Inaugural Addresses (Mathematical Sciences)
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- ItemUnlocking patterns of nature - the marriage of mathematics and ecology(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-03) Hui, CangProfessor Cang Hui was born in the ancient capital of China, Xi’an, where the Terracotta Warriors were unearthed. In 1994, he went to Xi’an Jiaotong University, a C9 League, and obtained his BSc in applied mathematics four years later. He then moved to Lanzhou University and received his MSc in the same major in 2001 and a PhD in mathematical ecology in 2004. Immediately after his PhD, Hui came to South Africa and worked at Stellenbosch University until 2008 as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology. He was then appointed as a researcher by the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology (C∙I∙B) in the Department of Botany and Zoology and worked there until the end of 2013. He was promoted to full professor in 2014 in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, which coincided with his appointment by the NRF to the Tier 1 South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Mathematical and Theoretical Physical Biosciences, co-hosted by the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Cape Town. Hui is working on the interface between mathematics and biology. His interests lie in proposing models and theories for explaining emerging patterns in wholeorganism biology, namely ecology.
- ItemTrying to find the golden thread in my research from 1987 to 2011(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011-10) Wild, MarcelMarcel Maria Wolfgang Wild was born on 17 July 1958 in Bern (Switzerland). After matriculating from the Gymnasium Rämibühl in Zürich in 1977 he studied Mathematics, Computer Science and (to a lesser degree) Philosophy at the University of Zürich. In 1982 he completed (with highest grade) his Master’s thesis “Algorithmische Aspekte bei quadratischen Formen über Q” under the direction of Volker Strassen (The same Strassen who made his name by multiplying matrices faster than Gauss). From 1983 to 1987 he was employed as “Assistent” at the University of Zürich and completed his PhD thesis during this period. This thesis, directed by Herbert Gross, received the Distinction of the University of Zürich. The next ten years saw various grants and teaching appointments, twice in Darmstadt, twice at MIT (as guest of the late Gian-Carlo Rota) and once in Zürich. In 1997 Marcel was appointed as Senior Lecturer at Stellenbosch University, and promoted to Associate Professor in 2001. He received the Rector’s Award for Excellent Research in 2000, is listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in the World, and obtained the South African Mathematical Society Award for Research Distinction 2010. Marcel is married to Marieke since 1998 and they have two sons, Wolfgang and Andreas.
- ItemThe parallel worlds of number theory(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-08) Breuer, FlorianFlorian Breuer was born in 1977 in Vienna, Austria, to German parents and moved to Stellenbosch at the age of 4, where he grew up and completed his undergraduate studies at Stellenbosch University in 1998. He then moved to Paris on a French Government Scholarship, where he completed his Ph.D. in 2002 at the Universit e Denis Diderot under supervision of Marc Hindry. After postdoctoral positions at the National Center for Theoretical Sciences in Hsinchu, Taiwan (2003) and at the Max-Planck-Institut f ur Mathematik in Bonn, Germany (2004), he returned to Stellenbosch University as a Senior Lecturer in July 2004. He was promoted to Associate Professor in October 2007, and to Professor in January 2013. He serves as the head of the Mathematics Division in the Department of Mathematical Sciences since 2012. In 2007 Florian was awarded the Meiring-Naud e Medal by the Royal Society of South Africa, and in 2009 he spent six months at the University of Kassel, Germany and at the ETH-Z urich, Switzerland, with an Alexander-von-Humboldt-Fellowship for Experienced Researchers. In 2011 Florian was invited onto the editorial board of the Journal of Number Theory and in 2013 he was featured amongst the Mail&Guardian's \200 Young South Africans". Florian is particularly proud of the fact that for the last three years, a top rst-year student has nominated him as his most inspiring lecturer at the First Year Academy's Prestige Dinner. In his spare time, Florian is an award-winning landscape photographer. He lives in Stellenbosch and is married to Erica Breuer.
- ItemDoing the mathematics of fluid flow networks(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-10) Banda, Mapundi KondwaniMapundi Kondwani Banda grew up in Mala^wi, where he com- pleted his secondary school education at Bandawe Secondary School in 1986 and obtained a BSc degree from the University of Mala^wi in 1990. In 1991 he completed an MSc in Comput- ing Science at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, which was a constituent college of the then University of London. After developing an interest in Applied Mathematics and with a desire to see Mathematics being applied to real-world problems, he proceeded to do an MSc in Industrial Mathematics at the University of Kaiserslautern which he completed in 1997. In 2000 he enrolled for PhD research in the Numerical Methods and Scienti c Computing group led by Prof. A. Klar at the Darmstadt University of Technology which he completed in 2004. He was a postdoctoral fellow for a short term at the same university before returning to Mala^wi in 2004. As a student, Mapundi received scholarships and awards which enabled him to study in London, Kaiserslautern and Darmstadt. He was a recipient of a scholarship from the Overseas Development Shared Scholarship Scheme (ODASSS) in 1990 and the German Academic Exchange Programme (DAAD) award in 1995 and in 1999. In 1991, Mapundi was appointed as a Software Development Analyst at Business Computers Services Limited. He changed his career path to join academia at the University of Mala^wi, Chancellor College, as a lecturer in 1993. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2004. He was appointed as a lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2005 and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2008. In 2008 he joined the University of the Witwatersrand as an Associate Professor. In 2012 Mapundi moved to Stellenbosch to take a position as a Professor in the Applied Mathematics Division, Department of Mathematical Sciences, at Stellenbosch University. He has been a research visitor at the following institutions: University of Kaiserslautern, RWTH-Aachen, Durham University, Tsinghua University and the University of British Columbia. He is a member of the editorial board of the SAMSA Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics.
- ItemTrying to find the golden thread in my research from 1987 to 2011(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011-10) Wild, MarcelThis booklet will highlight some of the mathematics I did after (and during) my PhD that was awarded in 1987. The chosen topics nevertheless constitute a sizeable "transversal" (to use mathematical parlance) of the fields I worked in.