Born and educated in China, Professor Wu has lived in Canada since 1998. An extraordinarily talented mathematician and internationally recognized scientific leader, both in pure mathematics and applied mathematics, Professor Wu has (despite his youth) already made a large number of important contributions to mathematics and its applications.
As a faculty member at York University, he faced challenges similar to those experienced by many other immigrants working in Canadian academic communities: teaching and interacting with students from completely different educational backgrounds; conducting and leading research projects in different academic and social environments; and developing and retaining collaborative opportunities between his place of birth and Canada.
"Fortunately," he writes, "Canada is such a highly multicultural society that I could handle the challenge well while keeping my own identity. I now have PhD students and research associates from all over the world and am leading several international collaborative research projects." For his significant role in building collaboration between Canada and China in the field of disease modeling, Professor Wu has been awarded the prestigious Cheung Kong Visiting Professorship by the Chinese Ministry of Education.
Professor Wu has received recognition for "significant progress . . . in an interdisciplinary program involving interface of fundamental research and real life applications." Leading a national team of scientists from universities, public health research institutes and government agencies, he has worked on modeling and qualitative analysis of issues of critical importance to the prediction, control, intervention and prevention of emerging infectious diseases such as SARS, pandemic influenza and the West Nile virus. The team's work has received widespread attention and media coverage, and is the basis for the establishment of the Centre for Disease Modeling under his leadership.
With substantial grants from such funders as the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanity Research Council of Canada, Mathematics for Information Technology and Complex Systems, and International Development Research Center, Professor Wu had been able to bring excellent Chinese researchers to Canada. This fruitful exchange of ideas and methods accelerates the growth of both mathematics and its applications, and contributes significantly to the building of national capacity in both countries for public health decision-making using cutting edge mathematical theories and technologies. It also fortifies relations between the Canadian and Chinese scientific and academic establishments in general.
In 2003, Professor Wu was featured in Toronto Life as one of the "Top 18 Scientists in Toronto." His books and numerous research articles have attracted international attention and recognition. Among the awards is his appointment to the rare honor of a Canada Research Chair (Tier I) in Applied Mathematics, Paul Erdos Visiting Professorship from Hungary Academy of Sciences, and Humboldt Fellowship from Germany. In addition, he has held visiting professorships at the Université de Paris Sud in France, the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil and Hunan and Xian Jiaotong Universities in China.
Professor Wu's work promises benefits to health, as well as the illumination of interesting and subtle mathematical areas.
Skills for Change
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