Next month President Bush will present both the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology??-the nation's highest awards in those fields-to affiliates of UW-Madison.
UW-Madison mathematics and computer science Professor Carl de Boor will receive the Medal of Science at the White House March 14. De Boor is widely known for his work on simplifying complex spline functions, research that has led to uses from film special effects to advances in the transportation industry.
John Marburger, Bush's science adviser, personally called de Boor to inform him about the medal.
\This quite took my breath away,"" de Boor said. ""I had never thought of myself as belonging to that class [of scientists]"".
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) will receive the Medal of Technology for its work in transferring university discoveries to the public via a process called university technology transfer.
""The founders of WARF had tremendous foresight, and it is their vision that has led to this honor both for us and our industry,"" said Carl Gulbrandsen, WARF managing director.
-Ivy Okoniewski
