Academic Journey & Background

Prof. S. Kumaresan is a distinguished Indian mathematician, educator, and pedagogical innovator whose career spans over four decades. After securing First Ranks in both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, in the 1970s, he earned his Ph.D. from the School of Mathematics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai.

He carried out postdoctoral research at the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton, USA, and served as an Assistant Professor at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA (1983–1984).

Following nearly 17 years of service as a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Mumbai, he joined the University of Hyderabad in 2007 as a Professor in the School of Mathematics, Computer and Information Sciences. He went on to serve as the first Dean of the newly established School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Hyderabad until his retirement in 2015. Over his academic career, he held various research and academic positions at institutions including IMSc (Chennai), HRI (Allahabad), IISc (Bengaluru), TIFR CAM (Bengaluru), ISI (Kolkata), and IIT Kanpur.

Mathematical Research & Seminal Contributions

Prof. Kumaresan has made profound contributions to Differential Geometry and Lie Groups. His most celebrated research achievement is the Kumaresan Vanishing Theorem, recognized by TIFR during its 60th-anniversary celebrations as one of the top five research results to come out of the institute.

He has published numerous impactful research papers in premier global journals, including a distinguished series of papers authored with his first Ph.D. student at the University of Mumbai that appeared together in a single issue of the prestigious Duke Mathematical Journal.

The MTTS Movement & Educational Revolution

At the age of 40, recognizing an urgent need to build a competent national talent pool in higher mathematics, Prof. Kumaresan founded the Mathematics Training and Talent Search (MTTS) Programme in 1993. Funded by the National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM), Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, MTTS has run under his directorship since its inception.

MTTS fundamentally transformed mathematical pedagogy across India by replacing passive lectures with active inquiry, student-led problem-solving, and conceptual discovery. The key facets of this national initiative include:

• Annual Summer Camps: Every year, around 200 undergraduate and postgraduate students undergo rigorous four-week training organized concurrently across three regional centers in India.
• Remarkable Research Pipeline: More than 500 alumni of MTTS have completed or are currently pursuing doctoral degrees, with alumni serving on faculties of nearly every premier scientific and mathematical department in India.
• Diversity & Social Reach: The program has successfully attracted and nurtured a large number of students, especially women and candidates from rural and semi-urban backgrounds, empowering them to enter top research institutions such as TIFR, IMSc, HRI, and the IITs.
• Initiation into Mathematics (Mini-MTTS): Short-term camps launched in 2010 targeting students in remote regions with limited access to advanced academic infrastructure.
• Pedagogical Training for Mathematics Teachers (PTMT): Specialized workshops designed to train young college and university teachers in interactive MTTS methodology.
• Cross-Disciplinary Influence: The success of the MTTS pedagogical model inspired scientists in other domains to establish similar foundational training camps in Theoretical Physics and Statistics.

Global Recognition & Pandemic Response

Prof. Kumaresan’s educational methodologies have garnered significant international recognition:

• Elected Member of the Executive Committee of the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction (ICMI) in 2009.
• International delegations from the Center for Mathematics Education (Sweden) and SUKEN (Mathematics Certification Institute of Japan) have visited India specifically to study the MTTS methodology.

Awards and Honours

• INSA Teachers Award (2013): Conferred by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), making him the first mathematics teacher to receive this honor for inspiring students toward careers in science and technology.
• C. L. Chandna Award (1998): Awarded by the Indo-Canadian Math Foundation (Windsor University) for outstanding contributions to mathematics research and education.

Authored Books & Expository Works

Prof. Kumaresan has authored 10 influential books spanning undergraduate to Ph.D. level mathematics, alongside more than 200 expository articles (exceeding 1,000 pages) that are freely available to students and researchers:

• Linear Algebra: A Geometric Approach
  Prentice Hall of India
• Topology of Metric Spaces
  Narosa Publishing House / Alpha Science
• A Course in Differential Geometry and Lie Groups
  Hindustan Book Agency / Springer
• A Basic Course in Real Analysis
  with Ajit Kumar (CRC Press)
• A Foundation Course in Mathematics
  with Ajit Kumar & Bhaba Kumar Sarma (Alpha Science / Narosa)
• An Expedition to Geometry
  with G. Santhanam (Hindustan Book Agency)
• Functional Analysis: A First Course
  with D. Sukumar (Narosa Publishing House)
• A Course in Lebesgue Measure and Integration
  with Sheetal Dharmatti (Narosa Publishing House)
• Short Courses in Analysis / Mathematics
  Universities Press