Pacific Rim Project to Increase Public Awareness of Mathematics

2004 Public Lecture in Singapore and Vietnam

View video presentations by Jack Cowan at the National University of Singapore

Report on Visits to Singapore and Vietnam by Jack Cowan
I arrived in Singapore on January 29 and had a preliminary meeting and discussion with Tan Eng Chye, Dean of Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and President Singapore Mathematical Society; Lee Seng Luan, Chairman, Mathematics Department, NUS; Pang Yu Hin, Associate Professor, Mathematics Department, Director, University Scholars Program and Vice-President, Singapore Mathematical Society; and Hang Kim Hoo, Singapore High School Principal and liaison with NUS, and President of the Association of Mathematics Educators. I then left for Western Australia and returned to Singapore on February 5. I gave two talks on February 6, the first on Geometric Visual Hallucinations, to a mixed audience of high school students and teachers, and a second on Analogies between Forest Fires and Neural Networks, mainly to the teachers. Following this, on Tuesday February 9 I gave a technical lecture to the Mathematics Department at NUS on Symmetry and Pattern Formation in the Visual Cortex. All the lectures were well attended, and I think they were well received, but not many questions were asked. It was clear that the topics were quite unfamiliar to the audiences. I left for Vietnam on February 11.

During my visit to Singapore I had several discussions with Professor’s Lee and Pang, and especially with Professor Louis Chen, Director of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences, who gave me a tour of his Institute. Overall my impression is that Mathematics at NUS is quite well funded, and that the Institute for Mathematical Sciences is a very good place to visit and do research. It was evident that the Mathematics Department is quite traditional in their interests but is looking to expand into Mathematical Biology---in fact I was asked several times for suggestions for candidates for appointment to the Department in Mathematical Biology. I did not get to interact very much with students, however, so I cannot speak to their quality. It seemed that the department would like to have a greater flow of mathematical visitors from the United States and Europe. They seemed a little isolated.

I flew from Singapore to Hanoi on February 11. On February 12, I gave what turned into three consecutive lectures (the same ones I gave in Singapore) to the Mathematics Department at the Hanoi University of Science. My hosts were Pham Ky Anh, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Mechanics, and Computer Science and Professor Ha, Chairman of the Mathematics Department. I found the audience to be quite lively and interested in some of the mathematical problems arising in neuroscience. In fact, Ha made several valuable suggestions concerning symmetry groups. On February 13, I gave a similar set of lectures in the Institute of Mathematics hosted by Ha Huy Khoai, Director of the Institute and brother of Professor Ha, and by my overall host in Vietnam Le Tuan Hoa, Deputy Director of the Institute for Mathematics. Professor Le gave me a tour of the library and showed me their collection of journals, which they obtain by trading copies of their own in house journal with overseas libraries. Le indicated to me that they are very short of journals and books and would welcome donations of materials of any kind. My general impression of the mathematics situation in Vietnam is that there are no more than about 60-70 professional mathematicians in the whole of Vietnam, of whom about 40 are in Hanoi, and most of the rest in Ho Chi Min city. They are not well funded and would welcome any kinds of contact with visitors. On the other hand I was impressed with some of the graduate students. Their English is not very good, but those I could communicate with seemed sharp and hard working. Le indicated to me that he and his colleagues would very much welcome being able to send their best undergraduates to the United States for graduate training. I understand that there is now a U.S. fund for such an activity. I promised to write up a description of the various programs in Mathematical Neuroscience in the United States for Le and the others. I will soon do this and send a copy to Professor Keyfitz.

Overall I found my visit interesting and stimulating, and I was definitely impressed with the mathematics community in Hanoi, and with the quality of the students.

I returned from Hanoi to Singapore on February 15 and left for Chicago on February 16.

Jack Cowan
Mathematics Department
University of Chicago
April 6, 2004.