CCM Group Leader Marsha Berger Named 2025 John von Neumann Prize Lecturer by Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics
The Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) announced today that Flatiron Center for Computational Mathematics (CCM) Group Leader Marsha Berger will be the 2025 John von Neumann Prize lecturer. This recognition is awarded annually to an individual for outstanding and distinguished contributions to the field of applied mathematics and the effective communication of these ideas to the community. The award recognizes Berger’s foundational work in adaptive mesh refinement and embedded boundary methods for partial differential equations (PDEs). Berger will deliver her lecture in July at the SIAM annual meeting.
Berger’s research interests include computational fluid dynamics, adaptive methods and parallel scientific computing. She has made important contributions to method development, theoretical stability and accuracy results, efficient software for serial and high-performance systems, and applications to science and engineering, including aerodynamics, astrophysics, cosmology, plasma physics, subsurface flow, engine design and tsunami modeling. Berger’s work has fundamentally advanced simulation methodology for PDEs.
“Most people wouldn’t realize it, but computational fluid dynamics, and in particular adaptive mesh refinement, plays a key role in many of the simulations that impact daily life,” Berger told SIAM. “Weather prediction relies heavily on numerical tools, as does airplane design. Tsunami simulations, which help determine evacuation routes in case of future earthquakes, are another example of how these methods are used in practice.”
Berger has a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. Before joining the Flatiron Institute, she served as a professor of computer science and mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
“I’m excited and grateful to be recognized by my peers,” she says. “Knowing that my work has been used and helpful to others is a big motivator for me.”
