I.E. Block Community Lecture
The I.E. Block Community Lecture is given each year at the SIAM Annual Meeting and is named in honor of the former co-founder and Managing Director of SIAM, I. Edward Block, to recognize his contributions to the growth of SIAM and to perpetuate his vision.
The I.E. Block Community Lecture is open to the public and is intended to encourage public appreciation of the excitement and vitality of science. These lectures should reach out as broadly as possible to students, teachers, and members of the local community, as well as to SIAM members, researchers, and practitioners in fields related to applied and computational mathematics.
Specifications for the I.E. Block Community Lecture
The I.E. Block Community Lecturer is chosen at least ten months before the annual meeting by a committee chaired by the SIAM Secretary and consisting of the SIAM President, the chairs of the annual meeting, and two individuals serving staggered two-year terms chosen by the SIAM Secretary with the approval of the SIAM President. The SIAM President will introduce the speaker at the meeting.
Reasonable travel expenses, an honorarium of $1,500, and a small gift commemorating the lecture will be provided to the lecturer.
History of the Lecture
In 1994, the SIAM Council and Board approved the creation of the I.E. Block Lecture Series, with the following description:
"This lecture series is to honor Ed Block for his relentless efforts to promote and nourish mathematics and its applications. The spirit of this lecture series is to identify issues which will deal with topics such as emerging areas of applied mathematics, opportunities for mathematical and computational analysis in the solution of important industrial and societal problems, strengthening the ties between mathematics and its applications, and the education of applied mathematicians."
In 1995, SIAM initiated a community lecture. In 1997, the Block and Community lectures were merged and became the I.E. Block Community Lecture, with the following description:
"The I.E. Block Community Lecture is open to the public and is intended to encourage public appreciation of the excitement and vitality of applied mathematics and computational science. The lecture is named in honor of SIAM's long-time Managing Director and one of its founders, I. Edward Block."
Past Lecturers
I. E. Block Lecture Series
- 1995 Phillip A. Griffiths (Institute for Advanced Studies)
Issues that Challenge the SIAM Community - 1996 William F. Ballhaus (Lockheed Martin)
A Survivalist View of Today's Aerospace Industry
- 1995 Charles Van Loan (Cornell University)
If Copernicus Had a Computer - 1996 Brian Rosen (Pixar)
Toy Story: Character-Driven Mathematics
- 1997 Joseph B. Keller (Stanford University)
Mathematics of Games and Sports - 1998 Robert C. Merton (Harvard University)
Mathematics in Finance - 1999 Richard A. Tapia (Rice University)
Some Mathematical Insights into Car and Bicycle Racing - 2000 James A. Sethian (University of California, Berkeley)
Advances in Advancing Interfaces - 2001 Steven H. Strogatz (Cornell University)
Small World Networks - 2002 Christoph Bregler (Stanford University)
From Muybridge to Virtual Humans, the Mathematics of Motion Pictures - 2003 William J. Cook (Georgia Institute of Technology)
The Traveling Salesman Problem and Optimization on a Grand Scale - 2004 Michael B. Ray (ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company)
Mathematical Challenges in the Upstream Energy Business - 2005 Christopher R. Johnson (University of Utah)
Computing the Future of Biomedicine - 2006 Simon A. Levin (Princeton University)
Individual Choices, Cooperation and the Global Commons: Mathematical Challenges in Uniting Ecology and Socioeconomics for a Sustainable Environment - 2007 No award was given this year
- 2008 Daniel N. Rockmore (Dartmouth College)
Stylish Mathematics - 2009 Andrew W. Lo (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
"Kill All The Quants"?: Models vs. Mania in the Current Financial Crisis - 2010 Dmitri Tymoczko
The Geometry of Music - 2011 No award was given this year
- 2012 Robert Bridson
Creating Reality: the Mathematics Behind Visual Effects - 2013 Anette Hosoi
From Razor Clams to Robots: The Mathematics Behind Biologically Inspired Design - 2014 Sep Kamvar
Search and Discovery in Human Networks by Sep Kamvar - 2015 No award was given this year
- 2016 Tadashi Tokieda (University of Cambridge)
- 2017 Emily Shuckburgh, (BAS-British Antarctic Survey)
From Flatland to Our Land: A Mathematician’s Journey through Our Changing Planet - 2018 Thomas C. Hales (University of Pittsburgh)
Prize specifications as revised and approved by the SIAM Board and Council, October 3, 2005.