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| Dr. Tran Quang Hoa, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Education, Hue University |
The award was announced on June 13th and is expected to be officially given in October 2023. We had an exchange with Dr. Tran Quang Hoa regarding this award.
Can you tell me more about this award?
The French Academy of Sciences was founded in 1666 by King Louis XIV to encourage and protect the spirit of scientific research in this country. It is responsible for reflecting, reviewing and proposing social solutions posed in the development of science and technology, evaluating the quality of research and scientific education, developing international relations in the field of science and technology, while at the same time disseminating scientific achievements to the public.
The Awards of French Academy of Sciences are annually presented to honor scientific research works by French scientists in collaboration with international scientists.
I myself am very honored to receive this award. This year, there are a total of 8 prizes, six of which belong to scientists from Southeast Asia, and the remaining two belong to Vietnamese academics.
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| Students registering to participate in the innovative startup program organized by Hue University |
Can you go into detail about the award-winning scientific topic?
The scientific topic that won the award was “Geometric Descriptions in Commutative Algebraic”. In this topic, we studied the properties of geometric objects, which were used to describe real-life models. This is called geometric modeling.
Geometric modeling is a field that uses mathematics, specifically rational mappings, to describe real-life objects such as cars, planes, etc. In this topic, we studied the complexity of descriptive algorithms through an important invariant, which is the Castelnuovo - Mumford regularity index of the ring, and the hierarchical modulus of Rees algebra.
I was a doctoratal student in France from 2014 - 2017. While I was studying there, Prof. Ngo Viet Trung, Institute of Mathematics, recommended me to Prof. Marc Chardin for cooperation regarding my doctoral thesis. With the help of Prof. Ngo Viet Trung and Prof. Marc Chardin, along with the support and coordination of scientists from the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Education, Hue University, I could achieve this important award.
How will this scientific topic be applied in practice and teaching, sir?
Scientific research in the field of mathematics has many theoretical elements. However, practical application will take many different forms, applicable to other industries, such as search algorithms in Zalo or Facebook, for example.
The winning project has been published internationally and is highly appreciated for its novelty. In practice, the first can be applied in the design changes of transportation means such as cars, airplanes, etc., according to the most optimal principles and data. More specifically, in the case of cars, there will be changes in styling, or the addition of some curves, for example. These changes are made based on the formulas and the indicators so that the changes can be the most optimal.
Secondly, being an in-depth scientific topic, it will help a lot in the training of postgraduate and doctoral students at University of Education, Hue University in the coming time.
Through the process of studying and doing research, what secret do you have?
When learning maths, it is important to maintain your passion, besides honing your thinking skills. Doing scientific research is often a prolonged process, so it takes perseverance and passion to achieve favorable results.
Doing scientific research takes a considerable amount time, so it is necessary to make proper arrangements for family affairs, and to take sacrifices and trade-offs. With perseverance and hard work, luck will come.
Take me as an example. I was very lucky to get fully funded scholarships for my postgraduate studies in Hanoi or in France. Even the Award that I won comes with a degree of luck, for I was fortunate to receive recommendations and helpful guidance from many people so that my research topic managed to beat many other participating research topics.
What should be done to make scientific research more effective, sir?
I find that doing scientific research in Hue is quite difficult. Income from scientific research is not much. If I focused more on offering additional maths classes instead of doing scientific research, my earnings would definitely be higher.
Therefore, on the macro level, central ministries and branches need to fund for scientific research. At Hue University level or at its member university level, there should be policies to encourage its staff to do scientific research. This is because the support currently offered is still incomparable with the enormous effort made.
For lecturers, it is important to seek for suitable topics for research in order to encourage students to do research.
Undergraduate students need to be more active, and research groups for students to collaborate on research should also be established. Becoming a teacher is not the only career path, but it is possible to do in-depth research, pursue a master’s or doctorate, thereby joining the high-quality human resource.
What advice do you have for young scientists and students?
For students in Hue, especially those at Faculty of Mathematics, University of Education, Hue University, the opportunity to find learning and research opportunities abound. I myself work in the faculty, and have introduced many students to participate in certain training programs. Some of the students receive scholarships for master’s studies in Taiwan, Korea, Italy, etc., after graduation, and may continue to study for a doctorate then.
Therefore, it is important to persistently keep the flame of passion for scientific research, make proper arrangements for other stuff and sometimes take sacrifices. Doing scientific research does not mean making something big or conducting works of international stature, but it only involves participating in one stage, getting used to collecting data, learning how to process information, and then geting accustomed to the whole process.
What plans do you have in the future?
The Award of the French Academy of Sciences will be officially given in October 2023, so I will travel to France to receive it and work within a few weeks there.
For lecturers like me, teaching and doing research are two parallel tasks. With my enthusiasm, I will try my best to inspire the undergraduate and postgraduate students. As for scientific research, I will definitely continue to do research to propose novel and in-depth topics to serve teaching.
Thank you, sir!