Math Science Professor wins prize

Jong-Shi Pang, a professor in Johns Hopkins' Mathematical Sciences Department, has been awarded the prestigious 2003 George B. Dantzig Prize.

Pang shared the award with Alexander Schrijver of the National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in the Netherlands.

Over 1,000 attendees were present at the symposium, which is held three times a year by the Mathematical Programming Society. The 18th International Symposium took place at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby, Denmark.

Pang received the Dantzig Prize at opening ceremony of the 18th International Symposium on Mathematical Programming for his contributions to the field.

"Pang's numerous papers have helped shape the careers of many outstanding young researchers world wide and have attracted many of them to work in the important field of mathematical programming," the award citation said. "This, coupled with the breadth and profoundness of his work, makes Pang eminently deserving of the Dantzig Prize."

Together with engineering colleagues in Sweden, at the University of Pennsylvania, and at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Pang developed techniques for solving multi-rigid-body friction contact problems.

These types of problems come about during the design, analysis and simulation of robotic hands that are used to grasp and manipulate objects.

"Jong-Shi Pang is a world leader in the field of equilibrium programming, variational inequalities and complementarity problems. He has made major contributions to the basic theory and algorithms, and to the analysis, solution, and unification of many application problems in these areas," the award citation said.

The Dantzig Prize, which is the world's most prestigious award in the field of mathematical programming, is jointly awarded once every three years by the Mathematical Programming Society and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The award was established in honor of George B. Dantzig, who was a pioneer in the field of mathematical programming.

Pang was informed two months in advance that he would be the recipient of this year's Dantzig Prize. When asked how he felt when he received the award, Pang stated, "I felt both honored and happy."

Pang has been a faculty member in the Johns Hopkins' Whiting school of Engineering since 1987.

Before joining the faculty at Hopkins, Pang held academic posts at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the University of Texas at Dallas. He earned his Bachelor's degree in mathematics from the National Taiwan University in 1973. At Stanford University, Pang earned a Master's degree in statistics in 1975. He earned his doctorate in operations research from Stanford University.