SigmaPhi Prizes
The SigmaPhi Prize for 2017 will be awarded during SigmaPhi2017 Conference
to Ralf Metzler, David Mukamel and Stefano Ruffo.
The SigmaPhi Prize was instituted by the SigmaPhi Conference to honor outstanding achievements in Statistical Physics. The Award ceremony takes place every three years during the opening session of the Conference and each laureate receives a diploma. Previous winners of the SigmaPhi Prize are: Giorgio Parisi, Itamar Procaccia and Eugene Stanley.
2017 SigmaPhi Prize:
From left to right: Stefano Ruffo (SigmaPhi 2017 Prize), David Mukamel (SigmaPhi 2017 Prize), Ralf Metzler (SigmaPhi 2017 Prize), Giorgio Kaniadakis (Chairman of SigmaPhi Conference), Cristian Beck (Chair of EPS-SNLP Division)
Ralf Metzler: for his outstanding contributions to the Statistical Physics of Non-equilibrium phenomena and Biological Physics, in particular, for his contributions in the field of anomalous diffusion, non-ergodicity, and single molecular processes
Short biography: Ralf Metzler studied physics at Ulm University and had postdocs at Tel Aviv University and MIT. He has held faculty positions at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Copenhagen, University of Ottawa, Technical University of Munich, Tampere University of Technology, and University of Potsdam. He has been developing the fractional Fokker-Planck equation framework, the concept of time averaging of stochastic processes and their ageing and non-ergodic behaviour. Moreover, Ralf has been involved in the study of diffusion-based molecular egulation and first passage processes, as well as simulations of soft matter dynamics with crowding.
David Mukamel: for his outstanding contributions to the understanding the role of symmetry in equilibrium and out of equilibrium phase transitions
Short biography: David Mukamel studied physics at The Weizmann Institute and was a postdocal fellow at Brookhaven National Lab and Cornell University. He has been holding a faculty position at The Weizmann Institute since 1977. In his studies he combined statistical physics together with group theoretical methods to study collective behavior of many-body systems in and out of thermal equilibrium. His studies on long-range order and long-range correlations contributed to the understanding of these phenomena in diverse classes of physical systems including magnets, liquid crystals, DNA melting, driven systems and others.
Stefano Ruffo: for his outstanding contributions to the statistical and dynamical behaviour of systems of nonlinear coupled oscillators and with long-range interactions.
Short biography: Stefano Ruffo is the Director of the International School for Advances Studies (SISSA) in Trieste. He has been the Chairman of the Statistical Physics Commission of IUPAP in 2012-2014. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the E. Schroedinger Institute (2016-18) and of the Board of the Statistical and Nonlinear Physics Division of the EPS (2016-18). Among his scientific achievements one can mention the numerical evidence of the transition to equipartition in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) model, the demonstration of the thermodynamic limit of the Lyapunov spectrum, the introduction of the concept of chaotic breather, the discussion of quasi-stationary states in the Hamiltonian Mean Field Model (HMF) and of ensemble inequivalence in systems with long-range interactions.
Short biography: Ralf Metzler studied physics at Ulm University and had postdocs at Tel Aviv University and MIT. He has held faculty positions at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Copenhagen, University of Ottawa, Technical University of Munich, Tampere University of Technology, and University of Potsdam. He has been developing the fractional Fokker-Planck equation framework, the concept of time averaging of stochastic processes and their ageing and non-ergodic behaviour. Moreover, Ralf has been involved in the study of diffusion-based molecular egulation and first passage processes, as well as simulations of soft matter dynamics with crowding.
David Mukamel: for his outstanding contributions to the understanding the role of symmetry in equilibrium and out of equilibrium phase transitions
Short biography: David Mukamel studied physics at The Weizmann Institute and was a postdocal fellow at Brookhaven National Lab and Cornell University. He has been holding a faculty position at The Weizmann Institute since 1977. In his studies he combined statistical physics together with group theoretical methods to study collective behavior of many-body systems in and out of thermal equilibrium. His studies on long-range order and long-range correlations contributed to the understanding of these phenomena in diverse classes of physical systems including magnets, liquid crystals, DNA melting, driven systems and others.
Stefano Ruffo: for his outstanding contributions to the statistical and dynamical behaviour of systems of nonlinear coupled oscillators and with long-range interactions.
Short biography: Stefano Ruffo is the Director of the International School for Advances Studies (SISSA) in Trieste. He has been the Chairman of the Statistical Physics Commission of IUPAP in 2012-2014. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the E. Schroedinger Institute (2016-18) and of the Board of the Statistical and Nonlinear Physics Division of the EPS (2016-18). Among his scientific achievements one can mention the numerical evidence of the transition to equipartition in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) model, the demonstration of the thermodynamic limit of the Lyapunov spectrum, the introduction of the concept of chaotic breather, the discussion of quasi-stationary states in the Hamiltonian Mean Field Model (HMF) and of ensemble inequivalence in systems with long-range interactions.