Stockholm Mathematics Centre Prizes for Excellent Doctoral Dissertation and Master Theses 2013/2014

The prize committee for the doctoral prize consisted of Mia Deijfen, mathematical statistics SU, Björn Gustasson, mathematics KTH, Xiaoming Hu (chair), optimization and systems theory KTH, Olof Runborg, numerical analysis KTH and Boris Shapiro, mathematics SU.

The members of the master thesis prize committee were John Andersson, mathematics KTH, Per Austrin (chair), theoretical computer science KTH, Alexander Berglund, mathematics SU, Maurice Duits, mathematics SU, Per Engqvist, optimization and systems theory KTH, and Jimmy Olsson, mathematical statistics KTH.

Excellent Doctoral Dissertation

SMC prize for excellent doctoral dissertation in mathematics 2013/2014 was shared between:

• Johan Alm, SU

for his exceptional dissertation  Universal algebraic structures on poly-vector fields in which he develops elegant ways of describing deformation theory of  poly-vector fields on an affine space and makes an explicit connection between a family of Drinfel'd associators and multiple zeta values.

• Rasmus Bokrantz, KTH

for his exceptional dissertation  Multicriteria optimization for managing tradeoffs in radiation therapy treatment planning in which he develops new methods for multi-criteria optimization that have led to significant improvement of clinical radiation therapy treatment planning.

Excellent Master Theses

SMC's prize for excellent Master Thesis in Mathematics 2013/2014 is awarded to.

• Axel Ringh, KTH

for The Circulant Rational Covariance Extension Problem for a Skew Periodic Stochastic Process , a thesis in Optimization and Systems Theory. The thesis treats the rational covariance extension problem by extending existing theory to skew-periodic stochastic processes, and by developing fast algorithms based on Fourier transforms to solve the skew-periodic case.   In his thesis, Axel demonstrates mathematical depth, by handling a complex problem involving Fourier analysis, stochastic processes, and convex optimization, and showed that he can apply these methods in signal processing.

• Eric Larsson, KTH

for Lorentzian Cobordism, Compact Horizons and the Generic Condition , a thesis in Mathematics. Eric's thesis is in differential geometry with applications to relativity theory and cosmology. The thesis contains two new and very non-trivial results: first a result of Tipler about cobordism is proved without any smoothness assumption and second the "generic condition" is proved to be generic. The thesis is excellently written, exhibits a very impressive mathematical level, and qualifies Eric Larsson as a mathematician of high international standards.

• Babak Maboudi Afkham, KTH

for Modeling and Simulation of Elastic Rods with Intrinsic Curvature and Twist Immersed in Fluid , a thesis in Numerical Analysis. The thesis builds on and improves very recent work on simulating the behaviour of elastic rods in fluids.  The underlying physical models, based on Stokes' equations, are quite complex, and in the thesis Babak shows an impressive understanding and ability to further develop the numerical methods used to solve the equations.