Mpinganzima, a rare Female PhD holder in Mathematics -Inspirational figure for youth

08-03-2020

Mpinganzima Lydie is one of the rare female lecturers holding a PhD in Mathematics in Rwanda. She graduated in 2014 at Linköping University under the support of Sida through UR-Sweden Programme, a partnership dated since 2000 between Rwanda and Sweden. She currently serves as a lecturer mainly for postgraduate students in applied science, the Department of Mathematics, at the University of Rwanda.

As part of her research career, she is interested in expanding her PhD thesis on “Cauchy problem for the Helmholtz equation and inverse scattering problems”. Mpinganzima belongs to group in Mathematical modeling which won an impressive grant for the project “Mathematical modeling of cardiovascular-respiratory system for sportsmen and patients in Rwanda”. In 2016, through her research on “Numerical Analysis of nanophotonics” she obtained a Postdoctoral position from the Gothenburg University and the Chalmers University of Technology in 2016.

Mpinganzima is reckoned as female Mathematics champion countrywide. She is involved in activities aiming to encourage young girls and boys to undertake their studies in Mathematics. In this endeavor, she approaches young girls in their schools. But to make sure to reach a big number of them, she equally visits those studying in mixed schools where she takes an opportunity to encourage young boys so that they don’t stay behind.

“I share with students real-life applications of mathematics and my experiences as a mathematician, lecturer, researcher, woman, and mother,” she proudly said, adding that she has a keen interest in the training of secondary school teachers in mathematics.

Mpinganzima is keen to inspire young generation-here with high school students