On October 23rd, winners of China’s three top prizes in mathematics - Hua Loo-Keng Prize of Mathematics, Shiing Shen Chern Mathematics Award and Zhong Jiaqing Mathematics Award were announced at the Chinese Mathematical Society 2021 Annual Conference opened in Kunming, Yunnan Province. Cao Peigen, Class of 2014 of the School of Mathematical Sciences of Huaqiao University (HQU), with three other young scholars, won the Zhong Jiaqing Mathematics Award.

Born in 1993, Cao Peigen was admitted to the School of Mathematical Sciences of HQU in 2010 to study mathematics and applied mathematics. He was one of the top students and got several "National Encouragement Scholarships" in his college time. He was the vice president of HQU Association of Applied Mathematics and won the second prize of the Preliminary of The 5th National Mathematics Competitions for College Students (Mathematics Category) in Fujian division. Later, he was admitted to School of Mathematical Sciences of Zhejiang University for a successive postgraduate and doctoral program, and did his postdoctoral research in France and Israel after receiving his PhD in 2019. Last March, Cao Peigen returned to his alma mater at Quanzhou for a 3-week academic exchange, offering lectures on cluster algebras. Currently, Cao Peigen is doing his second postdoctoral research in Israel. Some of his research findings have been published in top mathematical journals such as Adv. Math, Math. Ann, and Compos. Math.

Zhong Jiaqing Mathematics Award was established in memory of Professor Zhong Jiaqing, who devoted all his life to the development of mathematics in China. To commemorate him and fulfill his last wish of developing mathematics in his homeland, Chinese mathematical community set up Zhong Jiaqing Fund in 1987 and established Zhong Jiaqing Mathematics Award to reward every two years the most outstanding graduate and doctoral students in mathematics nationwide. Since 1988, 15 sessions have been held, with no more than four winners selected each time.

HQU Alumnus Cao Peigen

(Editor: Cai Juntao)