Frederick A. Howes Scholar Awards

Frederick A.  Howes

The Award
The Frederick A. Howes Scholar in Computational Science award was established to honor the late Frederick Anthony Howes who managed the Applied Mathematical Science Program in the U.S. Department of Energy during the 1990s.  Dr. Howes was highly respected and admired for his energy, dedication and personal integrity.

One of Howes’ responsibilities was to oversee the Department of Energy’s Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (CSGF) program.  He was extremely committed to this program which supports graduate students in computational science.  This program is unique as it requires candidates to take courses in mathematics, computer science and an applications discipline, such as physics or engineering.  The CSGF program currently supports over 70 graduate students and is administered by the Krell Institute.

To honor his memory and his dedication to the Department of Energy’s Computational Science Graduate Fellowship program, one or two CSGF fellows will be chosen each calendar year as a Howes Scholar.  This award will provide the recipients with a substantial cash award, a plaque, and the distinction of being named a Howes Scholar. 

2008 Scholar
Dr. Mala Radhakrishnan of Wellesley College was named the Howes Scholar for 2008 (see the press release).  Dr. Radhakrishnan was a CSGF fellow from 2040-2007. She graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007 with a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Wellesley College, where she is head of a research group that uses computational techniques for the design and analysis of drugs and othe biologically-relevant molecules. Dr. Radhakrisna received her award at the 2008 CSGF Fellows’ conference; there she gave a presentation entitled “The Many Roles of Computational Science in Drug Design and Analysis” (available here).

2007 Scholars
Once again, an outstanding slate of candidates yielded two winners: Dr. Jaydeep Bardhan (front row, left) of Argonne National Laboratory and Dr. Kristen Grauman (front row, right) of the University of Texas at Austin [press release].  Dr. Bardhan, a Wilkinson Fellow at Argonne, was a CSGF fellow from 2002-2006; he received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006.  Dr. Grauman is the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Computer Science at UT-Austin; she was in the fellowship program from 2001-2005 and obtained her Ph.D. in computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006.  Drs. Bardhan and Grauman received their awards during the 2007 CSGF Annual Fellows’ Conference.  Dr. Bardhan presented a talk entitled “PDE-Constrained Optimization of Biomolecule Electrostatics” and Dr. Grauman’s talk was entitled “Scalable Image Recognition and Retrieval”.

2006 Scholars
Another fine roster of nominees made this year's selection difficult. The winners were Dr. Matthew Wolinsky (left) of the University of Minnesota and Dr. Kevin Chu (right) of Princeton University [press release].  Dr. Chu participated in the CSGF program from 2002 through 2005, obtaining a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005. Dr. Wolinksy, a CSGF fellow from 2001-2005, graduated from Duke University in 2005 with a Ph.D. in Earth and Ocean Sciences.  The awards were presented during the 2006 Annual Fellows’ Conference.  Dr. Chu presented a talk entitled “Towards an Understanding of Nonlinear Electochemical Transport” and Dr. Wolinsky’s talk was entitled “Modeling Earth Surface Dynamics from Source to Sink”.

2005 Scholars
Once again, an exceptional list of nominees prompted the selection of two awards this year.  The winners were Dr. Judith Hill of Carnegie Mellon University and Dr. Ryan Elliott of the University of Minnesota [press release].  Dr. Hill, a CSGF fellow from 1999-2003, graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004 with a Ph.D. in Computational Science and Engineering.  Dr. Elliott was in the Fellowship program from 2000-2004 and received his Ph.D. in Aero Engineering and Scientific Computing from the University of Michigan in 2004.  Drs.  Hill and Elliott received their awards at the 2005 CSGF Fellows' Conference; each gave a talk, which you may view online by following the appropriate links on the conference agenda page.

2004 Scholar
Dr. Collin Wick of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) was named the Howes Scholar for 2004 (see the press release).  Dr. Wick, a CSGF fellow from 2000-2003, graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2003 with a Ph.D. in chemistry. He then did postdoctoral work at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, before joining PNNL in July 2004.  Dr. Wick received his award at the 2004 CSGF Fellows’ conference, where he gave a presentation entitled “Simulating PEO melts using connectivity-altering Monte Carlo” (which you may view here).

2003 Scholars
Two of the many fine nominees received the Howes Scholar Award in 2003: Dr. Oliver Fringer of Stanford University and Dr. Jon Wilkening of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (see the press release).  Both Dr. Fringer and Dr. Wilkening were CSGF fellows from 1997-2001.  Dr. Fringer graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2003.  Dr. Wilkening graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2003, receiving a Ph.D. in Mathematics.  Dr. Fringer attended the Howes Scholars award presentation during the 2003 CSGF Fellows’ Conference, which took place July 14-17 in Washington DC.  There he gave a talk entitled “Nonhydrostatic Parallel Coastal Ocean Modeling” at the award presentation. 

Dr. Wilkening was unable to attend the CSGF Fellows’ Conference but received his award at a reception on October 2 at the Courant Institute (here are some pictures from the reception). Dr. Wilkening accepted an invitation to speak at the 2004 CSGF Fellows’ conference, where he gave a presentation entitled “Grain boundary diffusion due to stress and electromigration” (which you may view here).

2001 Scholars
Because there were so many outstanding nominees for the award in the year 2001, two winners were selected.  Dr. Mayya Tokman of the California Institute of Technology and Dr. Jeffrey Hittinger of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were named the first Frederick A. Howes Scholars in Computational Science [press release].  Both Dr. Hittinger and Dr. Tokman were CSGF fellows from 1996-2000.  Dr. Tokman graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics.  Dr. Hittinger graduated from the University of Michigan with a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and Scientific Computing.  There was a special presentation to the Howes Scholars at the 2001 CSGF conference held July 19-21 in Washington DC.

How to Contribute
The award was developed through individual donations with the goal of creating a permanent endowment to generate a cash award and plaque for each Howes Scholar.  The fellowship program is managed by the Krell Institute, a non-profit organization, and donations to the Howes Scholar Fund are fully tax-deductible.  If you wish to contribute, send checks made payable to “The Frederick Anthony Howes Scholar Fund” to

The Krell Institute

1609 Golden Aspen Drive

Suite 101

Ames, IA 50010

Questions
Contact Jeana Gingery at gingery@krellinst.org for more information regarding this award or the CSGF program.

Contact:
DOE CSGF Program Coordinator
1609 Golden Aspen Drive, Suite 101
Ames, IA 50010
515.956.3696 (phone)  515.956.3699 (fax)
csgf@krellinst.org