Ahmed Elsawah (r) with Professor Fang Kaitai Photograph: Catherine E Stolz
For Egyptian researcher Ahmed Elsawah, maths is more than a subject in school, more than numbers on a white board, more than calculating facts and figures. Maths is a way of life, a language of its own, and an explanation for the entire universe.
By Catherine E Stolz
“Through maths, we can speak with nature and control it,” Dr Elsawah said. “If we want to understand our universe, we must understand maths first. Maths is the hidden secret of life to understanding the universe.”
Elsawah has been doing research at UIC since December 2016 as a postdoctoral fellow, in the fields of statistics and experiment design. In his time here, Elsawah has written seven papers, which he adds to his previous body of work, including five textbooks and over 30 papers.
He previously obtained his PhD from Central China Normal University (CCNU) in Wuhan, Hubei, China. After that, Elsawah decided to stay in China rather than going back to Egypt, where he had taught at Zagazig University for almost ten years.
Elsawah has found a second home in Zhuhai, where he has quickly acclimated to Chinese food, transportation as well as a rigorous academic life. Most importantly, he is able to work on his research and share with students and faculty the limitless possibilities he finds in mathematics.
Research and teaching nexus
As a postdoctoral researcher at UIC, Elsawah spends most of his time designing experiments to allow for efficient collection of data in different fields of science under different circumstances.
While Elsawah collaborates mainly with other professors, he believes that research and teaching go hand in hand.
“We must have a culture that integrates research and teaching, and share our research with our students or at least with our final-year-project students,” he said. “We have to develop new teaching methods to involve the students in research matters.”
Precise language
Through maths, Elsawah believes that no matter what language people speak, they can understand each other. For him, maths serves as a means of translation across nationalities and traditional languages.
His textbooks and teaching approach focus heavily on understanding and applying what is learned in the classroom to every aspect of life, from the natural world to professional and personal aspects.
“Whether you study art, piano, or computer science, maths applies, but sometimes it’s hard to see,” Elsawah said. “Mathematicians need to work very hard to make maths visible and simple, but it takes a lot of effort to do this.”
Elsawah believes strongly that there is no better way of explaining anything, as maths is all at once precise, accurate and verifiable. His current work centres mainly on statistics, which he conducts under his supervisor, Professor Fang Kaitai, with whom he is very close.
“He’s really like a father to me,” Elsawah said. “I spend so much time on work, and he has always been there to support me.”
Prof Fang is a world renowned statistician with UIC’s Division of Science and Technology, and also a great teacher of many internationally recognised statisticians.
Fang served as chairman of Elsawah’s dissertation defence committee at CCNU. He then recruited Elsawah to UIC for his postdoctoral work because of his dedication to his field, passion for mathematics, and ability to efficiently produce accurate and integral research.
“During his time obtaining his PhD, he wrote more than ten papers. No one can do that in three years, but he managed to get it all done,” Fang said.
From maths to true universe
Elsawah plans on staying in China for some time to complete his work with Fang. While he misses his family and friends in Egypt, he is able to visit them a few times a year, and make Egyptian comfort foods in his Chinese home. He feels that Zhuhai is a very healthy city and enjoys UIC’s emphasis on a well-rounded education.
Elsawah hopes that his work will be able to make maths visible to students, and that students from all fields can appreciate what maths has to offer, and see what he sees in maths: the key to understanding the entire universe.
“In fact we only really started understanding the universe in a precise way when we started using mathematics to describe it,” Elsawah said. “Simply, maths is the theory of everything.”
(This article is republished from college magazine New Dimensions Issue 3. To view the full magazine, please click here.)
