Cathleen Synge Morawetz
Who was the director or manager of Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences from 1984 to 1988?
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences ( commonly known as Courant or CIMS ) is the mathematics research school of New York University ( NYU ) , and is among the most prestigious mathematics schools and mathematical sciences research centers in the world . Founded in 1935 , it is named after Richard Courant , one of the founders of the Courant Institute and also a mathematics professor at New York University from 1936 to 1972 , and serves as a center for research and advanced training in computer science and mathematics . It is located on Gould Plaza next to the Stern School of Business and the economics department of the College of Arts and Science . NYU is ranked #1 in applied mathematical research in the US , #5 in citation impact worldwide , and #12 in citation worldwide . It is also ranked #19 worldwide in computer science and information systems . On the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index , it is ranked #3 with an index of 1.84 . It is also known for its extensive research in pure mathematical areas , such as partial differential equations , probability and geometry , as well as applied mathematical areas , such as computational biology , computational neuroscience , and mathematical finance . The Mathematics Department of the Institute has 18 members of the United States National Academy of Sciences ( more than any other mathematics department in the U.S. ) and five members of the National Academy of Engineering . Four faculty members have been awarded the National Medal of Science , one was honored with the Kyoto Prize , and nine have received career awards from the National Science Foundation . Courant Institute professors Peter Lax , S . R . Srinivasa Varadhan , Mikhail Gromov , Louis Nirenberg won the 2005 , 2007 , 2009 and 2015 Abel Prize respectively for their research in partial differential equations , probability and geometry . Louis Nirenberg also received the Chern Medal in 2010 , and Subhash Khot won the Nevanlinna Prize in 2014 . The Director of the Courant Institute directly reports to New York Universitys Provost and President and works closely with deans and directors of other NYU colleges and divisions respectively . The undergraduate programs and graduate programs at the Courant Institute are run independently by the Institute , and formally associated with the NYU College of Arts and Science , NYU Tandon School Of Engineering , and NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science respectively . Academics . Rankings . The Courant Institute specializes in applied mathematics , mathematical analysis and scientific computation . There is emphasis on partial differential equations and their applications . The mathematics department is consistently ranked in the United States as #1 in applied mathematics . Other strong points are analysis ( #5 as of 2018 ) and geometry ( #8 as of 2018 ) . Within the field of computer science , CIMS concentrates in machine learning , theory , programming languages , computer graphics and parallel computing . The computer science program is ranked #19 among computer science and information systems programs globally . In 2019 , the Academic Ranking of World Universities placed the Courant Institute as #3 worldwide in the subject ranking for mathematics . Admissions . The Courant Institute offers Bachelor of Arts , Bachelor of Science , Master of Science and Ph.D . degree programs in both mathematics and computer science with program acceptance rates ranging from 3% to 29% . The overall acceptance rate for all CIMS graduate programs is 15% , and program admissions reviews are holistic . A high undergraduate GPA and high GRE score are typically prerequisites to admission to its graduate programs but are not required . Majority of accepted candidates met these standards . However , character and personal qualities and evidence of strong quantitative skills are very important admission factors . Consistent with its scientific breadth , the Institute welcomes applicants whose primary background is in quantitative fields such as economics , engineering , physics , or biology , as well as mathematics . Undergraduate program admissions are not directly administrated by the Institute but by the NYU undergraduate admissions office of College of Arts and Science . Graduate program . The Department of Mathematics at the Courant Institute offers PhDs in Mathematics , Atmosphere-Ocean Science , and Computational Biology ; Masters of Science in Mathematical Finance , Mathematics , and Scientific Computing . The Graduate Department of Computer Science offers a PhD in computer science . In addition it offers Master of Science degrees in computer science , information systems ( in conjunction with the Stern School of Business ) , and in scientific computing . For the PhD program , every PhD computer science student must receive a grade of A or A- on the final examination for algorithms , systems , applications , and a PhD-level course chosen by the student that does not satisfy the first three requirements , such as cryptography and numerical methods . Students may take the final exam for any these courses without being enrolled in the course . The Computer Science Masters program offers instruction in the fundamental principles , design and applications of computer systems and computer technologies . Students who obtain an MS degree in computer science are qualified