Servet Martínez Aguilera

An expert in the fields of probability theory and stochastic modeling, Servet Martínez Aguilera is a Professor in the Center of Mathematical Modeling, of which he was the scientific director from 2000 to 2002, and in the Department of Mathematical Engineering at the Universidad de Chile. Since 2003 he has also been the scientific director of that university’s Laboratory on BioInformatics and Mathematics of Genome (LBMG).

He received a degree in mathematical engineering from the Universidad de Chile (1975) and joined the faculty there as an assistant professor that same year. Subsequent to his faculty appointment he received doctoral degrees in probabilities (1979) and mathematics (1986) from the Université de Paris 6.

Mr. Martínez Aguilera’s researches have extended from the ergodic description of Markov semigroups converging to equilibrium, to the relations between filtered operators and ultrametricity, to, more recently, killed processes and conditionally invariant distributions. During his Guggenheim term, he continued work on the latter, studying quasi-stationary distributions in killing processes.

His groundbreaking findings have led to his being an invited researcher at institutions around the world, including IMPA in Rio de Janeiro; IME at the University of São Paulo; and CPT-CNRS and IML-CNRS at Luminy, France; among many others. He has also given lectures at a number of important workshops and conferences, such as the International Workshop on Applied Probability at the University of Connecticut (2006); the Lunteren (Netherlands) Meeting on Stochastics (2006); the Oberwolfach (Germany) Workshop on Coagulation and Frangmentation Models (2007); the Workshop in Statistics, Probability, and Operations Research at Jaca, Spain (2007); the Journées de Probabilités at La Londe, France (2007); and the IV Regional Workshop on Probability and Mathematical Statistics in Montevideo, Uruguay (2007).

Mr. Martínez Aguilera has also shared his insights in these fields through his publications, including more than ninety articles, thirteen book chapters, eleven edited volumes, and his monograph Neural Automata Networks. Dynamical Behavior and Applications (1990; 2nd ed., 1991), which he cowrote with E. Golès, and which was awarded the Manuel Montt Prize by the Jorge Montt Foundation and the Universidad de Chile.

His other honors include the National Prize in Exact Sciences (1993) from the Chilean government, the TWAS Award in Mathematics (1999) from the Academy of Sciences of Developed Countries, and the Manuel Noriega Prize in Exact Sciences (1992) from the Organization of American States.

Servet Martínez Aguilera is an elected member of the Chilean Academy of Sciences, over which he has presided as President since 2004, and of the Academy of Sciences of Developed Countries.