Being an excellent Alumnus of the Talented Bachelor’s Class of 2003, Alumnus of the 2007 class and the first Valedictorian of the Master Program in French-Vietnamese Applied Mathematics, Professor Phan Thành Nam had an exchange session with students in the Talented Bachelor’s class and students of the Master’s program in French-Vietnamese Applied Mathematics.

Professor Phan Thành Nam is the first Vietnamese to receive the European Mathematical Prize 2020. From October 17^th to October 18^th, Professor Phan Thành Nam gave a lecture on “Semiclassical approximation for Schrödinger operators” for more than 80 students to attend (both in person and online). With an engaging, open and interactive sharing point of view, Professor had brought this challenging topic closer to students passionate about mathematics.

On this occasion, he also had a conversation with lecturers of the Faculty on some issues such as teaching University Mathematics in Germany, collaborating with lecturers of the Faculty to teach an official module (with credits), and co-instructions with lecturers of the Faculty in the near future.

At the event, he shared his experiences learned from Professor Dương Minh Đức: “You prove the available theorems yourself, 99% of you will surely not be able to prove it. When you can’t prove it, you will see where the difficulty is. However, when you separate the difficult point, you will distinguish the new point between this theorem and the previous known theorem. When you realize the tough point and then read the proof, you will understand what the new technique in the theorem is. When you study in that way, you will understand that there are very few techniques in math that are often used over and over again, and there seldom will be a new technique. When you study in that way, you understand the idea more clearly. The more you study, the less memorization you do because the ideas are already here and there, and you can connect it with each other.”

Through practical experiences, Professor Nam has conveyed confidence and great motivation to the juniors to follow their chosen path firmly.

In addition, he shared his other ideas: “The foundation of Mathematics that you studied at the Faculty is enough for you to learn Math in other countries. The Talented Bachelor Program at the Faculty is one of the very successful programs when there are many excellent students each year; The French-Vietnamese Master of Applied Mathematics program is a prestigious and excellent program; students only need one year to get a Master’s degree granted by a French university which is valid throughout Europe. With this degree, students can easily apply for Doctor scholarships at universities in Europe, not to mention scholarships granted by French universities.

Finally, the Professor also reminded his juniors: “The most important factor in doing research and learning higher level is that you have to be stubborn, persistent, and willing to fail a lot. However, you must stay calm in order to succeed”.