Four Indian Americans win top science and maths awards

Washington, July 27 — Four Indian American
professors are among the 13 mathematicians,
theoretical physicists and theoretical computer
scientists who have won 2013 Simons
Investigators awards.
Currently working at Stanford University,
Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and Pennsylvania University, they will each
receive $100,000 a year for five years for their
long-term research with the possibility of
renewal for five additional years.
The awards are given by nonprofit New York-
based Simons Foundation, incorporated in
1994 by Jim and Marilyn Simons with a
mission to advance the frontiers of research in
mathematics and the basic sciences.
Among four mathematicians who won Simons
grants is Stanford professor of mathematics
Kannan Soundararajan, "one of the world's
leaders in analytic number theory and related
areas," the Simons Foundation said.
"His work is focused on understanding the
zeros and value distribution of L-functions, and
on analyzing the behaviour of multiplicative
functions."
The India-born professor represented India at
the International Mathematical Olympiad in
1991, where he won a silver medal. A Sloan
Foundation Fellow, he has an undergraduate
degree from the University of Michigan and a
PhD from Princeton.
Two of three awards in computer science went
to Indian Americans. They are Rajeev Alur,
Zisman Family Professor in the department of
information and computer science at the
University of Pennsylvania; and Salil P. Vadhan,
Vicky Joseph Professor of Computer Science
and Applied Mathematics at Harvard
University.
Alur is a top researcher in formal modelling
and algorithmic analysis of computer systems,
the Simons Foundation said.
"A number of automata and logics introduced
by him have now become standard models with
great impact on both the theory and practice
of verification."
Alur has BS and PhD degrees in computer
science from IIT-Kanpur and Stanford
University, respectively.
Vadhan, the Simons Foundation said, has
"produced a series of original and influential
papers on computational complexity and
cryptography. He uses complexity-theoretic
methods and perspectives to delineate the
border between the possible and impossible in
cryptography and data privacy."
Vadhan has a PhD in applied mathematics from
MIT, a certificate of advanced study in
mathematics from Churchill College at
Cambridge University and AB in mathematics
and computer science from Harvard
University.
Senthil Todadri, a professor of physics at MIT
and Distinguished Research Chair at the
Perimeter Institute of Physics, was one of six
Simons grant winners in that discipline.
"Senthil Todadri's work with Fisher on Z2
topological order in models of spin liquid
states provided key insights and initiated the
systematic investigation of gauge structures in
many-body systems, now a vital subfield of
condensed matter physics," the foundation
said.
Todadri has his Ph.D. from Yale and an
undergraduate degree from IIT-Kanpur.

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