International math society honors Woodward

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory mathematician Carol Woodward became the first Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) employee named as a fellow by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), recognizing her for her work in developing mathematical algorithms and software for faster and more accurate simulations of complex physical phenomena.

Woodward, who has worked at LLNL since 1996, is a project lead for the Nonlinear Solvers and Differential Equations project and has applied her algorithms to applications as diverse as subsurface flow, particle transport, fusion, climate, supernovae and materials science. She was one of only 28 SIAM Fellows selected this year worldwide, and one of only two from Department of Energy labs.

"It’s very exciting," Woodward said. "We haven’t had a lot of Lab scientists recognized as Fellows so this is a pretty big deal. It’s a recognition that the applied mathematics work that goes on at the Laboratory is critical, and that’s an important thing. Our Center for Applied Scientific Computing is very well known internationally, but I think having more Fellows at the Laboratory is a good thing for our image and for recruiting efforts."

LLNL’s newly hired Associate Director for Computation Bruce Hendrickson said, "I’m delighted to see Carol garner this well-deserved recognition of the quality and impact of her research and her professional leadership. More broadly, this award reflects well upon LLNL’s contributions to computational mathematics."

SIAM is the premier international professional society for applied mathematics and computational science, boasting more than 14,000 individual members and nearly 500 institutional members, including academic, manufacturing, research and development, service and consulting and government and military organizations, according to the organization. SIAM’s stated mission is to build cooperation between mathematics and the worlds of science and technology.

SIAM instituted its Fellows program in 2009 and currently has more than 200 Fellows hailing from institutions around the world.