to do significant development work in the computer industry or important application areas . Those who receive a doctoral degree are in a position to hold faculty appointments and do research and development work at the forefront of this rapidly changing and expanding field . The emphasis for the MS in Information Systems program is on the use of computer systems in business . For the Master of Science in Scientific Computing , it is designed to provide broad training in areas related to scientific computing using modern computing technology and mathematical modeling arising in various applications . The core of the curriculum for all computer science graduate students consists of courses in algorithms , programming languages , compilers , artificial intelligence , database systems , and operating systems . Advanced courses are offered in many areas such as natural language processing , the theory of computation , computer vision , software engineering , compiler optimization techniques , computer graphics , distributed computing , multimedia , networks , cryptography and security , groupware and computational finance . Adjunct faculty , drawn from outside academia , teach special topics courses in their areas of expertise . Unless outside fellowships or scholarships are available to the students , all admitted Courant PhD students are granted with the GSAS MacCracken award . The fellowship covers the tuition and provides 9 months of stipend along with other benefits such as health insurance and special housing opportunies . The MacCracken funding is renewable for a period of up to five years , assuming satisfactory progress toward the degree . Doctoral students take advanced courses in their areas of specialization , followed by a period of research and the preparation and defense of the doctoral thesis . Courant Students in Ph.D . programs may earn a masters degree while in progress toward the Ph.D program . Areas where there are special funding opportunities for graduate students include : Mathematics , Mechanics , and Material Sciences , Number Theory , Probability , and Scientific Computing . All PhD candidates are required to take a written comprehensive examination , oral preliminary examination , and create a dissertation defense . Each supported doctoral student has access to his or her own dedicated Unix workstation . Many other research machines provide for abundant access to a variety of computer architectures , including a distributed computing laboratory . Undergraduate program . The Courant Institute houses New York Universitys undergraduate programs in computer science and mathematics . In addition , CIMS provides opportunities and facilities for undergraduate students to do and discuss mathematical research , including an undergraduate math lounge on the 11th floor and an undergraduate computer science lounge on the 3rd floor of Warren Weaver Hall . The mathematics and computer science undergraduate and graduate programs at the Courant Institute has a strong focus on building quantitative and problem-solving skills through teamwork . An undergraduate computer science course on Computer Vision , for example , requires students to be in small teams to use and apply recently developed algorithms by researchers around the world on their own . One example assignment requires a student to study a paper written by researchers from Microsoft Research Cambridge in order to do an assignment on Segmentation and Graph Cut . To encourage innovation , students in advanced coursework are allowed to use any means to complete their assignment , such as a programming language of their choice and hacking a Kinect through legal means . The Courant Institutes undergraduate program also encourages students to engage in research with professors and graduate students . About 30% of undergraduate students participate in academic research through the competitive Research Experiences for Undergraduates program funded by the National Science Foundation or research funded primarily by the Deans Undergraduate Research Fund . The Courant Institute has one of the highest percentage of undergraduate students doing research within New York University . With permission of their advisers or faculty , undergraduate students may take graduate-level courses . Courant undergraduate students through the years and alumni contribute greatly to the vitality of the Mathematics and Computer Science departments . Some accomplishments by current and former undergraduate Courant students include an Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Scholarship Winner , development of Object Category Recognition Techniques to sort garbage for recycling for the NYCs trash program , placement in 7th out of 42 in the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest ( ICPC ) , and inventors of the Diaspora ( software ) social network . The undergraduate division of the Department of Mathematics offers Bachelor of Arts ( BA ) and Bachelor of Science ( BS ) degrees in Mathematics . It consists of a wide variety of courses in pure and applied mathematics taught by a distinguished faculty with a tradition of excellence in teaching and research . Students in advanced coursework often participate in formulating models outside the field of mathematics as well as in analyzing them . For example , an advanced mathematics course in Computers in Medicine and Biology requires a student to construct two computer models selected from the following list : circulation , gas exchange in the lung , control of cell volume , and the