Hot Topic Title: “The Role of Mathematics and Computer Science in Developing Countries“ Presentation: "Viewpoint from Bangladesh" Abstract: "This presentation reiterates the stand of the academicians in the World Class University Conferences held at Shanghai that success of developing countries in facing challenge and competition of the 21st century will largely depend upon their ability to create world class universities. Now that horizon of every branch of science has been increasing, newer and newer branches are being added to the knowledge, the world needs many more knowledge workers than ever before. There has been an unfortunate trend of good science students continuing education in other branches implying that there will be lesser knowledge workers to push the boundaries of science and technology. This will necessitate popularizing STEM subjects among young students. Many developing countries are yet to appreciate importance of investing the prescribed 6% of GDP in education or 20% of budget allocation. For over populated countries like Bangladesh this may not be possible to increase allocation immediately. However, our initiative of Mathematics, Informatics, Physics, Chemistry and science Olympiads throughout the country, massive participation of students and guardians alike and winning medals from international events by our students do indicate that introduction of healthy Olympiad competitions may encourage young students to continue with science subjects and earn excellence. Academicians should also find ways and means of popularizing science not only among science students and faculty members but also among people of other walks of life through introduction of cost effective events like Olympiads. In fact we are looking for days when IMO, IOI, IPhO, IChO champions will be considered as superstars in a scale of Wimbledon champions or golden boot winners at least by science students and faculty members. Since developing countries are short of resources and infrastructures they must initiate innovative events to mobilize infinite energy and spirit of young people towards learning science and technology, and divert them from trivial pursuits. Ever increasing power of computers has created opportunity for tackling mathematical problems that are yet to be resolved. Revolutionary progress of computer science has created a great opportunity for developing countries to change their fate by harvesting benefits of this versatile technology that can ensure optimal utilization of their scarce resources and minimize wastage."

1. Hot Topic Presentations
Abel, Fields and Turing Laureates
Meet the Next Generation
2nd Heidelberg Laureate Forum
September 21 - 26, 2014
The Role of Mathematics and Computer Sciences
in Developing Countries
Mohammad Kaykobad
“Viewpoint from Bangladesh”
September 23, 2014

2. The Role of Mathema-cs and
Computer Science in Developing
Countries
Dr.
Mohammad
KAYKOBAD
CSE
Department
Bangladesh
University
of
Engineering
and
Technology
Dhaka-­‐1000,
Bangladesh

3. I would love to communicate
• Although
current
civilizaHon
is
the
product
of
science
and
technology
society
is
indifferent
to
both
science
and
science
workers.
• Developing
naHons
have
enormous
opportunity
to
ride
on
ICT
technologies
to
prosperity.
• CreaHon
of
CompeHHve
Learning
Infrastructure
may
be
the
only
cost
effecHve
means
for
aNaining
excellence
in
Science
and
Technology.

4. Three Eras of Civiliza-on
Agriculture
Age
Industrial
Age
InformaHon
Age
1780-­‐
1975-­‐

5. • It’s
a
Flat
World!
(Thomas
Friedman,
2004)
• Open
opportuniHes,
open
knowledge
• All
that
is
needed
is
hunger
and
training
• No
need
of
big
Infrastructure,
large
land
or
mines!
Savar
New
York
Tokyo
Lima

6. A Glance at Bangladesh
• A
South
Asian
Country
on
the
largest
delta
of
the
world
• Home
to
Bengal
Tiger
and
longest
sea
beach
• 8th
most
populous
in
the
world
160
million
Popula'on
114
million
57.7%
Literacy
rate
$1000
GDP
per
capita
Mobile
phone
penetra'on
6.1%
Internet
users

7. State of Educa-on
57.7%
63%
2.3%
Literacy
rate
Of
GDP
spent
on
educaHon
Of
girls
do
not
cross
grade
3
Korea
5%
India
3.4%
Germany
5.1%
Korea
5%
India
10-­‐15%
Germany
less
than
1%
100%
necessary
Korea
97.9%
India
74.04%

