tutored other MIT faculty with course examples in Mathematica to help their work, from the project planning stage forward. Craig has also used Mathematica for many years in his course “Mathematics for Materials Science and Engineers.” Craig’s achievements using Mathematica in his research include prototyping an idea with a start-up company to create a new type of battery. He also used Wolfram technology to collaborate on and help design an art piece feature at the Pompidou in Paris.

See W. Craig Carter's Mathematica Demonstrations »

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