Keynote Speakers
Prof. Ratnasingham Shivaji
Keynote SpeakerRatnasingham Shivaji joined the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) as Head in July 2011 and served in this position until July 2019. Since January 2012, he is also serving as H. Barton Excellence Professor.
Prior to joining UNCG, he served for twenty-six years at Mississippi State University (MSU), where he was honored as a W.L. Giles Distinguished Professor. He received his Ph.D in Mathematics from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1981 and his B.S (first class honors) from the University of Sri Lanka in 1977.
He is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. Shivaji’s area of specialization is partial differential equations, and in particular, nonlinear elliptic boundary value problems. His research work has applications in combustion theory, chemical reactor theory, and population dynamics, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Simon’s Foundation. Currently, he is serving as the PI on an NSF Math Ecology grant.
To date, he has authored one hundred fifty five research papers. He is a member of the Editorial Board of several mathematics journals. To date, he has directed one postdoctoral student, seventeen Ph.D. students (fourteen graduates, 3 current), fifteen M.S. graduates, and thirty undergraduate research students (twenty eight past, 2 current).
Dr. Upali Mampitiya
Keynote SpeakerDr. Upali Mampitiya is a Senior Lecturer (Grade I) attached
to the Department of Mathematics at the University of
Kelaniya. He has the degrees of MSc and PhD in
Mathematics from the University of Ottawa in Canada.
Currently he holds the following positions as well: Chairman
-Academic Affairs Board/National Institute of Education,
Member - Standing Committee on Accreditation and Quality
Assurance (SCAQA)/Ministry of Higher Education, Member
- Standing Committee on Quality Assurance/University
Grants Commission, Member - Research and Development Committee/Ministry of
Special Assignments.
He served as a member of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Steering Committee on National
Qualifications Frameworks during the period August 2015 - December 2016. UNESCO
Bangkok office invited him to attend and make presentations at the Expert Meeting on
Developing Regional Guidelines on National Qualifications Framework took place in
July 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand and at the ERI-Net Annual Meeting: Case Studies on
NQF for Asia-Pacific held in February 2016 in Tokyo, Japan.
He was the editor of “Updated Sri Lanka Qualifications Framework” published in
December 2015 by the Ministry of Higher Education.
In 2014, he assisted the National Education Commission as a member of the research
team to conduct the “Study on Curriculum Development in General Education in Sri
Lanka” a component of the proposals for a National Policy on General Education in Sri
Lanka for the next decade. Also in the same year, he delivered the 24th Annual J E
Jayasuriya Memorial Lecture on the topic “Mathematics Education – Past, Present and
Future and he had the privilege of delivering the 30th Annual Dr. C.W.W. Kannangara Memorial Lecture - 2019, organized by the National Institute of Education (NIE). It was titled “Redefining Senior Secondary and Collegiate Curricular for Tomorrow’s World”.
Prof. Kuppalapalle Vajravelu
Keynote Speaker
Kuppalapalle Vajravelu is a Professor of Mathematics and Professor of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Central Florida. He graduated from IIT, Khargapur with a PhD in 1979, and joined the Virgina Polytechnic Institute in the same year. Before his tenure at UCF, he also served as a visiting assistant professor at Eastern Carolina University.
He is an acclaimed researcher in the field of applied mathematics, specifically in Applied ODE and PDE, Fluid Mechanics, and Numerical Heat Transfer. He is an author of several influential books in the area of Differential Equations, Nonlinear Mechanics and Homotopy Analysis. He has more than three hundred research papers (with h-index of 54) in reputed journals and presented numerous talks and keynote lectures at international conferences.
As an administrator and an educator, Prof Vajravelu has a broad experience that spans for more than four decades. He was the associate chair of the Mathematics Department of UCF (1999-2006) and was the Editor-in-Chief of the reputed open-access journal "Differential Equations in Nonlinear Mechanics" from 2005 to 2008. He is an editorial board member of several academic journals, including Journal of Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Problems in Engineering and Advances in Applied Research. He is also the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Differential Equations and Nonlineal Mechanics.
Prof. Vajravelu has been the recipient of numerous accolades throughout his illustrious career as an educator. He is a fellow of Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences, two-time awardee of undergraduate teaching award at UCF, recipient of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, and five Teaching Incentive Programme Awards.
Dr. Boon Liang Chua
Keynote Speaker
CHUA Boon Liang is an Assistant Professor in mathematics education at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He holds a PhD in Mathematics Education from the Institute of Education, University College London, UK. His research interests cover pattern generalisation, mathematical reasoning and justification, and task design.
Given his experience as a classroom teacher, head of department and teacher educator, he seeks to help mathematics teachers create a supportive learning environment that promotes understanding and inspire their students to appreciate the beauty and power of mathematics. With his belief that students’ attitudes towards mathematics are shaped by their learning experiences, he hopes to share his passion of teaching mathematics with the teachers so that they make not only their teaching more interesting but also learning mathematics an exciting and enjoyable process for their students.
He feels honoured to have been awarded Excellence in Teaching by the National Institute of Education in 2009 and 2013. He developed teaching materials and conducted mathematics workshops for students and educators from many different countries, including Abu Dhabi, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Guinea, Indonesia, Jamaica, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Chief Guest
Prof. K. Kapila C. K. Perera
Chief Guest Prof. Kapila Perera is the honourable Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka.
He was a Senior Lecturer, Grade II, Department of Mechanical Engineering. University of Moratuwa since 1995 and became a professor of Mechanical Engineering (Merit Promotion) in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Moratuwa in 2008. He has experience as a Director – Staff Development Center, University of Moratuwa, a Co – Lead – Consultant, Faculty of Technology, Sri Jayawardenapura University ,a Co – Lead consultant, Faculty of Technology Kelaniya University UGC Appointed coordinator, Faculty of Engineering, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, a Dean Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa a Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa and currently holds the position of the Secretary to the Ministry of Education.
He has 10 years of experience in the field of Military and has served as a service cadet, a sub Lieutenant, Lieutenant and a Lieutenant, commander in Sri Lanka Navy.
He is a Bachelor of Science Engineering of University of Moratuwa While being an officer cadre at the General Sri John Kotelawala Dfence Academy and holds a Master of Science (Mechanical Engineering) Degree, University of California, USA.