Thevasha Sathiyakumar has been appointed as a Visiting Assistant Professor for the Applied Data Science Masters program at Clarkson University. She recently completed her PhD in mathematics at Clarkson University. Her academic journey with the Department of Mathematics at Clarkson began in the fall of 2018, following the completion of her Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in Sri Lanka.
During her graduate studies at Clarkson University, Sathiyakumar gained expertise in advanced statistical methods and topological data analysis. She worked with Professor of Mathematics Sumona Mondal, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Marko Budišić, and Associate Professor of Biology Shantanu Sur on merging statistics and applied topology with applications to cancer cell dynamics.
Her dissertation presented a functional hypothesis test using time-varying persistence homology to capture the coherence in cancer cell movements in response to environmental factors. In addition, she worked on interdisciplinary projects involving statistical applications in epidemiology and pediatric studies, which have added significant research publications to her profile.
Sathiyakumar has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award at Clarkson University, an award for best oral graduate presentation, and a gold medal for best performance in mathematics at the Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. Beyond her research and teaching, she has participated in international conferences such as SIAM DS (Applied Mathematics) and JSM (Statistics), furthering her professional development and contributing to her field.
Looking ahead, she plans to continue her research by developing modern statistical modeling methods to tackle complex biological data challenges. She is also eager to mentor and work closely with students in the Applied Data Science program at Clarkson University. Boris Jukic, the director of Clarkson’s MS program in Applied Data Science, along with the rest of the team, is thrilled to have her join the team and is expecting her assistance to enhance quantitative endeavors in the near future.
For more information about Clarkson’s Master’s in Applied Data Science, click here.