Enrique Zuazua, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, has been appointed ambassador of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the first distinction of its kind awarded by this German university (2015).
In his acceptance speech, entitled “Mathematics: Illuminating the darkness“, Enrique Zuazua highlighted the years of close collaboration with this academic institution, with which he said he shared values, vision and projects, and said he felt honored to be able to help in its projection in the international scientific community.After 272 years of existence, the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has appointed its first international ambassador. The honor, as well as the responsibility, has fallen to Enrique Zuazua, professor of applied mathematics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
The official presentation of the credentials took place on November 4 during the celebration of the Dies Academicus, a day on which the heads of this Bavarian university give an account of the achievements of the previous year and present the new developments for the new academic year.
FAU emphasized that Enrique Zuazua is a leading figure in the area of applied mathematics, as well as his collaboration with the center during the 2014/2015 academic year in the framework of the Humboldt research awards. During this period he did research in optimal control of partial differential equations, conducted seminars and workshops, and acted as a visiting professor, developing close links with FAU.
For his part, Enrique Zuazua, in his acceptance speech, recalled that universities need the best intellectual and knowledge tools to grow and assured that academic institutions thrive “when individual efforts are well structured and coordinated through cooperation. The Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürenberg is a model to follow in this regard,” he said.
Zuazua ended by saying he was honored and “indebted to this institution,” he concluded.
FAU AMBASSADOR
The Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg has surpassed 40,000 enrolled students this year and according to its president, Professor Joachim Hornegger, “is well positioned in international rankings.” The FAU is among the top ten German universities for research and ranks 52nd among the most innovative according to the Reuters Top 100 Worldwide. Proof of this are the nearly 200 patent applications registered between 2012 and 2014 or that it counts four Nobel Prizes among its renowned awards.
According to the German university, its ambassadors represent the interests of the academic institution in their home country and transmit the experience accumulated at FAU in their own areas of research, can give advice to students and researchers interested in a stay at FAU, and establish and maintain links between universities in their home country and the German institution.
These are new tasks that, in a way, Enrique Zuazua was already carrying out, as stated in an interview conducted by the academic center with its new ambassador. The UAM mathematician highlights among the answers, his collaboration of several years with Professor Günter Leugering, a period he describes as fruitful in the academic field and very rewarding in the family.
For this reason he says that “it is an honor to become an ambassador for the FAU, an institution with which I share values, vision and projects, in its projection in the international scientific community”.
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Photo: Professor Günter Leugering (left) presents Enrique Zuazua with his FAU ambassadorial credentials in the presence of FAU President Joachim Hornegger. Photo credit: ©FAU/Kurt Fuchs.
