Professors Lee Wu-yen, Chyan Chuan-jen, Yu Cherng-yih, Cheng Wei-hou, Chen Kung-yu, and Kau Chin-mei have been given the Award of Excellence 2004 by the Ministry of Education (MOE) for their work in Mathematics group B of the MOE sponsored four-year project of nurturing basic sciences talents. As a token of encouragement, the MOE will present these professors with a trophy and yearly increase subsidy to Tamkang University.

In addition to Tamkang, seven other universities participate in this project, including National Taiwan University, National Sun Yat-sen University, National Dong Hwa University, and National Chung Cheng University. Tamkang is the only award winner from Mathematics group B. The Ministry of Education praised the achievements of the Tamkang team, particularly the website of interesting mathematics (www.math.tku.edu.tw/~mathcamp) catering to senior high school students.

Prof. Lee Wu-yen said the project had been going on for two years. A math camp was held in Tamkang High School and Blessed Imelda’s High School with over 100 participants, who responded positively to the event. This year the team will conduct teaching in Yang Ming High School for mathematically gifted students. Prof. Lee further pointed out the success of the three-day Tamkang math summer camp held last summer and attended by 64 students, who were taught how to use mathematics creatively. They learned how to work out statistics from opinion polls, about the story of pi, and about why black Friday happens every year.

Prof. Chyan Chuan-jen, Chair of the Department of Mathematics, said: “We are going to hold the fourth math summer camp this summer vacation. During the semester, we tour high schools to give speeches: it’s a great chance to nurture high school math talents and, at the same time, to recruit students to Tamkang University.” ( Hui-chuan Wang )