Alberto Bressan Receives Bôcher Memorial Prize and Analysis of Partial Differential Equations Prize

Alberto Bressan, Holder of the Eberly Family Chair of Mathematics at Penn State, has received the Bôcher Memorial Prize, which is the oldest prize awarded by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). He shares the prize, which was announced at the 2008 AMS national meeting in San Diego, with Charles Fefferman, a professor at Princeton University and Carlos Kenig, a professor at the University of Chicago. The Bôcher Memorial Prize currently is awarded every three years. Among the renowned previous recipients of this prize are George Birkhoff in 1923, Norbert Weiner in 1933, and John von Neumann in 1938.

Bressan also recently received a prize from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Activity Group on Analysis of Partial Differential Equations for his paper titled "Vanishing Viscosity Solutions of Nonlinear Hyperbolic Systems," which was published in 2005 in the journal Annals of Mathematics. In this paper, Bressan and his fellow award recipient Stefano Bianchini, of the International School of Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy provide the solution to a 50-year-old problem in partial differential equations. Their analysis characterizes entropic solutions to hyperbolic systems of conservation laws as limits of solutions with vanishingly small viscosity.

Bressan's research interests fall within the broad area of nonlinear analysis, which includes such topics as nonlinear partial differential equations, optimization problems, the mathematical theory of control, and differential games. He is highly regarded for his work in the field of hyperbolic conservation laws, where he has established fundamental properties of solutions and the convergence of vanishing viscosity approximations.

Bressan has written two books. The first one, titled "Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws: The One-Dimensional Cauchy Problem," was published by Oxford University Press in 2000. The second one, titled "Introduction to the Mathematical Theory of Control," was co-authored by Benedetto Piccoli and appeared in 2007 within the book series of the American Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Bressan also has authored more than 120 scientific papers. He currently serves on editorial boards for 17 international journals, including Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems, Journal of Differential Equations, and SIAM's Journal on Mathematical Analysis.

Prior to joining the Penn State faculty in November of 2003, Bressan was a professor at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy from 1991 to 2003 and an associate professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder from 1986 to 1990. He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Padova in Italy in 1978 and his doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1982. In 2006, Bressan received the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize in Mathematics, Mechanics, and Applications from the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. This prize is among the highest awards reserved for Italian citizens for achievements in the arts, music, literature, history, philosophy, medicine, and physical and mathematical sciences. He was named Holder of the Eberly Family Chair of Mathematics at Penn State in 2007.

CONTACTS:

Alberto Bressan: (+1) 814-865-1667, axb62@psu.edu

Barbara Kennedy (PIO): (+1) 814-863-4682, science@psu.edu