Ratnasingham Shivaji

Ratnasingham Shivaji is the H. Barton Excellence Professor of Mathematics and former Head of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG). He holds a Ph.D. from Heriot-Watt University (1981) and a B.S. from the University of Sri Lanka (1977). Previously, he spent 26 years at Mississippi State University, where he was honored as a W.L. Giles Distinguished Professor. His research focuses on nonlinear elliptic boundary value problems, with applications in combustion theory, chemical reactor theory, and population dynamics. He has published 188 papers and secured NSF and Simons Foundation grants. Notable awards include the 2019 AMS Fellowship, 2023 Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award, and the 2020 MAA Southeastern Section Teaching Award.

• Education:
  • Ph.D. in Mathematics, Heriot-Watt University, 1981
  • B.S. (First Class Honors), University of Sri Lanka, 1977
• Research Interests: Nonlinear elliptic PDEs, reaction diffusion systems, population dynamics, bifurcation theory, and ecological modeling.
• Awards:
  • AMS Fellow (2019)
  • Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award (2023)
  • Senior Research Excellence Award (2022)
  • MAA Southeastern Section Distinguished Teaching Award (2020)
• Advising/Grants: Mentored 19 Ph.D., 16 M.S., and 33 undergraduate students. Serves as PI on an NSF Math Ecology grant. Active in editorial roles for mathematics journals.
• Labs/Teams: Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams on ecological modeling and PDE applications.