Stieltjesprijs 2016 awarded to Richard Kraaij (applied probability)

Every year, the Stichting Compositio Mathematica, awards the Stieltjesprijs for the best Dutch thesis. All Dutch theses automatically qualify for this award.

This year the jury consisted of Aernout van Enter (RUG), Barry Koren (TU/e), Frans Oort (UU), Richard Gill (UL), Marc Uetz (UT) and Odo Diekmann (UU, president). They have reviewed a number of 79 theses. After much discussed they narrowed them down to two best theses. Amongst which the thesis of Richard Kraaij and his promotors Frank Redig and Frank den Hollander (UL), titled “Semigroup methods for large deviations of Markov processes”.

Kraaij works at the intersection of probability and functional analyses. In his thesis he managed to impressively built a tight theoretical framework for the analysis of 'large deviations of Markov processes', in which he combines a great number of technical complicated arguments in a sublime manner. A referent put it like this ‘He looks far, has got dare, and is technically strong’. His thesis is very clear written. At the moment, Kraaij is translating his results  into motivating physical applications.

The award ceremony will be held during the NMC 2018, from 3-4 April 2018 in “De Koningshof” in Veldhoven. Both winners will present their work.

Source: Koninklijk Wiskundig Genootschap