Handbook: Prizes awarded by the EMS

5.4 EMS/ECMI Lánczos Prize for Mathematical Software

Background

One of the main ways mathematical advances have impact in science, engineering, society, and industry is via their implementation in software. In order to reward and recognise exceptional research in the development of mathematical software, the European Mathematical Society (EMS) and the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry (ECMI) have decided to establish the EMS/ECMI Lánczos Prize for Mathematical Software. Cornelius Lánczos (1893–1974) was a pioneer of the development and implementation of numerical algorithms on digital computers.

Principal Guidelines

The Prize is awarded in even years, alternatively at the ECM and at ECMI conferences. It is awarded to a mathematician or scientist, or a group of mathematicians and scientists, for the development of outstanding mathematical software with important applications in mathematics, science, engineering, society or industry.

Eligibility for the Prize is restricted to software, the source of which is available to the general public for scrutiny. Commercial software meeting this criterion is explicitly welcomed.

There is no limit to the number of authors nominated, but each of them must have made a substantial and distinct contribution. Nominations with more than five authors should be very carefully justified.

Description of the Award

The award comprises a certificate and a cash prize of €3,000. The money is provided by EMS when the Prize is presented at ECM and otherwise by ECMI.

Prize Committee selection guidelines

The Prize Committee for the Lánczos Prize is constituted by the EMS Committee for Applications and Interdisciplinary Relations (CAIR) of the EMS and ECMI.

Nominations for the Award

Submissions are to be made by self-nomination. A nomination will consist of:

  • a three-page summary addressing the evaluation criteria;
  • a letter of support from a user of the software that is not nominated;
  • one or more scientific papers or technical reports describing the software and its uses;
  • CVs of those being nominated, at most 2 pages per author;
  • a one-page report containing:
    • a link to the project’s website, and to the publicly available source code;
    • a citation for a persistent archive of the software as of the date of submission (e.g. via Zenodo), to provide a permanently archived snapshot of the software;
    • links to: the software’s documentation, examples of its use, test programs, and scripts for executing those test programs;
    • for software with complex installation procedures, we recommend that a suitable container be prepared to simplify the Prize Committee’s task (e.g. a Docker or Singularity container).

The submission should be made as one PDF.

Nominations for the Prize should be submitted electronically to the chair of the Prize Committee with the EMS Office in cc ems-office@helsinki.fi by December 31 of the year preceding the presentation of the award.

Evaluation Criteria

The Lánczos Prize is primarily awarded based on the following criteria:

  • the demonstrated and potential impact of the software on science, engineering, society or industry;
  • the efficiency, robustness, and quality of the software implementation;
  • the clarity of exposition of documentation, examples, website, and related publications;
  • its sustained activity in both development and maintenance;
  • the importance of the class of mathematical problems solved.

The secondary criteria are:

  • the novelty of the mathematical ideas underpinning the software;
  • the size and growth rate of its user base.
Award Presentation

Before ECM or ECMI conference the winner names are kept secret. The Prize recipients are invited to present their work at the ECM or ECMI conference.