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Prizes

The Society for Mathematical Biology awards a number of prizes including the Akira Okubo Prize, the Arthur T. Winfree Prize, and the Lee Segel Prize.

Akira Okubo Prize

The Akira Okubo Fund was established in memory of Akira Okubo, who made major contributions to many fields, including mathematical ecology and oceanography. Okubo was widely recognized for his scientific work, as well as for his exceptional humanity. The objective of the Akira Okubo Prize is to honor a living scientist for outstanding and innovative theoretical work, for establishing superb conceptual ideas, for solving tough theoretical problems, and/or for uniting theory and data to advance a biological subject. The prize is jointly administered by the Society for Mathematical Biology and the Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology. Additional details, including how to nominate individuals, is available here.

Previous winners:

• 2011 - Michio Kondoh
• 2009 - Hans Othmer
• 2007 - Fugo Takasu
• 2005 - J. D. Murray
• 2003 - Jonathan Sherratt
• 2001 - Simon Levin
• 1999 - Martin Nowak

Arthur T. Winfree Prize

The Board of Directors of the Society for Mathematical Biology, in memory of the contributions to mathematical biology by Arthur Winfree, establishes a prize in his honor, to be called the Arthur T. Winfree Prize. It will honor a theoretician whose research has inspired significant new biology. The prize will be offered every other year, starting with the 2009 Annual Meeting. Nominations of individuals to be considered for the prize may focus on a single paper or series of papers which illustrate the close connection between theory and experiment, or may be based upon a larger body of theoretical work produced by the individual which has led to significant new biological understanding affecting observation/experiments. The recipient will be decided by a Committee of the Society, consisting of three individuals appointed by the President, one year before the Prize is to be awarded. Nominations will be solicited from Society members and the mathematical biology community at large.

Background: In the Fall of 2002, theoretical biology lost one of its most creative luminaries when Arthur Winfree passed away from an aggressive brain tumor. Winfree was one of the legendary figures in the field, one of the very few who combined brilliant theory with imaginative and masterful experiments. Many careers were built on his pioneering work in biological periodicity and pattern formation. Winfree's genius was frequently hidden by his modest, even self effacing manner. Beyond his scientific contributions, he was an exemplary scientist and human being. His generosity and kindness to his colleagues and students is sorely missed.

The nominating committee for the Arthur T. Winfree Prize is pleased to announce that this years recipient is Prof. John J. Tyson of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The citation for the prize is "For his key contributions in mathematical biology pertaining to the mechanism and function of bistability and oscillations in biological systems, and in particular for his theoretical studies, firmly based on experimental observations, that illuminate the dynamics of the cell cycle."

Previous winners:

• 2011 - John Tyson
• 2009 - George Oster

Lee Segel Prize

To honor the enormous contribution that Lee Segel made to the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology and the field of mathematical biology as a whole, Springer, in partnership with the Society of Mathematical Biology, is funding a series of prizes. Biennial prizes of US $5,000 will be given for the best paper, and US $3,000 for the best student paper, published in the previous two years in the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. A committee appointed by the SMB Board of Directors, Publications Chair, and Editor-in-Chief of the Bulletin judges and awards prizes. The committee currently consists of Mark Lewis, Daniel Coombs, and Ramit Mehr.

Previous winners:

Best Student Paper

• 2010 - Barbara Boldin, "Persistence and spread of gastro-intestinal infections: the case of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in piglets"
• 2008 - Emma Y. Jin and Christian M. Reidys, "Asymptotic Enumeration of RNA Structures with Pseudoknots"

• 2010 - Brynja R. Kohler, Rebecca J. Swank, James W. Haefner, James A. Powell, "Leading Students to Investigate Diffusion as a Model of Brine Shrimp Movement"
• 2008 - Tomas de-Camino-Beck and Mark A. Lewis, "A New Method for Calculating Net Reproductive Rate from Graph Reduction with Applications to the Control of Invasive Species"

• Special Prize 2010 - W. Brent Lindquist and Ivan D. Chase, "Data-Based Analysis of Winner-Loser Models of Hierarchy Formation in Animals"