[Salon] Star mathematician Sun Song leaves US for China

Star mathematician Sun Song leaves US for China

The 36-year-old Chinese-born geometer has joined the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics
It is the latest in a string of high-profile appointments as the institute aims to become a world-class maths centre

6 Jan, 2024 South China Morning Post

After more than a decade of research and teaching in the United States, Chinese-born maths star Sun Song has joined a university in eastern China as a full-time professor.

The 36-year-old geometer started his role as a permanent faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (IASM) at Zhejiang University earlier this month, according to the university’s official WeChat account.

Before the new appointment, Sun was a professor in the department of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has received multiple awards for his work, such as the Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry and the New Horizons in Mathematics Prize.

“After joining Zhejiang University, I will work hard on my research while providing guidance to students who want to pursue maths,” he was quoted as saying by the university on Monday. “I’ll try my best to pass on my expertise to the younger generation.”

Sun is the latest in a string of IASM appointments from American universities. Former University of Michigan geometer Ruan Yongbin was recruited to the institute in 2021 and Harvard University number theory expert Liu Yifei joined in 2022.

Sun’s main research interests include differential geometry, a branch of maths that studies the geometry of curves and surfaces in the three-dimensional Euclidean space, with wide applications in daily life ranging from medical imaging to computer vision.

A native of Huaining county, Anhui province, Sun was admitted into the University of Science and Technology of China when he was just 15 years old. He went on to earn his PhD in geometry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010 under the supervision of Chinese-American mathematician Chen Xiuxiong.

In 2014, one year after he joined Stony Brook University in New York as an assistant professor, Sun received the Sloan Research Fellowship – one of the most competitive awards for early career researchers who have the potential to revolutionise their fields of study.

In 2019, as an associate professor at UC Berkeley, he shared the prestigious Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry with his mentors Chen and British mathematician Simon Donaldson for proving a long-standing conjecture on the so-called Fano manifolds, which are the basic building blocks of shapes.

Two years later, he won the New Horizons in Mathematics Prize for “many groundbreaking contributions to complex differential geometry” according to the award selection committee.

The Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics, at Zhejiang University (pictured), is working to build itself into a world-class maths centre. Picture: Shutterstock Images

Sun has been hailed as a strong candidate for the Fields Medal, known as the “Nobel Prize of mathematics”, which could make him the first ever recipient from mainland China. Seen as one of the highest honours in mathematics, it is only awarded to mathematicians under the age of 40.

Sun’s appointment is part of IASM’s aim to build itself into a world-class maths centre.

“For China to become a true science and technology powerhouse, it must nurture a number of top-notch maths and science centres,” IASM founding director Li Jianshu said.

“It’s the dream and mission of IASM to become such a world-leading research hub. We still have a long way to go, but we’re getting there,” Li said in the university release. “We sincerely invite talented mathematicians from all over the world to join our cause.”

The institute, inaugurated in 2019, is mainly funded by Zhejiang University, with the support of local governments and donations.