Prestigious Vietnamese award for ICTP Associate

Le Thi Thanh Nhan, who has been a Junior ICTP Associate from 2002 to 2007, was awarded the Kovalevskaia Prize. The prize is conferred by the Viet Nam Kovalevskaia Prize Committee, which was named after the Russian mathematician and scientist Sophia Kovalevskaia, and was set up in 1985 to recognise contribution to scientific research by Vietnamese women.

Nhan was awarded the prize in recognition of her authorship of 16 research articles in mathematics, many of which she wrote while she was an ICTP Associate.

In 2005, Nhan became the youngest associate professor in Viet Nam at the Thai Nguyen University. Currently, she is a lecturer of mathematics at the university and does research on commutative algebra and algebraic geometry.

"Thai Nguyen College of Sciences is a small one, and is located in a remote mountainous area in the North of Viet Nam. The conditions for research are very poor," says Nhan. "And so, ICTP is really a wonderful place for researchers like me to study and to do research. The Associates Programme and the research fellowships at ICTP are very useful to us," she adds

Nhan says that during her ICTP visits, she had access to very good conditions to do research such as computing facilities, the Internet and the Marie Curie Library. "I have been able to consult with senior mathematicians, to participate in algebra and geometry seminars, workshops and conferences, and to give talks," she adds.