Mathematical science plays an important role in today's international technological developments and in the competitiveness of scientific talents. Moreover, the application of math in technologies which affect peoples' daily lives has also become increasingly widespread. In order to cope with the challenges of our future, young students should have a good math education. The international society has long advocated that students should be given stimulus to cultivate their scientific research and innovation ability at en early age, so as a result many awards were set up to encourage young students to pursue innovative research. For instance, in the United States the Intel Science Talent Search (formerly known as The Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology) is not just an ordinary math competition, but rather emphasizes the importance of innovation and realization. It spurs the enthusiasm of American high school and college students to pursue scientific research. Many award winners later became famous scientists. Statistics has shown that of the winners of the Westinghouse Competition , five later won the Nobel Prize in Science, whereas twenty seven became members of the American Academy of Science.

In view of the above, it is important to set up a math award in Taiwan to help cultivate young mathematical talents. NTU's Department of Mathematics took the initiative to establish the Shing Tung Yau Award in Math and invited distinguished math scholars to serve as judges. Through special topic research, the Award aims to enhance the mathematical capability of the new generation high school students, to inspire their interests to explore knowledge and to raise their academic standards. Academia Sinica academician Dr. Shing Tung Yau (now a chair professor at Harvard University) is a world famous mathematician and also the first Chinese scholar to win the Fields Medal. Over the past twenty years he has made great contributions to the mathematical society of Taiwan, and his concern and dedication are commonly acknowledged. Dr. Yau's road to success is by far the best example for the youngsters of Taiwan to follow, so NTU's newly established Math Award is named after him.

Entry Qualifications:

1. Participants should be enrolled in a high school or junior high school, and participate in the competition on a personal basis.
2. Participants need to have a high school or junior high school teacher as his/her tutor, his/her entry can be a piece of pure mathematical research, or an integrated study of mathematical applications in other areas (such as natural science or finance).

The submitted entry must be an original innovative work, and not a rehash of known documents. Nor can the submitted entry be one which has won awards in other math competitions or scientific exhibitions (non winners are not confined by this rule). There is no restrictions on the mathematical knowledge or tools used in the preparation of the submitted entries. The entries can be written either in Chinese or in English. The deadline for on-line registration is March 31st. Participants must e-mail complete electronic file of his /her entry in the PDF format to the Department of Mathematics of NTU before May 31st.

Contact: NTU Math Department:
- http://www.math.ntu.edu.tw/~shing_tung/
- Telephone : (02)3366-9902
- Fax : (02)3366-4471
- E-mail : tassist1@math.ntu.edu.tw