"Mathematics is not my career, it is my life," wrote Dr. Nge Kie Seng, the newly-joined lecturer of Department of Mathematics, Xiamen University Malaysia on his personal web page.

Born in Miri, Sarawak, Dr. Nge Kie Seng spent his undergraduate and postgraduate time in Canberra, Australia. In 2022, he received his PhD degree from Mathematical Sciences Institute, Australia National University, and joined XMUM Department of Mathematics in the end of August.

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Dr. Nge Kie Seng

“I have been attracted by the beautiful campus and lovely students,” Dr. Nge Kie Seng talked about his career decision, “and I want to pursue my career in the field of pure mathematics - XMUM is one of the few Malaysian universities that provide rigorous and proof-intense mathematics course to students.”

For this semester, Dr. Nge Kie Seng is in charge of teaching three classes of undergraduate level Discrete Mathematics B. With over 200 first-year or second-year students from the Digital Media Technology programme, Artificial Intelligence programme and Software Engineering programme, Dr. Nge Kie Seng adjusts his teaching method from time to time according to the student’s ability, so as to help them better understand the abstract course content.

This is not the first time for Dr. Nge Kie Seng to play the role of a teacher. Since 2017, he worked as a course tutor and accumulated profound experience by guiding students in tutorials and assisting lecturers in classes. From his viewpoint, "teaching is about creating dialogues with your students and sparking discussions as well as stimulating new ideas. The more knowledge I gain, the more I want to share so that others can see what I see.”

That’s why he particularly emphasizes the importance of independent thinking and discussion when studying abstract mathematics concepts. He always encourages students to voice out questions when necessary and make good use of the office hour, treating him as “a more experienced friend who is willing to share knowledge” with them, rather than an authoritative entity.

“I also came from a spoon-feeding study environment,” explained Dr. Nge Kie Seng, “I learned in my graduate study that it is important to learn and work independently, as you’re totally on your own when exploring a new research field.” 

“Instead of question-solving machines, I want to train students to become independent thinkers who can critically point out where the problem is.”

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Dr. Nge Kie Seng and his students

His efforts paid off. A growing number of students starts to participate in the discussion, working together with him to make the teaching and learning experience better and better.

Dr. Nge Kie Seng said that his core reason for wanting to teach is the “sheer pleasure of sharing”. His obsession with maths germinates from his first encounter with Arabic numerals and Lego building, when he realized the beauty of symmetry. In his eyes, each concept, each calculation and each formula have their own rights to stand.

Currently, Dr. Nge Kie Seng’s research primarily focuses on representation theory and categorification, especially the interplay between topology, symplectic geometry and category of representations of algebras, as well as knot invariant arising from braid group actions.

It arises from his strong interest in physical phenomena. In 1967, the famous British mathematician Roger Penrose invented the twistor theory (spin network theory) as a possible path to quantum gravity, which has evolved into a branch of theoretical and mathematical physics and led to a powerful set of mathematical tools.

“My great goal would be to help lay the mathematical foundation for the quantum gravity, whatever it means for now, to take place, despite it might appear to be a minuscule effort from me given my current ability and achievement, ” said Dr. Nge Kie Seng.

“Together, we advance the knowledge of science, formerly known as natural philosophy.”

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Teaching is an art; Mathematics is also an art.

In the future, Dr. Nge Kie Seng plans to continue his teaching and research in pure mathematics, contributing to the education of fundamental science in Malaysia. He also hopes to collaborate with scientists from different research fields and explore new possibilities.

Last month, after having reviewed the results of his first mid-term student evaluation, Dr. Nge Kie Seng wrote an email to his 202 students. Apart from answering students’ feedback, he talked about the driving force behind his life choice:

“I believe mathematics is real and beautiful - This is the sole reason I am still staying in the realm of mathematics, and I wish to share it with you.”