Tadeusz Iwaniec, the John Raymond French Distinguished Professor of Mathematics
in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences, has been chosen to receive the
prestigious 2009 Sierpinski Medal. The international award is the highest honor
presented by the Polish Mathematical Society and Warsaw University to recognize
outstanding accomplishments in the field of mathematics.
In honor of his selection for the medal, Iwaniec will deliver the celebrated 2009
Sierpinski Lecture at Warsaw University on May 21. The medal and annual lecture
are presented in memory of Polish mathematician Waclaw Sierpinski (1882-1969),
renowned for his work in set theory, the theory of irrational numbers and the theory
of numbers.
"Professor Iwaniec's selection for this international honor recognizes his
extraordinary contributions to mathematics," says College of Arts and Sciences Dean
George Langford. "On behalf of the college, I offer our congratulations and deep
appreciation to him for moving the field of mathematics forward and for training the
next generation of mathematicians."
Iwaniec is an internationally acclaimed mathematics researcher whose work in the
area of nonlinear analysis and geometric function theory has been continuously
supported since 1988 by the National Science Foundation, including one of the few
NSF Collaborative Grants received at SU. His work has been recognized by several
international awards-the 2001 medal and prize of the Henri Poincare Institute of
Nonlinear Analysis, Paris, for his paper "Quasiharmonic Fields"; the 1997 Alfred
Jurzykowski Award in the Field of Mathematics; and the 1980 Prize of the President
of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
In 2005, Iwaniec was elected a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In
2007, he received an honorary degree (doctor of philosophy honoris causa) from the
University of Helsinki. In October 2007, an international conference was held in
Ischia, Italy, honoring his work on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
The author of more than 100 papers, Iwaniec has been an invited speaker at
mathematics conferences all over the world, including invitations to address the
International Congress of Mathematicians and the American Mathematical Society.
His reputation as a teacher draws to SU some of the top mathematics graduate
students from the United States and abroad. He is the 2002 recipient of SU's College
of Arts and Sciences William Wasserstrom Prize for Excellence in Graduate Teaching
and a 2008 recipient of the Chancellor's Citation for Faculty Excellence and Scholarly
Distinction.
Iwaniec holds a master of arts with distinction and a Ph.D. from the University of
Warsaw. Prior to joining the SU faculty in 1986 as a full professor, Iwaniec served as
a visiting professor at the University of Michigan, the University of Texas and New
York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.
