Recently, the ceremony of Nankai University “In Remembrance of Masters” serial awards – Jiang Lifu and Shiing-Shen Chern Faculty Scholarship and Student Scholarship Awards was held in Balitai Campus.

Zhang Wenzhong, President of Nankai Alumni Business Association, founder of Wumart Group and founder of DMALL; Yang Qingshan, Chancellor of Nankai University; Hou Zixin, former President of Nankai University; and Long Yiming, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at Chern Institute of Mathematics, attended the ceremony. The Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences presided over the awards ceremony.

At the ceremony, the guests presented Nankai University “In Remembrance of Masters” serial awards including “Jiang Lifu Outstanding Faculty Award”, “Jiang Lifu Outstanding Student Award”, “Shiing-Shen Chern Scholarship”, “Shiing-Shen Chern Class Scholarship” and “Shiing-Shen Chern Newcomer Award” to the outstanding faculty and student representatives. Eleven professors and 170 students received the awards, with a total prize money of over six million yuan.

On behalf of Nankai University, Yang Qingshan offered warm congratulations to the award-winning faculty and students, and said that the awards were established in remembrance of Mr. Jiang Lifu, the founder of Nankai University’s mathematics discipline, and Mr. Shiing-Shen Chern, a master of mathematics, as well as for keeping up the fine tradition of the university’s mathematics discipline.

As an initiator of the series of awards, Zhang Wenzhong introduced that this award was set up to give full play to Nankai University’s unique advantages and present scholarships named after masters to encourage faculty and students to learn, use, study and explore the frontiers of mathematics with a fully open mind. Zhang Wenzhong gave a speech entitled “Learning and Using Mathematics to Make Our Life More Meaningful” to share his experience of studying at the Department of Mathematics of Nankai University.

Hou Zixin reviewed the process of Mr. Shiing-Shen Chern proposing the establishment of the “Jiang Lifu Scholarship” in the 1980s and taking the lead in donating money. Thereafter, the “Master Scholarship” has evolved into today’s Nankai University “In Remembrance of Masters” serial awards, with donations from alumni such as Zhang Wenzhong and Zhou Haibing.

Academician Long Yiming congratulated the award-winning academician Ge Molin and other teachers and students, and expressed his gratitude to the alumni including Zhang Wenzhong and Zhou Haibing for donating funds in support of the development of the alma mater.

Liu Minqian, a professor at the School of Statistics and Data Science, delivered a speech on behalf of the award-winning faculty.

Chen Hengyu, a master student enrolled at the Chern Institute of Mathematics in 2022, expressed his heartfelt thanks to the leaders, alumni and teachers on behalf of the students who won Nankai University “In Remembrance of Masters” serial awards.

Zhou Bin, a professor who won the “Bole Award”, delivered a speech.

It is learned that Nankai University “In Remembrance of Masters” serial awards was formerly known as the “Wumart Science Master Award” set up with the donation of Zhang Wenzhong in 2004. In 2020, when Nankai University celebrated the centenary of its mathematics discipline, Zhang Wenzhong received positive responses from many alumni including Zhou Haibing. Nankai University “In Remembrance of Masters” serial awards, including “Shiing-Shen Chern Faculty Scholarship”, “Jiang Lifu Outstanding Teacher Award” and “Chen Bingfu Faculty Scholarship”, emerged as a result of donations from the “Wenzhong Fund”, the “Zhide Fund”, etc. The awards, with an annual expenditure of over 5 million yuan, recognize excellence in talent introduction, education and teaching, scientific research, student training and other fields.