George Em Karniadakis, the Charles Pitts Robinson and John Palmer Barstow Professor of Applied Mathematics at Brown University, has been awarded the 2026 William Benter Prize in Applied Mathematics, one of the most prestigious international awards in the field. The prize carries an award of US$100,000 and is presented biennially by City University of Hong Kong.

The William Benter Prize recognizes outstanding mathematical contributions that have had a direct and fundamental impact on applications in science, engineering, finance, and business. The prize places Karniadakis among an exceptional group of internationally renowned applied mathematicians who have previously received the honor.

Karniadakis was selected by an international committee comprising Professor Thanasis Fokas (University of Cambridge), Professor Jon Keating (University of Oxford), Professor Pierre-Louis Lions (Collège de France), and Professor Peter Miller (University of Michigan). He was nominated for the prize by Professor Yuri Bazilevs.

A pioneer in computational and applied mathematics, Karniadakis is widely recognized for his foundational contributions to spectral/hp element methods, uncertainty quantification via generalized polynomial chaos, high-dimensional stochastic modeling, and multiscale simulations of physical and biological systems. His work has had lasting influence across fluid dynamics, partial differential equations, fractional calculus, and data-driven scientific computing.

As part of the award, Karniadakis is also granted the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong to receive the prize in person and deliver a plenary lecture at a special conference on applied mathematics, to be held June 9–12, 2026, with the award ceremony and lecture scheduled for the morning of June 9.