The Undergraduate Paper Award (UPA) was established in 2022 as an annual award by Professor Shing-Tung Yau, under the auspices of the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians (ICCM). The goal of this award is to promote mathematical research at an undergraduate level, and to recognize significant mathematical achievements among undergraduates, regardless of nationality.
This year, the UPA is expected to be presented at the 2023 ICCM, which shall be held in Shanghai on January 2-5, 2024. The rules and regulations, and timeline for the 2023 ICCM UPA are described herein.
I. Rules and Regulations.
Who can compete in 2023. Competition for the UPA is by invitation only. To compete, a person must be nominated by a mathematics department at a university that has been invited to compete in 2023. A nominee must have been a registered student at the department in 2023/2022/2021. A nominee must be a person who has graduated from or is a current undergraduate of that department. A nomination of a student must be supported by at least one qualified mathematics paper.
What is a qualified mathematics paper. A qualified paper is one that had been completed by a nominee at a time the nominee was a registered undergraduate of the nominating department. The said paper may be single authored. In case of a joint paper with multiple authors, the ICCM shall consider the qualification of the paper on a case-by-case basis, and shall make that decision at its sole discretion. The said paper must be in English. It can either be a preprint, or a preprint submitted for publication, or a published paper. However, if the nominee graduated from the nominating department in 2021, the said paper must have been published either in print or electronically, in a peer-reviewed journal, at the time of nomination.
A department may not nominate how many people. A mathematics department may have up to 10 UPA nominations. In addition to a qualified mathematics paper, each nomination may be supported by a recommendation letter, written and signed by an expert on the subject of the paper. A nomination without an expert supporting letter is considered a self-nomination. A department may include up to 2 self-nominations.
How are winners decided. The ICCM shall appoint a Selection Committee, consisting of experts, to select a set of top finalists in two rounds of review. Each nominee shall be evaluated on their mathematical creativity and originality. The chosen finalists shall then be invited to participate in the 2023 ICCM. A finalist shall give in person a 20-minute oral presentation of their paper at the ICCM. A Expert Panel appointed by the ICCM shall be present to evaluate and rank the finalists.
What award is given. Up to 10 top ranking finalists shall receive a UPA in 2023. An award includes an ICCM certificate of achievement, and prize money determined by the ICCM.
Disqualification. A paper supporting a nomination must be original, and a product of the nominee’s own academic research. The paper must comply with the common standard of academic integrity. This includes proper attributions to authors whose results or statements are used or cited. The ICCM has the sole discretion to disqualify a nominee, should an ICCM appointed referee find any part of the nomination material to have violated any of these clauses.
II. Timeline and deadlines:
1. Now - 2023/09/30 (inclusive): Submission of nomination material.
2. 2023/10/01 - 2023/10/30: Two rounds of review by Selection Committee to decide finalists.
3. 2023/11/01-2023/12/31: Notifications and invitations to finalists to participate in the ICCM. If an invitee needs a visa to enter China, it is the invitee’s responsibility to obtain a visa promptly.
4. 2024/01/01. Oral presentations by finalists at ICCM 2023, and evaluation by the Expert Panel, followed by an announcement of ranking and winners.
III. Submitting Nominations.
1. Each nomination must include the full name, contact information, and a copy of the supporting mathematics paper, and must be submitted by officials of the nominating mathematics department.
2. A recommendation letter from an expert may be included in the nomination material. (At most 2 self-nominations may be submitted by a department.)
3. Late nominations shall not be accepted.
4. UPA nominations, including all supporting material, should be sent by email to Professor Yi LI ( yilicms@gmail.com and yilicms@163.com ). Inquiries about the award may also be sent to him.
