Preparations for the last inaugural lecture in 2013 at the Durban University of Technology are in full swing.
Professor Oludayo Olugbara, Professor of Computer Science and Information Technology in the University’s Department of Information Technology, will deliver his inaugural lecture on Wednesday, 20 November 2013, at the DUT Hotel School Conference Centre, DUT Ritson Campus, at 18H30. His inaugural lecture follows two previous ones by Prof Nirmala Deenadayalu, Professor in the University’s Chemistry Department as well as Prof Suren Singh, Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology HoD.
Titled: Smart Cities in a Complex Hyperconnected World, the lecture will provide an overview of the inherent merits of integrating smart city infrastructures – which are tied in with the development of relevant services within the world economy – to improve human lives and transform complex heterogeneous ecosystems. The inaugural lecture will focus on the utilisation of these infrastructures to enhance applications and services.
Prof Olugbara, Research Co-Ordinator at the KwaZulu-Natal e-Skills CoLab, holds a PhD in Computer Science, University of Zululand, 2008; a M.Sc. in Mathematics (Computer Science Specialisation), University of Ilorin, Nigeria, 1995, and a B.Sc. (Honors) in Mathematics (First Class Honors), University of Ilorin, Nigeria, 1991. He is a member of the DUT Senate, is Vice-Chairman of the Space Science Research Group at DUT and he is also a member of the Research Network for E-Skills (ResNES). He has extensive teaching experience in Computer Science, Information Technology and Mathematics at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has supervised postgraduate research students at the Tshwane University of Technology since 2009. He lectured at the Covenant University, Nigeria, between 2002 and 2006, Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria between 1995 and 2001, and at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria between 1992 and 2001.
He arrived at DUT in 2010 when he was appointed Associate Professor of Computer Science and Information Technology in the University’s Information Technology Department. In 2011, he became Professor of Computer Science and Information Technology in the Department.
He has supervised 6 Doctoral students, 10 Master’s students and more than 250 under-graduate students. He mentors postgraduate students and examines dissertations and theses at the aforementioned academic level.
He has published over 30 peer reviewed journal articles and over 50 conference papers. He has also presented at workshops and symposiums including the International Workshop on Pattern Discovery in Biology, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria, 2005. He is a peer reviewer for the Maejo International Journal of Science and Technology, Thailand, 2009 to date, and the Journal of African Studies and Development, 2009 to date.
Prof Olugbara is an external moderator and an examiner for the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science; University of Zululand’s Department of Computer Science as well as the University of South Africa’s School of Computing.
He co-authored the book Computer Application Packages, 1995, published by McKay Educational Series. He has also authored chapters in five books.
His research inclinations are machine learning, computer games, image processing, Grid/Cloud computing, e-Healthare, e-Commerce, e-Government and scientific computing. Prof Olugbara has over 24 years of programming experience in software development, the use of operating systems (Windows XP/Vista, LINUX and SUSE) and the use of many productivity enhancement software tools. While he uses programming languages and scripts including C#, Java, HTML, XML, PHP, MATLAB, QT and Carbide C++, his main programming tool for implementing and testing his research ideals is C/C++.
He is a member of Marquis Who’s Who in the World, USA. He is also a member of the editorial board of the Signal & Image Processing: An International Journal. Prof Olugbara has received a string of awards and scholarships including the Centre of Excellence Scholarship award by the University of Zululand, 2006-2008; International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) TC2 Scholarship Award by Microsoft Research Limited, Cambridge, 2007; International Student Society Most Deserving Award by the University of Zululand, 2006-2007; Medal Award by the International Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICICT), Cairo, 2005, and the Faculty of Science Prize by the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, 1991.
He has chaired conference sessions, collaborated with other scholars on research and presented at numerous regional, national and international conference meetings. He is a member of six professional societies including the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New Zealand, Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA), as well as the Mathematical Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigeria.
His consulting experience includes Principal Consultant, Kreative Resources Consultancy, Ilorin, Nigeria; designer and implementer of the Student Registration and Examination Results Processing System, University of Ilorin, Nigeria, and Principal Consultant for the Training of local government chairmen and secretaries of the 754 local governments in Nigeria, 2000.
– Sinegugu Ndlovu
Pictured: Prof Oludayo Olugbara, Professor of Computer Science and Information Technology in the University’s Department of Information Technology, who will deliver his inaugural lecture later this month.
