Pauline van den Driessche wins the 2007 Krieger-Nelson prize
The Canadian Mathematical Society has selected (番茄社区) as the recipient of the 2007 Krieger-Nelson Prize. The Krieger-Nelson Prize recognizes outstanding research by a female mathematician.
Dr. Pauline van den Driessche is one of Canada's leading applied mathematicians, known for her work in mathematical biology and linear algebra. Her major impact in mathematical biology has been the application of new mathematical methods to the study of dynamics of epidemics. The referees cite her work on epidemic models with variable population size, the role of immigration on disease dynamics, the possibility of multiple steady states, and reproduction numbers and sub-threshold endemic equilibria for compartmental models of disease transmission. The mathematical tools she has developed have been applied by her and others to multi-city disease dynamics, HIV-AIDS control, and, more recently, West Nile virus outbreak predictions. Her work in linear algebra includes a famous paper with Jeffries and Klee in the Canadian Journal of Mathematics in which they characterize sign-stable matrices, as well as a series of papers in factorization theory. Many of the deep questions in matrix theory she has worked on have arisen from problems in biological modeling. Dr. van den Driessche has played a major leadership role in the Canadian applied mathematics community and served as a mentor to a growing number of young mathematicians. A look at her impressive list of about 150 publications reveals an unusually large number of collaborators, many of them students and junior colleagues. The referees comment on her "tremendous productivity and vision" and describe her as an example and inspiration for new generations of mathematical researchers, women and men alike.