Edward Seidel (born August 21, 1957) is an American academic administrator and scientist serving as the president of the University of Wyoming since July 1, 2020.[1] He previously served as the Vice President for Economic Development and Innovation for the University of Illinois System, as well as a Founder Professor in the Department of Physics and a professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[2] He was the director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Illinois from 2014 to 2017.

Ed Seidel
28th President of the University of Wyoming
Assumed office
July 1, 2020
Preceded byNeil Theobald
Personal details
Born (1957-08-21) August 21, 1957 (age 67)
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
EducationCollege of William and Mary (BS)
University of Pennsylvania (MS)
Yale University (PhD)
AwardsSidney Fernbach Award
Gordon Bell Prize
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
Institutions
ThesisPerturbation methods for the calculation of gravitational waves from slightly nonspherical spacetimes with applications to stellar core collapse (1988)
Doctoral advisorVincent Moncrief

Early life and education

edit

Seidel was born in Bethesda, Maryland. Seidel is a relative of Chicago artist Emory Seidel. He earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and physics from the College of William & Mary, Master of Science in physics from the University of Pennsylvania, and PhD in relativistic astrophysics from Yale University. Seidel's research has focused on astronomy, physics, and computer science.[3]

Career

edit

Seidel moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to lead the LSU Center for Computation and Technology in 2003. Prior to his work at CCT, he worked at the Albert Einstein Institute in Potsdam, Germany and also worked as a research scientist and professor at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[4][5][6]

From September 2012 until January 2014, he was the senior vice president for research and innovation at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology.[7][8] Previously, he was the assistant director for Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the National Science Foundation and was director of NSF's Office of Cyberinfrastructure.[9][10]

Before moving to NSF, Seidel was the founding director of the LSU Center for Computation & Technology, or CCT, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is a career computer scientist and physicist who has received a number of awards for his work. His most noted achievements are in the field of numerical relativity, which involves solving Einstein's equations on computers. Seidel's research groups are known for modeling black hole collisions and for work in scientific computing. He is also a co-founder of the Cactus Framework.[11]

In Louisiana, Seidel served as the first Chief Scientist for the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, or LONI, which connects supercomputing resources throughout Louisiana to enable faster and more accurate research collaboration.

In November 2006, Seidel received the Sidney Fernbach Award[12][13][14] at the Supercomputing Conference in Tampa, Florida.[15] for "outstanding contributions to the development of software for HPC and Grid computing to enable the collaborative numerical investigation of complex problems in physics; in particular, modeling black hole collisions."[16] This award, which is one of the highest honors in computing, was given for his achievements in numerical relativity.

In 1998 Seidel was awarded the Max Planck Society's Heinz-Billing-Preis award, for the "achievements of those who have spent time and effort developing the hardware and software crucial for scientific advances.[17] He shared the Gordon Bell Prize in 2001 with colleagues.[18]

Seidel was the Floating Point Systems Professor in Louisiana State University LSU's Departments of Physics and Astronomy and Computer Science.

Seidel was named President of the University of Wyoming in 2020, where he has pursued the creation of a School of Computing, the Wyoming Outdoor Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality (WORTH) Initiative, and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Trustees Select Seidel as UW's 28th President". Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  2. ^ Edward Seidelvpedi.uillinois.edu Archived September 16, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Edward Seidel". Grainger Engineering Office of Marketing and. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  4. ^ NCSA director Edward Seidel He is a distinguished researcher in high-performance computing and relativity and astrophysics with an outstanding track record as an administrator. In addition to leading NCSA, he is also a Founder Professor in the University of Illinois Department of Physics and a professor in the Department of Astronomy.
  5. ^ "H. Edward Seidel the senior vice president of research and innovation at Moscow's Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, has been named the director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Illinois."
  6. ^ Director, National Center for Supercomputing Applications LinkedIn [better source needed]
  7. ^ Karin Fischer (October 15, 2012). "To Spur Interdisciplinary Research, an Astrophysicist Moves to Russia". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  8. ^ "Edward Seidel". Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology. Retrieved November 23, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "LSU Center for Computation & Technology Director To Head National Science Foundation's Office of Cyberinfrastructure" (Press release). National Science Foundation. June 10, 2008. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
  10. ^ TeraGrid '11: Ed Seidel, retrieved July 28, 2022
  11. ^ "Edward Seidel". scholar.google.com. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  12. ^ "About Sidney Fernbach | IEEE Computer Society". April 9, 2018.
  13. ^ Brooks, David (December 26, 2014). "Opinion | The Sidney Awards, Part I". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  14. ^ Brooks, David (December 30, 2014). "Opinion | The Sidney Awards, Part 2". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  15. ^ "Edward Seidel 2006 Sidney Fernbach Award Recipient". IEEE Computer Society Awards. IEEE Computer Society. Archived from the original on August 15, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
  16. ^ "Edward Seidel: 2006 Sidney Fernbach Award Recipient". Archived from the original on August 15, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
  17. ^ "Home". www.billingpreis.mpg.de. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  18. ^ Ed Seidel
edit