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Katepalli R. Sreenivasan head shot

Katepalli R. Sreenivasan

New York University

Recipient of the Kadanoff Prize

For pioneering experimental, theoretical, and numerical research on the nonlinear and multifractal foundations of turbulent flows.

About the Recipient

Invited talk session: B29.00002

Katepalli Sreenivasan is the Eugene Kleiner Professor for Innovation in Mechanical Engineering at the New York University (NYU), Professor in the Physics Department and at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He was previously the president of the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, the inaugural Dean of Engineering, the executive vice provost in charge of science and technology. Previously, he served as the director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy (2003-2009), during which time he maintained his position as Distinguished University Professor and Glenn L. Martin Professor of Engineering and Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, where he also served as the Director of the Institute for Physical Science and Technology (2002-2003). At Yale (1979-2001), he held appointments in Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics and Mathematics, in addition to various leadership positions. His primary expertise is fluid mechanics and turbulence, well-known contributions to the scaling problems, mixing, convection, quantum turbulence, etc. He was elected to the NAS, NAE, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), African Academy of Sciences, and Accademia die Lincei in Italy, among others. His honors include: Guggenheim Fellowship, Otto Laporte Memorial Award of American Physical Society, TWAS Medal Lecture in Engineering Science, Distinguished Alumnus Award and Centennial Professorship of the Indian Institute of Science, the International Prize and Gold Medal in memory of Professors Modesto Panetti and Carlo Ferrari, Academia delle Scienze di Torino, Italy, National Order of Scientific Merit (the highest scientific honor) by the Brazilian Government and the Academy of Sciences, UNESCO Medal for Promoting International Scientific Cooperation and World Peace from the World Heritage Centre, Florence, Italy, the Dwight Nicholson Medal of the American Physical Society, the 2009 Nusselt-Reynolds Prize from the Assembly of World Conference on Experimental Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, the 2009 AAAS award for International Scientific Cooperation, the 2019 G.I. Taylor Medal of the Society of Engineering Science, the 2019 Theodore von Karman Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineering, 2020 the Charles Russ Richards Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Pi Tau Sigma, the 2020 Fluid Dynamics Prize of the American Physical Society, and the 2011 Multicultural Leadership Award of the National Diversity Council.

About the Leo P. Kadanoff Prize

The Kadanoff Prize was conceived and proposed by the APS Group on Statistical and Nonlinear Physics (GSNP) to honor the memory and celebrate the remarkable legacy of Leo Kadanoff. Kadanoff, who served as APS president from 2007-2008, had an enormous impact on statistical and nonlinear physics. He himself was the recipient of many of the field’s most prestigious awards. His influence was broad and his originality deep – broader and deeper than a list of his research papers would suggest. His accessible approach to the renormalization group has been emulated in an array of fields and his lectures and popular writings have inspired a generation of scientists. The Kadanoff Prize was established in 2018 with contributions from the family, friends, and collaborators of Leo Kadanoff, and individual donations from a broad spectrum of the American Physical Society. The Prize was fully endowed soon after by a generous gift from an anonymous donor.