Karen Willcox, professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics and the director of the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, won the 2024 Theodore von Kármán Prize from the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).
Willcox was selected for “important contributions to computational science and engineering. Professor Willcox has pioneered the development and use of model reduction methods for optimal design, optimal control, uncertainty quantification, decision-making, and digital twins. Her fundamental work has had broad impact in many application areas including inverse problems, optimal design, aerospace engineering and precision medicine.”
In addition to her role as Oden Institute director, she leads the Willcox Research Group, and is professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics. Willcox is also an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022 and is a Fellow of SIAM.
“How fitting it is for Karen, whose main work is at the interfaces of aerospace engineering and applied math, to receive a prize named for Theodore von Kármán. Karen richly deserves this prestigious prize. Her pioneering work in model reduction methods and their use in optimal control, optimal design, uncertainty quantification, and inverse problems has had a significant impact on aerospace engineering and, more broadly, computational science and engineering,” said Omar Ghattas, director of the OPTIMUS Center at the Oden Institute and professor of mechanical engineering at UT.
The prize will be awarded at the SIAM Annual Meeting taking place July 8 – 12, 2024, in Spokane Washington, where Willcox will deliver the prize lecture. SIAM fosters the development of applied mathematical and computational methodologies needed in various application areas. The mission of SIAM is to build cooperation between mathematics and the worlds of science and technology.