New Harvard University Math Student: 'My Idol is Professor Ngo Bao Chau'

Le Vu Minh Tri (grade 12 math 1 student, Hanoi Amsterdam High School for the Gifted) was admitted to Harvard University (USA). In addition to his passion for mathematics and considering Professor Ngo Bao Chau as his idol, Tri is also passionate about the Nam Hong Son martial arts school and wishes to share the good things of Nam Hong Son with his friends at Harvard University.

Le Vu Minh Tri answered reporters' questions right on the martial arts practice ground in the Quan Thanh Temple (Ba Dinh District, Hanoi ) while preparing to study in the US.

Le Vu Minh Tri has a passion for the Nam Hong Son martial arts school.

NGUYEN QUOC - TRAN BINH

Remembering Vietnam with its bustling streets and sidewalk cafes

When you go to America, how do you imagine your homesickness and how will you fill that homesickness? Le Vu Minh Tri: In about a month, I will enter Harvard University (USA). I ​​am not there yet, but I think I will miss cultural features like the bustling street atmosphere, the sidewalk cafes, friends sitting and drinking tea together, the crowded urban traffic, the streets like in Vietnam. I learned about the school and the campus of Harvard University, and found that all the amenities are available. But why do I have to stay at school when in the same city there is another prestigious natural science school, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)? When I go there, I will look for and meet acquaintances, Vietnamese and Vietnamese-origin people who are teachers and friends. It will be comfortable to sit down and chat or hang out together. I am studying far away, so I will miss my mother. My mother is a cake decorator. My mother is one of the first Vietnamese people to ever receive the most prestigious international cake award, commonly known as the "Oscar of cakes", the "Cake Master Awards 2017". That year, my mother was invited to Birmingham (UK) to receive the award. The following year, my mother brought me along when she presented the award to her successor. That year, I was in the second semester of grade 8, around 14 years old. It was my first time going abroad so it felt strange. This time studying abroad, I will miss the people and memories of my homeland. Who is my idol? I will pursue a major in mathematics, so of course my idol is Professor Ngo Bao Chau - who has spent his entire career doing mathematics and researching mathematics. Professor Chau also contributed to the development of Vietnamese mathematics. I will learn from him and try to follow his example.

Tri loves and is passionate about math, his idol is Professor Ngo Bao Chau.

NVCC

Will let this passion lead me

You went to the US to study, so after graduating, will you return to Vietnam to work and do research? You will major in mathematics. My question is related to each person's direction, to the development of the field you study in Vietnam, and what opportunities there will be for research and work. If the field develops, you have the opportunity to research mathematics and have a stable life, then you will return to Vietnam to work. Or you will research in the US but will regularly return to cooperate with Vietnam to develop the country's mathematics industry together, like Professor Ngo Bao Chau. Mr. Chau is the one who participated in establishing the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM), creating a working environment equivalent to some developed countries in mathematics, making Vietnamese mathematics develop sustainably, contributing positively to the development of the country and raising the position of Vietnamese mathematics. Professor Chau also returned to Vietnam to teach, and was also the one who wrote the first articles in the Pi magazine of the Vietnam Mathematical Society, to spread the love of mathematics to the public. Will you pursue mathematics for the rest of your life like your idol - Professor Ngo Bao Chau? I myself am a person who loves and is passionate about mathematics, but at present I understand that I do not know enough about mathematics, so this will be a long and difficult journey. There are many paths for me to choose when I start on this path, such as researching pure mathematics or pursuing applied mathematics... I think it is difficult to know in advance, so I think I will let this passion lead me, because this is life and no one knows what will happen. I will still pursue mathematics, but who knows if there is another turn for me in the future, such as AI (artificial intelligence), which is also a field that I am currently very interested in. Pursuing the path of mathematical research will also help you open up many different paths and opportunities in the future.

The Correlation Between Mathematics and Martial Arts

As a math major, do you study "biasedly", meaning you only focus on the main subjects? I think knowledge in all subjects is interesting, but at school, both teachers and students have to complete the program and finish the score issue. Knowledge that is related to you is even more interesting. For example, my friend traveled all over Vietnam, saw the landscapes of the provinces with his own eyes, he said that studying geography is now much easier; another friend learned about AI by himself and found statistics interesting. I think writing is interesting and necessary, for example, how to answer the press concisely ( laughs ).

Tri wants to spread Nam Hong Son martial arts to Harvard University

NGUYEN QUOC - TRAN BINH

How did you start practicing and learning martial arts? I started learning martial arts around April 2023. From junior high school to high school, my parents also let me play tennis, swim, cycle... Through such training sessions, I found myself not very flexible. Last year, my father let me learn more martial arts (Nam Hong Son sect), I have practiced traditional Vietnamese martial arts as a matter of fate since then. At first, the purpose of practicing was to have more health, but the more I practiced, the more interesting and interested I felt. Practicing martial arts for me is no longer a hard job but has become a pleasure - That is when I realized that the movements and techniques in the martial arts exercises have high variability, which the predecessors have metaphorically used similar names that evoke images and emotions for expression such as tiger hands, crane hands. That is the slogan that guides the exercises, making me see the martial arts movements associated with nature, expressing the culture and poetry in each martial arts movement every time I demonstrate. I will try to spread the martial arts I am studying to Harvard, the school I am preparing to enroll in this coming August. I will try to share the best of Asians, students of the Nam Hong Son martial arts school. Between mathematics and martial arts, what do you see as similarities? Many people have talked about the beauty of martial arts, even my martial arts teacher often talks about the quintessence of the Nam Hong Son martial arts school. I think when you both like A and B, then A and B do not necessarily have to be deeply similar. This is not contradictory. But I see that both mathematics and martial arts are similar in that you cannot force yourself to improve in "a day or two", both subjects need to be practiced slowly.

While studying abroad, Tri said he will miss Vietnamese cultural features such as the bustling street atmosphere, sidewalk shops, friends sitting together drinking tea...

NGUYEN QUOC - TRAN BINH

Professor Ngo Bao Chau: ' Cultivate yourself so as not to disappoint them'

We forwarded Le Vu Minh Tri's answer to "I consider Professor Ngo Bao Chau an idol" to Professor Ngo Bao Chau to read. We asked: "What are your feelings and thoughts when some young people consider you an idol?". Professor Ngo Bao Chau replied: "I feel happy because what I do has created good encouragement and inspiration for some young people. But I am also a bit worried that I will always have to pay attention to cultivating myself so as not to disappoint them."

Be a learner

"When studying at Nam Hong Son, Tri was very determined, learned and adapted to this traditional martial art very quickly. During training sessions, he often arrived early and at the end of the session, he stayed to ask the teachers about the knowledge, history, and cultural origins of the sect and often asked very deep questions, making the teachers in the martial arts school evaluate him as someone who is eager to learn. With such students, we always feel very loved and want to pass on more of our experiences. He is about to go to school far away, I hope he will study well and be able to share the good and unique things of the Nam Hong Son sect with his friends. I will remember him, a person who loves traditional martial arts."

Martial artist Dang Xuan Giao (head of Giao Long martial arts school)

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tan-sinh-vien-nganh-toan-dh-harvard-than-tuong-cua-em-la-gs-ngo-bao-chau-185240715095634849.htm