Wednesday 18 March 2015

2015 Prigogine Award

B. Larry Li
The 2015 Prigogine Gold Medal was awarded to Bai-Lian Larry Li, Professor at the University of California, USA

The Prigogine Gold Medal 2015 Award Ceremony took place on Wednesday 3rd June in València. This prestigious event is sponsored by the Politecnic University of València, on the occasion of the 10th International Conference on Ecosystems and Sustainable Development and the 21st International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment. The Prigogine Medal was established in 2004 by the University of Siena and the Wessex Institute of Technology to honour the memory of Professor Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
Ilya Prigogine was born in Moscow in 1917, and obtained his undergraduate and graduate education in chemistry at the Free University in Brussels. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures. The main theme of his scientific work was the role of time in the physical sciences and biology. He contributed significantly to the understanding of irreversible processes,particularly in systems far from equilibrium. The results of his work have had profound consequences for understanding biological and ecological systems. Prigogine’s ideas established the basis for ecological systems research. The Prigogine Medal to honour his memory is awarded annually to a leading scientist in the field of ecological systems. All recipients have been deeply influenced by the work of Prigogine.

B. Larry Li is Professor of Ecology and Director of three research Centres at the University of California, Riverside, ie the International Centre for Ecology and Sustainability, the International Centre for Arid Land Ecology, and the US Department of Agriculture – China Joint Research Centre for AgroEcology and Sustainability. Professor Li has a broad inter-disciplinary background and experience in mathematical, statistical and computational modelling applications in ecological studies.

Professor Li is a Fellow of the Institute for Human Ecology, USA; Chair Professor of the Chinese Academy of Science, Honorary Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science among other important recognitions. He currently presides over the Eco-Summit Foundation and is a member of NFS Scientific Panels. He has been the founder and editor of the prestigious International Journal on Ecological Complexity and the Journal of Arid Land. He organised many symposia and courses with other organisations, including the Max-Planck and Santa Fe Institutes.

Prof Li has worked on a wide variety of ecological projects including recent involvement in energetic and thermodynamic ecological systems and restoration ecological patters formations and long-term ecological research in the USA and internationally. He has published more than 200 refereed Journal articles, and numerous conference papers in addition to 30 book chapters and 8 books or edited special issues.

SPECIAL PRIGOGINE LECTURE

Towards an energetically and thermodynamically-sounded approach to ecological complexity, modelling and sustainability to be delivered by Professor B. Larry Li at the Polytecnic University of València, Spain

For further information about the Prigogine Awards, please contact Professor Carlos A. Brebbia at the Wessex Institute of Technology or see www.wessex.ac.uk/prigogine2015

For details of the previous Prigogine Award see: www.wessex.ac.uk/prigogine2014