Abel Prize Committee Chair and NTNU Forge “NTNU Squared” Partnership
National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) welcomed one of the world's most eminent mathematicians to its College of Science on 9 April 9. Professor Helge Holden of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU Norway) is the current Chair of the Abel Prize Selection Committee. His visit to NTNU’s Department of Mathematics included an academic lecture and strategic partnership discussions.
A fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Prof. Holden occupies a singular position in the global mathematics community. His role as Chair of the Abel Prize Selection Committee (the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel Prize) places him at the pinnacle of international mathematical scholarship. The visit carried an additional layer of symbolic significance: both institutions share the acronym NTNU. Prof. Holden embraced this connection warmly, describing it as a reflection of two institutions’ shared academic values, coining the phrase “NTNU²” to capture the spirit of the partnership. This sense of institutional kinship, he noted, provides a natural foundation for long-term strategic collaboration between the two universities. Prof. Holden delivered a public lecture titled “Mathematical Modeling of Traffic Flow: Discrete vs. Continuous,” addressing one of the most pressing challenges in applied mathematics for modern urban systems. The talk examined the relationship between the microscopic dynamics of the "Follow-the-Leader" (FtL) model and the macroscopic conservation laws of the LWR nonlinear partial differential equation. Dr. Holden demonstrated how hyperbolic conservation laws can serve as rigorous analytical tools for understanding complex social phenomena such as traffic behavior. The lecture exemplified mathematics' power as a foundational science with direct real-world application. The event, co-organized by NTNU's College of Science, Department of Mathematics, and the Taiwan Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (TWSIAM), drew senior faculty from mathematics departments across Taiwan's leading research universities, including National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, National Central University, National Chung Cheng University, and National University of Kaohsiung. NTNU’s position as the convening host for this gathering of the nation's mathematical elite underscores its standing as a central hub for advanced mathematical research and academic exchange in Taiwan. The visit also advanced a concrete strategic objective. Dean of NTNU’s College of Science Prof. Jason Jein-Shan Chen confirmed that NTNU extended an invitation to Prof. Holden under Taiwan's prestigious Yushan Scholar Program, a government initiative that provides competitive funding for world-class international academics in Taiwanese universities. The College of Science's proactive pursuit of internationally renowned scholars reflects its broader ambition to shape mathematical discourse at the global level and serve as an indispensable node in the international research network. Its Department of Mathematics has long been recognized as Taiwan's foremost center for mathematical education and research, with particular strengths in applied and pure mathematics. Dean Chen noted that the college intends to build on this visit to pursue deeper and more sustained collaboration with NTNU Norway, including joint research initiatives, faculty exchanges, and potential co-supervision of graduate students.Mathematical Modeling to Benefit Society
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