Wolfram Innovator Award 2014

Wolfram technologies have long been a major force in many areas of industry and research. Leaders in many top organizations and institutions have played a major role in using computational intelligence and pushing the boundaries of how the Wolfram technology stack is leveraged for innovation across fields and disciplines.

We recognize these deserving recipients with the Wolfram Innovator Award, which is awarded at the Wolfram Technology Conferences around the world.

Frank Scherbaum

Areas: Musicology, Probability Theory, Seismology, Signal Processing

Frank Scherbaum, a professor of geophysics at the University of Potsdam, has been using Wolfram technologies since Mathematica 1. He has developed packages for signal processing, seismology, and seismic hazard analysis, which are widely used in research and teaching. His most recent book on probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, developed with the help of his students Nico Kuehn and Annabel Hëndel, covers widely diverse areas such as probability theory, earthquake seismology, strong motion processing, and geotechnical engineering, and has been fully generated with Mathematica and CDF technology. In addition, he uses Mathematica extensively as a hobby musicologist to explore new ways to represent and classify polyphonic vocal music.

Chad Slaughter

Areas: Actuarial Sciences, Data Mining and Analysis, Economics, Finance, Financial Risk, Risk, Risk Analysis

At Enova Financial, Chad Slaughter used Mathematica’s deep analysis capabilities to better understand the relationship between performance data and top-level business metrics. This led to the Colossus Project, a completely automated platform that handles Enova’s online loan approval system and can process more than 20,000 loans per hour. Now a consultant, Slaughter is also using Wolfram Development Platform (formerly Wolfram Programming Cloud) to create solutions for Eligo Energy.

Bruce Torrence

Areas: Authoring and Publishing, Authoring in Mathematica, Computer Graphics and Visual Arts, Computer-Aided Education, Education, Mathematics

Bruce Torrence is the author of numerous Mathematica books and articles including The Student’s Introduction to Mathematica, a popular general reference book for students and educators. In addition to publishing dozens of articles on the use of Mathematica in education and research, Torrence recently completed a five-year editorship at Math Horizons and is a Wolfram Science Summer School alumni.