Source: School of Earth Sciences and Engineering
Edited by: Zheng Longfei, Wang Dongmei

The International Association for Mathematical Geosciences (IAMG) announced that Professor Qiuming Cheng has been elected the IAMG Distinguished Lecturer of year 2022. Professor Peter Dowd, the president of IAMG, sent a letter of congratulations to Professor Cheng.

IAMG is an international scientific organization that serves an international community of mathematical geoscientists (mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, geoinformaticians and earth scientists). To promote mathematical geosciences worldwide, IAMG established a Distinguished Lecture (DL) series in 2000. Each year IAMG elects an eminent mathematical geoscientist to serve as the IAMG DL and financially supports the DL to deliver a series of academic lectures and training courses for the international Earth science community. The purpose of the IAMG Distinguished Lecture series is to demonstrate to the broader earth science community the power of mathematical geosciences to address routine geoscientific interpretation and to tackle critical earth scientific issues.

Professor Cheng is an internationally recognized leader in mathematical geosciences. His pioneering research on the new fractal density theory and nonlinear mathematical models for singularity analysis made major impacts on several geoscientific disciplines, including those concerned with extreme geological events originated from nonlinear processes of plate tectonics such as formation of supercontinents, magmatism, mid-ocean ridge heat flow, earthquakes and mineralization. His multifractal filtering and singularity analysis techniques are now routinely applied for anomaly identification in mineral exploration and environmental assessment. Professor Cheng has received several prestigious awards including the William Christian Krumbein Medal, the highest award bestowed by the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences (2008), the National Science and Technology Progress Award awarded by the Chinese Government (2013), and the AAG Gold Medal, the highest award bestowed by the International Association of Applied Geochemists (AAG) (2021). Professor Cheng served as associate editor for Computers & Geosciences and the Journal of Exploration Geochemistry. Professor Cheng co-chaired two IAMG Annual Conferences (Toronto, 2005, Beijing, 2007). He has served as President of the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences (2012-2016), President of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) (2016-2020) and member of the Committee of Science Planning of International Science Council (ISC) (2019-). Professor Cheng was elected a Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (2019) and a foreign member of Academia European (MAE) (2020). He is now a professor at the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University.