Dr. S.H. Sathish Indika has an insatiable appetite for knowledge and is keen on sharing the wealth. While passionate about teaching, the associate professor of mathematics at Virginia Peninsula Community College enjoys writing about the topic just as much and is often published.
His latest article was featured in the prestigious College Mathematics Journal — a Mathematical Association of America publication. The piece aims to contribute to undergraduate mathematics education by bridging the gap between solving polynomial equations and trigonometry.
“This manuscript combines the two topics. In undergraduate mathematics courses, these topics are typically taught in separate mathematics classes or even separate mathematics modules,” he noted.
Dr. Indika said the College Mathematics Journal was an ideal choice for submitting his article, given its global reach and focus on undergraduate mathematics education. The piece, Exact Expressions for Trigonomic Functions, was written with Dr. Lawrence Leemis of William & Mary and released Aug. 21, allowing educators, mathematicians, and students alike to explore the educators' insights.
This achievement speaks to the value of dedication and hard work for Dr. Indika.
“Publishing a manuscript in a prestigious journal like the College Mathematics Journal is a significant achievement in the career of an academician,” he noted. “Recent authors of manuscripts in the College Mathematics Journal include faculty from universities around the world.”
A few of those universities include Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain; the University of Texas at Austin; Université de Strasbourg, France; University of Antwerp, Belgium; University of Porto, Portugal; Monash University, Australia; University of Michigan – Dearborn; and University of Waterloo, ON, Canada, among many others.
Dr. Indika believes sharing knowledge with a broader community enriches the academic career. There is value in being featured in reputable peer-reviewed journals, participating in professional activities and presenting at conferences.
His published works include varied studies, from Modeling the spread of COVID-19 in spacio-temporal context (Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2023) to statistical analyses in medical research. He has more than 10 articles published dating to 2005. His involvement in professional organizations, including the American Statistical Association and the New Zealand Statistical Association, further underscore his commitment to excellence.
Dr. Indika is a native of Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, and came to Hampton Roads as a graduate student pursuing a master's degree in computer science at William & Mary.
His educational credentials include degrees ranging from a bachelor’s in mathematics from Sri Lanka’s University of Colombo to a post-graduate diploma in operations research from the University of Moratuwa, also in his native country. He also has master’s degrees in mathematics and mathematical sciences (operations research) from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and South Carolina’s Clemson University, respectively.
Dr. Indika began at VPCC as an adjunct faculty member in the mathematics department teaching in summer 2005 and 2006. A doctorate in statistics from Norfolk’s Old Dominion University in hand, he became full-time faculty in 2010 and has since taught diverse mathematics and statistics courses, from developmental to advanced levels.
His journey from Sri Lanka to the United States, from student to professor, continues yielding tangible contributions to the field he loves. The insight he gains from his research while writing finds a way into his teaching and enhances what he offers his students.
“It (is) possible to bring new perspectives, new methods and new ideas in mathematics and statistics,” he said of the benefits writing for professional journals afford.