Chapter 980: Be a company with dreams

Looking at Professor Harold who seemed to be suddenly excited, Matthew was still a little confused about the situation for a while.

In fact, the latter has been vaguely aware that his boss's mentality is a bit off these days.

As a student, it’s not easy to directly ask what happened.

Including a few minutes ago, when I first entered the office, the other person still looked distracted.

As a result, less than 30 seconds after he turned around and left the office, Harold completely cleared away the gloom on his face.

“But Professor...”

Matthew said with a troubled expression:

“This exhibition board... is what you asked me to start from before. Was it compiled in the report?"

Harold raised his head and recalled it quickly.

I found that this seems to be the case.

After the report meeting failed at the end of last year, he approached Matthew and asked him to condense the report he had written into a display board in preparation for participating in the subsequent energy and power industry conference.

I just didn’t expect that due to the obstruction at the school level, even this later matter was blown away...

The teacher and the student stared at each other for half a second, and the scene was a little bit awkward. Awkward.

“Ahem——”

Harold coughed twice to cover up his embarrassment, and then put on a posture of "everything is in my calculations":

"After all, that report was written half a year ago, and the content has been It’s a bit outdated.”

“Before, I considered that the space for making an exhibition board was limited, so it was not easy to add more things to it, but this time the report time is 25-30 minutes, so it is completely possible to include what we have recently obtained. Some of the new findings were also included.”

At this time, Matthew also understood a little bit:

“So... there is a higher-level academic conference that invited our research team? ”

He also became energetic instantly -

After all, just now, Harold specifically emphasized that the effect of reporting on stage is the best.

Faced with this question, Harold was stunned for a moment.

At this time, he did not realize the source of this "special invitation" and its corresponding value.

So I am a little worried that I will not be able to take my students with me.

So, he turned his head and glanced at the computer screen.

Because it was not a formal invitation letter, it was just asking for his wishes, so it did not specify any details.

Fortunately, the official website address of the Numerical Algorithms and Computational Science Conference is attached.

Harold quickly clicked in.

"Well...it doesn't clearly say whether I can take other people with me..."

While stroking his slightly bald head, he looked at the conference rules listed on the webpage:

"I'll ask the organizer when I reply. If possible..." 
Harold originally wanted to take you with him if possible.

But mid-sentence, he suddenly saw another part of the content below -

Numerical Calculation Competition.

Obviously, this meeting is actually more than just a meeting.

There's even foreplay.

At this time, Harold vaguely remembered that he seemed to have seen news related to it a few months ago.

But there were only three people with master's degrees and doctoral degrees under him, and one of them was a pure rookie in the first year of graduate school. In addition, the competition time conflicted with the conference he was planning to attend at the time, so he was not considered as the candidate. Something happened.

Looking back now, I almost picked up the sesame seeds and lost the watermelon.

"Matthew."

Harold waved to the side, motioning for the other party to come closer:

"I think... you can sign up for this competition."

Matthew He got close to the monitor and looked up and down carefully:

“But it says a group requires three people?”

"Did all our research groups go over..."

On this point, Harold actually had an idea for a long time:

"It only says that the contestants must represent the same school. You can take Garcia with you and find another friend.”

Lucas Garcia, Matthew’s junior student, is currently struggling with whether he should continue to study for a Ph.D. or directly after graduating with a master’s degree. Work.

From Harold's point of view, he naturally hopes that the other party can stay and continue his studies.

But as a mentor, he has to let the other person see some of his remaining thoughts.

Now Harold's limited resources are being piled on Matthew's head, so that the latter can barely avoid delaying the completion of the project.

And new projects are far away.

In this case, people in the future may not dare to study for a Ph.D., at least they will not dare to study for a Ph.D. here.

It is precisely for this reason that Harold is eager to fight for a turnaround.

"But it says that each institution can only have one representative team to participate in the finals...which means we need to compete with other opponents in the school first..."

There have been many setbacks in the past two years since studying for a Ph.D. Matthew already had some habitual lack of confidence.

But in this regard, Harold saw it clearly:

“Don’t worry, Matthew.”

He put on a confident look:

“It is stated on the website that the major scope of this year’s competition is computational fluid dynamics.”

“In this regard, I dare not say about the situation of other schools, but in our school, there will be no one better than our research group. ..."

This is definitely not Harold's nonsense.

Unlike most professors who came from the lecturer line, he spent the first twenty years of his career in a semi-commercial research institute.

It can even be said that if it were not for the exclusion due to differences in research directions, he would not have chosen to enter the university at all. This background led to Harold's lack of strong connections in the academic circle, and it became one of the main shackles that restricted his further development over the years.

But it also allowed him to accumulate a lot of specific project experience.

As Harold’s first disciple, Matthew naturally benefited a lot from it.