renal countercurrent mechanism . The student uses the models to conduct simulated physiological experiments . The undergraduate division of the Department of Computer Science offers a Bachelor of Arts ( BA ) degree , and fours minors . These are the computer science minor , web programming and applications minor , joint minor in computer science/mathematics , and the computer science education minor available in collaboration with NYU Steinhardt . The BA degree can also be pursued with honors . Students may combine the degree with other majors within the College of Arts and Science to create a personalized joint major . Two specific combined degrees are the joint major in computer science/economics and the joint major in computer science/mathematics . The Department of Computer Science also offers a BS/BE Dual Degree in computer science and engineering and an accelerated masters program available to qualifying undergraduates in conjunction with the Tandon School of Engineering . Graduation . The Courant Institute encourages students at any stage of their studies , including the very early stage , to seek summer employment opportunities at various government and industry facilities . In the past few years , Courant students have taken summer internships at the National Institute of Health , Los Alamos National Laboratory , Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution , Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and NASA , as well as Wall Street firms . Such opportunities can greatly expand students understanding of the mathematical sciences , offer them possible areas of interest for thesis research , and enhance their career options . Members of the faculty ( and in particular the students academic advisors ) can assist students in finding appropriate summer employment . All graduate students are given official advisers , and undergraduates are provided mentors from Courant faculty . Academic research . The Department of Mathematics at Courant occupies a leading position in analysis and applied mathematics , including partial differential equations , differential geometry , dynamical systems , probability and stochastic processes , scientific computation , mathematical finance , mathematical physics , and fluid dynamics . A special feature of the Institute is its highly interdisciplinary character — with courses , seminars , and active research collaborations in areas such as financial mathematics , materials science , visual neural science , atmosphere/ocean science , cardiac fluid dynamics , plasma physics , and mathematical genomics . Another special feature is the central role of analysis , which provides a natural bridge between pure and applied mathematics . The Department of Computer Science has strengths in multimedia , programming languages and systems , distributed and parallel computing , and the analysis of algorithms . Since 1948 , Courant Institute has maintained its own research journal , Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics , which currently has the highest impact factor internationally among mathematics journals . While the journal represents the full spectrum of the Institutes mathematical research activity , most articles are in the fields of applied mathematics , mathematical analysis , or mathematical physics . Its contents over the years amount to a modern history of the theory of partial differential equations . Most articles originate within the Institute or are specially invited . The Institute also publishes its own series of lecture notes . They are based on the research interests of the faculty and visitors of the Institute , originated in advanced graduate courses and mini-courses offered at the Institute . Resources . Warren Weaver Hall & 60 Fifth Avenue . CIMS consists of the NYU Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science as well as a variety of research activities . It is housed in Warren Weaver Hall on Mercer Street in NYUs Greenwich Village campus . Unlike many NYU buildings , it did not have an NYU flag , but the flag has recently been added and is waved with pride . The building contains lecture halls on the first and second floors , two meeting/seminar rooms on every floor from the 3rd floor to the 13th floor , a large common lounge on the 13th floor used for studying and open discussions in topics of mathematics and computer science , and its own extensive Courant library on the 12th floor . It also houses a variety of well-equipped laboratories and offices in Warren Weaver Hall for students and faculty to do research and discuss topics in mathematical sciences . In addition to Warren Weaver Hall , the Computer Science Department and Center for Data Science are located at 60 fifth Avenue . Courant Institute Library . The Courant Institute Library contains one of the United Statess most complete mathematics collections with more than 275 journals and 54,000 volumes . Faculty and students at CIMS have access to MathSciNet and Web of Science ( also known as the Science Citation Index ) , and a vast database containing hundred thousands of electronic journals related to mathematics and computer science . Computing resources . The Courant Institute has an IBM eServer BladeCenter system capable of peak performance of 4.5 TeraFlops . The acquisition of this supercomputer was funded by IBM and federal funding and is used primarily for research by the faculty and graduate and undergraduate students of the institute . Computers at the Institute run Windows , Solaris , Mac OS X , and Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems . There are also many other specialized Linux-based operating systems for research purposes . Every faculty and student office room is fully equipped with scientific software and computer stations . Wi-Fi and X terminals are available in public locations and every faculty and student office . All graduate students are provided with an account to access computers and other resources within the Institutes network . Undergraduate students are provided CIMS accounts with the approval of their advisor , sponsorship by a Courant professor , advanced coursework , or for research purposes . The Institutes computing resources are not accessible to others without sponsorship by a CIMS professor or approval by either the Department of Mathematics or Department of Computer Science . Faculty , staff , and students with Courant account have access to free full-featured software provided by the MSDN Academic Alliance and specialized computing resources used primarily for research . Major research resources . CIMS houses an advanced multimillion-dollar Courant Applied Mathematics Laboratory that opened in 1998 , co-founded by Stephen Childress and Michael Shelley , and sponsored by US Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation . It comprises an experimental facility in fluid mechanics and other applied areas and a visualization and simulation facility . The Center for Atmosphere-Ocean Science is also housed at CIMS and is an interdisciplinary research and graduate program within the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences . cSplash and notable student activities . cSplash . Every year , CIMS offers cSplash or Courant Splash , a festival mathematics and computer science program for high school students . It is a one-day festival of classes in the mathematical and computer sciences , designed and taught by graduate and undergraduate students , faculty , and others associated with the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences . Extracurricular activities . There are many clubs within the Courant Institute open to undergraduate and graduate students alike . These clubs include the Courant Student Organization , The ACM at NYU , Women-in-Computing ( WinC ) , The Mathematics Society , Masters Association for Computer Science and many more . Additionally , CIMS sponsors and holds seminars and colloquiums almost daily on weekdays on topics of interest , in which some of whom may be held outside of Warren Weaver Hall . Many speakers of these seminars and colloquiums are experienced researchers from corporations from a variety of industries and researchers from private and government research laboratories , top universities , and NYU . Every academic year , CIMS holds award ceremonies , showcases , and parties to celebrate their faculty and undergraduate and graduate students and keep the academic atmosphere fun and enjoyable at CIMS . One such example is the NYU Computer Science Department Showcase held every semester to showcase projects that have been completed in various computer science graduate and undergraduate courses . History . In 1934 , Richard Courant left Göttingen University in Germany to become a visiting professor at NYU . He was given the task of building up the Department of Mathematics at the NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science . He was later joined by Kurt O . Friedrichs and James J . Stoker . In 1946 , the department was renamed Institute for Mathematics and Mechanics . Also in 1946 , NYU Professor Morris Kline focused on mathematical problems of electromagnetic wave propagation . This project gave rise to the Institutes Division of Wave Propagation and Applied Mathematics . In 1952 , the U.S . Atomic Energy Commission installed one of the first ( electronic ) computers at New York University , which led to the creation of the Courant Mathematics and Computing Laboratory . The Division of Magnetofluid Dynamics was initiated by a project on plasma fusion by NYU Professor Harold Grad in 1954 . The Institute was in the forefront of advanced hardware use , with an early IBM 7094 and the fourth produced CDC 6600 . The Division of Computational Fluid Dynamics was created in 1978 , arising from a project of NYU Professor Paul R . Garabedian . Notable Courant faculty . This is a small selection of Courants famous faculty over the years and a few of their distinctions : - Gérard Ben Arous , Davidson Prize - Marsha Berger , NASA Software of the Year , National Academy of Engineering , National Academy of Sciences - Richard Bonneau - Robert A . Bonic , co-Author Freshman Calculus ; Sr . research scientist and computer professor ; 1972 to 1975 collaboration with Industrial Designer George A . Sgouros in the research , design , and development of the first Computer Logic Training Modules ( LOGICUBES ) - Fedor Bogomolov - Luis Caffarelli , Wolf Prize - Sylvain Cappell , Guggenheim Fellowship - Sourav Chatterjee , Davidson Prize - Jeff Cheeger , Veblen Prize , National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Sciences , Guggenheim Fellowship , Max Planck Research Prize - Steven Childress , Guggenheim Fellowship , American Physical Society Fellow - Demetrios Christodoulou , 1993 MacArthur Fellow , National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Sciences , Shaw Prize , Bôcher Memorial Prize - Richard J . Cole , Guggenheim Fellowship - Martin Davis , Steele Prize - Percy Deift , George Pólya Prize , Guggenheim Fellowship , National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Science - Kurt O . Friedrichs , 1976 National Medal of Science - Paul Garabedian , NAS Prize in Applied Mathematics , National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Science - James Glimm , Steele Prize , 2002 National Medal of Science - Leslie Greengard , Steele Prize , Packard Foundation Fellowship , NSF Presidential Young Investigator , National Academy of Engineering , National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Science - Mikhail Gromov , 2009 Abel Prize , Wolf Prize , Steele Prize , Kyoto Prize , Balzan Prize , National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Science - Larry Guth - Martin Hairer , 2014 Fields Medal - Helmut Hofer , Ostrowski Prize , National Academy of Sciences - Fritz John , 1984 MacArthur Fellow - Joseph B . Keller , 1988 National Medal of Science , Wolf Prize - Michel Kervaire - Subhash Khot , 2010 Alan T . Waterman Award , 2014 Nevanlinna Prize - Bruce Kleiner - Morris Kline - Peter Lax , Abel Prize winner , 1986 National Medal of Science , Steele Prize , Wolf Prize , Norbert Wiener Prize - Lin Fanghua , Bôcher Memorial Prize , American Academy of Arts and Science - Wilhelm Magnus - Andrew Majda , NAS Prize in Applied Mathematics , John von Neumann Prize ( SIAM ) - Henry McKean , National Academy of Science , American Academy of Arts and Science - David W . McLaughlin , National Academy of Science , American Academy of Arts and Science - Bud Mishra , Association for Computing Machinery Fellow - Cathleen Synge Morawetz , 1998 National Medal of Science , Steele Prize , Birkhoff Prize , Noether Lecturer , National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Science - Jürgen Moser , Wolf Prize , James Craig Watson Medal - Assaf Naor , European Mathematical Society Prize , Packard Fellowship , Salem Prize , Bôcher Memorial Prize , Blavatnik Award - Charles Newman , National Academy of Science , American Academy of Arts and Science - Louis Nirenberg , Crafoord Prize , National Medal of Science , Steele Prize , Bôcher Memorial Prize , Chern Medal , Abel Prize , National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Science - Michael Overton - Laxmi Parida , IBM Master Inventor - Charles S . Peskin , 1983 MacArthur Fellow , Birkhoff Prize , National Medal of Science , - Amir Pnueli , National Academy of Engineering , Israel Prize , Turing Award , Association for Computing Machinery Fellow - Peter Sarnak , Wolf Prize - Jack Schwartz , who developed the programming language SETL at NYU and was in charge of the Robotics group . - Michael J . Shelley , American Physical Society Fellow , François Naftali Frenkiel Award ( APS ) - Victor Shoup , who with Ronald Cramer developed the Cramer–Shoup cryptosystem - Jonathan Sondow - Joel Spencer - K . R . Sreenivasan - Daniel L . Stein , Fellow of American Physical Society , Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science - S . R . Srinivasa Varadhan , Abel Prize winner , Steele Prize , National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Science , Fellow of the Royal Society , National Medal of Science - Akshay Venkatesh , Salem Prize , Packard Fellowship , 2018 Fields Medal - Olof B . Widlund - Margaret H . Wright , National Academy of Science , National Academy of Engineering - Lai-Sang Young , Satter Prize , Guggenheim Fellowship , American Academy of Arts and Science Notable Courant alumni . This is a small selection of Courants alumni : - Anjelina Belakovskaia ( Masters in Finance 2001 ) , U.S . Womens Chess Champion . - Anita Borg ( PhD 1981 ) , founding director of the Institute for Women and Technology ( IWT ) - Alexandre Chorin , ( PhD 1966 ) National Medal of Science - Ivan Corwin ( PhD 2011 ) , professor at Columbia University - Charles Epstein ( PhD 1983 ) , hyperbolic geometry - Kenneth M . Golden ( PhD 1984 ) , applied mathematics of sea ice , Fellow of the Explorers Club - Corwin Hansch ( PhD 1944 ) , statistics - Joseph B . Keller , 1988 National Medal of Science , Wolf Prize - Barbara Keyfitz ( PhD 1970 ) , Director of the Fields Institute - David Korn ( PhD 1969 ) , creator of the KornShell , - Sergiu Klainerman ( PhD 1978 ) , Professor at Princeton - Morris Kline ( PhD 1936 ) , NYU Professor ( 1938–1975 ) - Martin Kruskal , ( PhD 1952 ) National Medal of Science , co-discoverer of solitons and the inverse scattering method for solving KdV - Peter Lax ( PhD 1949 ) , recipient of the Abel Prize , National Medal of Science , Steele Prize , Wolf Prize , Norbert Wiener Prize - Chen Li-an , ( PhD 1968 ) Taiwanese Minister of Defence - Brian J . McCartin ( PhD 1981 ) , recipient of the 2010 Chauvenet Prize , - Cathleen Morawetz ( PhD 1950 ) , National Medal of Science , Birkhoff Prize , Lifetime Achievement Award from the AMS , professor emeritus at Courant Institute - Louis Nirenberg ( PhD 1949 ) , Crafoord Prize , Bôcher Memorial Prize , National Medal of Science , Chern Medal , Abel Prize - Stanley Osher ( PhD 1966 ) , Level Set method , professor at University of California , Los Angeles , Gauss Prize - George C . Papanicolaou ( PhD 1969 ) , professor at Stanford University - Susan Mary Puglia ( BA in Computer Science and Math ) , Vice President at IBM - Sashi Reddi ( serial entrepreneur , venture capitalist , angel investor , a technologist and a philanthropist ) - Gary Robinson , software engineer noted for anti-spam algorithms - Christina Sormani ( PhD 1996 ) , professor at the City University of New York - Shmuel Weinberger ( PhD 1982 ) , topology and geometry , Professor at University of Chicago - Jacob Wolfowitz ( PhD 1942 ) ,