Professor Jose Mario Martinez Perez, from the Institute of Statistical Mathematics and Scientific Computing (IMECC) at Unicamp, received the Su Buchin prize from the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM), awarded every four years to mathematicians with outstanding performance in education , in research and promoting the development of developing countries. It is the first time that a Latin American mathematician has been honored. The award ceremony will be in Tokyo, in August 2023, during the ICIAM Congress.
“I felt very happy and also surprised by the scope of the award. These are not just contributions to mathematics, applied or industrial mathematics, but also contributions to education, which is an area with which I feel very involved, and to developing countries. I am categorically Latin American, I have a passion for the development of our region, which will play an important role in the world from now on, if we are going to have a world”, says Martinez.
Teaching since 1978 at Unicamp, the professor is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He was the founder of the Research Group on Computational Optimization Methods and in 2019 he received the title of Professor Emeritus at Unicamp. He also participated in the creation of the current Applied Mathematics Laboratory and the Continuous Optimization Laboratory. Despite being retired, Martinez continues to develop activities at the University and in other teaching and research spaces.
The professor highlights that he is currently involved in the Research and Action Group on Conflicts, Risks and Impacts Associated with Dams (Criab), created after the collapse of a Vale company tailings dam in Brumadinho, a rupture that caused more than 260 deaths. “At this moment, participation in this project is my most prominent scientific activity and I am very interested in it moving forward because it has social, national and Latin American importance”, he assesses.
Furthermore, in the field of education, Martinez participates in the School of Science at the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) Ilum. Ilum was created this year and is an interdisciplinary higher education school in Science, Technology and Innovation. “I was called to advise on everything related to teaching methodology in mathematics, trying to implement active teaching methods, with intense student participation”, he explains.
During his career, the academic has supervised 38 master's theses and 47 doctoral theses. One of them won the Capes Grand Prize in 2010. “This was the first and only time, so far, that the grand prize was awarded to a mathematics thesis. But I believe that all the work I supervised is of good quality and all my students are employed.”
In announcing the award, ICIAM highlights Martinez's performance. “[...] he is an exceptional researcher with countless contributions to applied mathematics and an exemplary teacher, whose efforts have motivated countless students. [...] his contributions represent notable advances in solving large-scale optimization problems through published algorithms and software, along with deep involvement in a wide range of applications. The work of Jose Mario Martinez Perez was fundamental in the development of research in applied mathematics in Latin America.”
Find out more about Jose Mario Martinez's career at:
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