It’s just that due to the lack of a control group and the fact that the research group has had too few projects in recent years, the latter themselves don’t know about it.

However, if you don’t know, you don’t know.

But looking at the determined expression on his mentor's face, Matthew hesitated for a few seconds and nodded.

"Then you first contact people and form a team."

Harold clapped his thigh excitedly:

"I put together some of the things I have done in the past. Typical CFD projects, especially after 1998, use the CFD projects done by TORC Multiphysics to sort out, you should study more during this time..."

"Although it is said that the participating teams do not have instructors, there is no Said that reference materials could not be provided..."

"..."

...

Professor Harold was naturally not the only one to notice this numerical calculation competition.

Even, many people move much faster than him.

Actually, if Harold hadn’t been so troubled by his inappropriate school and colleagues, he wouldn’t have ignored the relevant news——

Torch Group started promoting the Numerical Algorithms and Computational Science Conference as early as the end of 2001.

As an "appetizer", although this competition cannot be said to be the top priority, it still occupies a quite important share.

First, second and third place prizes plus various individual winning prizes totaling US$500,000 in prize money, and an opportunity to get up close and personal with big names in the field of numerical computing.

Even industry giants such as Dassault, Airbus, Pratt & Whitney, Siemens, and General Electric will send high-level representatives to attend the conference.

If any contestant performs well in the competition, or is lucky enough to be directly spotted by a large company, it is basically equivalent to avoiding 10 years of detours.

For the professors and researchers who participated in the conference, these companies are also first-rate super funders.

As for the travel expenses, food and accommodation expenses that need to be borne by yourself, they are nothing to mention in comparison.

What some participants are worried about is the venue itself.

After all, in many propagandas, China is a chaotic, backward place comparable to black Africa.

Of course, most people are relatively sensible.

Although they have no way of knowing the true situation in China, they are inevitably affected by some tendentious propaganda.

But logically speaking, in a place where a high-tech enterprise like Torch Group can be born, poverty is put aside, at least it is unlikely to be chaotic.

Therefore, all of a sudden, air tickets to China at the end of March suddenly became very popular...

At the same time.

In addition to schools and research institutions, there is another group of people who are also watching this conference closely.

San Francisco, Stanford University.

In the private reception room of Professor Anthony Jameson.

“These days, I have carefully studied the competition sponsored by Torch Group.”

Jameson held a cup of strong coffee and leaned against a window sill:

“In the competition requirements, there is no mention of restrictions on calculation tools and calculation methods. Perhaps... we can consider using this opportunity to expand the influence of COMSOL to the business world.”

Sitting on the sofa not far across from him was Klaus Hertz.

Head of COMSOL USA Division.

It is said to be the American branch, but it is actually responsible for liaising with Professor Jameson's research team.

“You mean, find a few teams that have a higher chance of winning prizes, sponsor... or use other methods, and let them use our calculation tools to compete?”

Hertz Being able to sit in this position, he was certainly not a fool, and he understood what Jameson meant almost instantly.

"That's right."

Jameson nodded:

"Although my personal relationships have allowed some companies to include COMSOL in the list of software suppliers over the years, but... As far as I know, even after the latest software version 2.5 is released, the actual usage rate of our software is not very optimistic.”

“Many business users are betting on both ends of the market. I have bought the right to use decent software, but the actual operation is still dominated by Torch Group’s software, even in the CFD field where we actually have an advantage..."

"From the user’s perspective , will definitely tend to seek stability and will not just try and make mistakes with projects, so it is meaningless for us to just stop at verbal promotion. We need an opportunity to prove to them that there is a better choice than TORCHMultiphysics on the market. ”

In fact, this is a quite common phenomenon in the software field -

Faced with opponents that have already occupied the mainstream market share, it is difficult for latecomers to defeat the long-term usage habits, regardless of performance.

Even if you rely on off-site means to occupy a part of the market, users often do one thing on the surface and another behind the scenes.

For example, China has encountered the same problem in the process of promoting domestic operating systems.

At the beginning, I installed dual systems on the computer.

Later, when it was no longer allowed, I simply used my own computer to work.

Later, I disabled the external interface of the office hardware and managed to barely control it.

It’s just that things have changed, and now it’s the Europeans’ turn to have a headache.

After hearing this, Herz nodded in agreement, but the expression on his face was still a little hesitant:

“But that is someone else’s home court after all...”

Jameson shrugged helplessly:

“There is no way, given the current situation of the entire industry, except for Torch Group, it is difficult for others...including us, to have enough appeal.” 
“However, you don’t have to worry too much.”

At this point, he paused for a moment and drank the coffee in the cup:

“I am The special guests of this conference have the right to supervise the entire competition process.”

"Although playing at home will definitely give you a certain advantage, after all, we are in front of our colleagues from all over the world, so they don't dare to overdo it..."

(End of this chapter)