Polish Scholarship Fund & Syracuse Polish Fest
Professor Tadeusz Iwaniec is an internationally acclaimed researcher, winner of many awards for his studies and a dedicated teacher who attracts the top young mathematics students in the U.S. and abroad.
“He’s a treasure for the Mathematics Department and Syracuse University,” said Douglas Anderson, chairman of the Mathematics Department. “He certainly has a very high degree of visibility internationally in the world of mathematics.”
“Given our mission of encouraging the academic endeavors of Polish students, we are particularly honored this year to pay tribute to Professor Tadeusz Iwaniec, a researcher and teacher of great renown,” said Tad Szyszka, vice president of the fund.
As a young student in Poland, Iwaniec was identified early as a scholar of great promise and studied with the top researchers at the University of Warsaw, where he received his Ph.D. He won the Prize of the President at the Polish Academy of Sciences, where he taught, and served as coach of the Polish team in the International Mathematics Olympics.
He served as visiting professor at the University of Michigan, the University of Texas and the New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences before beginning his work in 1986 at Syracuse University, where he was granted immediate tenure.
He as since been named the John Raymond French Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at SU, won the medal and prize of the Henri Poincare Institute of Nonlinear Analysis in Paris for his paper, Quasiharmonic Fields, was selected for the Alfred Jurzykowski Award – an international honor – for creative achievements in science and last year won SU’s William Wasserstrom Prize for graduate level teaching.
His research has been funded continuously since 1988 by the National Science Foundation where anonymous evaluators called him “the most influential person in geometric function theory in recent years.”
His reputation as a lecturer have earned him numerous opportunities to speak at mathematic conferences around the world and his popularity as a teacher draws a steady stream of students from Europe to Syracuse University for direction in their research projects.
Despite his credentials, Iwaniec has a reputation for patience with undergraduates who lack his passion for mathematics.
He is fond of saying, “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
His graduate students find him gracious and accommodating.
“His outreach to students is one of the most amazing qualities of his,” according the Uma Subramanian, a graduate student. “Amidst his crazy, busy schedule, he finds time to stop by a desk where graduate students are working; he will chat with us like a buddy , talk about mathematics in a very funny way and give hints on solving problems.”
For relaxation, Iwaniec plays classical guitar and builds furniture.
He lives in Syracuse with his wife, who also hold a Ph.D. in mathematics, and his daughter.
Congratulations!
By Frank Brieaddy
Sponsored by Giminski-Wysocki Funeral Home