On Mar. 23rd, ZHANG Pingwen, a well-known mathematician and also a member Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), paid an academic visit on invitation to the School of Mathematical Sciences, Tongji University.

ZHANG gave a report on Opportunities and Challenges Big Data Poses to Applied Mathematics to the teachers and students of the School of Mathematical Sciences, where he elaborated on four aspects, including understanding of Applied Mathematics, Big Data and related concepts, opportunities that Big Data brings to Applied Mathematics, and challenges that Big Data pose to Applied Mathematics. ZHANG addressed to some basic concepts of Big Data, pointing out China’s strengths of computing hardware and modeling while also pinpointing its weakness in computing software. Referring to the essence of Big Data - the change of thinking mode, he also spoke of the future development of Big Data, the impact it might bring to us, and the relationship among Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Computing Power. He closed his report by giving a summary of the challenges and opportunities Big Data might bring to the Applied Mathematics.