Duke University’s Ingrid Daubechies to Receive the 2018 Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award

Ingrid Daubechies, the James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, has been awarded the 2018 Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award for her contributions to wavelet theory. Her research has led to the refinement of a process used to shrink digital photos and videos so they take up less digital space.

The prize was founded in 2015 by Fudan University and the Zhongzhi Enterprise Group to recognize global scientists who have made fundamental and distinguished achievement in the fields of biomedicine, physics and mathematics.

Before joining the faculty at Duke, Professor Daubechies taught at Princeton University from 1994 to 2011. There, she was the first woman full professor in the department of mathematics. Dr. Daubechies was also the first woman president of the International Mathematical Union. She holds a Ph.D. from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium.

Dr. Daubechies will be honored at a ceremony in Shanghai, China, on December 16. The prize comes with a cash award of 3 million yuan, equal to about $440,000.