8. Compe--ve Learning Infrastructure
in Bangladesh
Huge
populaHon
Not
enough
schools
and
colleges
Dearth
of
trained
teachers
Not
enough
labs
Inspire
by
CompeHHon

9. Developing a Compe--ve Learning
Infrastructure
Organize
Olympiads
Different
subjects
and
disciplines
Mass
publicity
through
newspapers
and
electronic
media
Inspire
young
people
Inspiring
reward
to
winners

10. Our ini-a-ves for Compe--ve
Learning Infrastructure
• ICPC
(Organized
by
ACM)
since
1997
• IMO
since
2004
• IOI
since
2005
• IPhO
• ParHcipaHon
in
IChO
is
in
progress
• Olympiad
in
Language
• Other
Olympiads
follow

11. Interna-onal Collegiate Programming Contest
ICPC2012,
Warsaw

12. ACM ICPC
• We
are
organizing
Asia
Regional
Contest
since
1997
• BUET
qualified
for
World
Finals
for
17
years
(in
a
row)
• Many
Bangladeshi
universiHes
stand
on
top
100
unis.
• ParHcipants
now
working
at
Microsoh,
Google,
Facebook,
TwiNer
etc.

13. Interna-onal Mathema-cal Olympiad

14. Neuron-­‐e Onuronon
(Pulses in Neuron)
• Newspaper
based
Math
Olympiad
• 5
math
problems
each
week
in
Prothom
Alo
— 100,000
copies
• Thousands
of
responses
from
students!
• Even
from
their
parents!!

15. Math Fes-val (starts in 2002)

16. Educa-on in the Developing World
115
million
60%
150
million
Children
under
12
year
old
doesn’t
have
access
to
school
Are
female
children
Children
do
not
complete
the
first
four
years
of
schooling

17. Educa-on Investment and Achievement in
South Korea
$890
$17,000
Government
tripled
investment
in
educaHon

18. Intellectual Proper-es-­‐Patents per
capita
0,00
500,00
1.000,00
1.500,00
2.000,00
2.500,00
Korea
United
States
India
Bangladesh
Patents
per
Million
Korea
United
States
India
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
India
Korea
USA

19. The Way it Worked for Us
• InspiraHon
from
a
few
key
people
• Sponsorship
— Large
newspaper
–
Prothom
Alo
— Large
bank
–
Dutch
Bangla
Bank
— Industries
-­‐
PHP
Group
• Large
team
of
volunteers

20. Survival of the FiRest
• Human
beings
are
superior
to
other
animals
not
because
— They
have
stronger
arms
or
legs
OR
— They
are
bigger
— BUT
because
they
have
beNer
brains
• We
have
to
train
our
brains
through
educaHon
and
create
beNer
tools
— Learn
MATHS
— Learn
COMPUTER
SCIENCE
• We
must
recognize
math/computer
wizards
adequately.
• AT
LEAST
our
leaders
should
realize
their
significance

21. • Dr.
Muhammad
Yunus
(Nobel
Prize)
• Salman
Khan
in
“Time
100”
• “Aamrao
Pari"
-­‐
EMMY
Award
• Md.
Abirul
Islam-­‐
Silver
medal
at
IOI
2009
• Dhananjoy
Biswas
-­‐
Silver
Medal
at
IMO
• Prof
Jamal
Nazrul
Islam
• Success
in
InternaHonal
Programming
Contest

22. ICT & Mobile Tech to Develop
Compe--ve Learning Infrastructure
• Mobile
phone
— High
penetraHon
— Mobile
internet
available;
Tk.
1.00/
day
($0.0125)
— Low
cost
smartphone
— Download
Audio
podcast
or
video
lecture
— Answer
quizzes
by
text
— Mobile
Tutoring
service

23. Khan Academy
• Free
online
educaHon
• Tutorials
for
all
basic
subjects
• Tutorials
starts
from
basic
to
higher
levels
• Self
evaluaHon
• hNps://www.khanacademy.org/

24. Contests, Medals and Awards: Is it
Enough?
• No
interest
in
STEM
Studies
• STEM
studies
“stereotyped”
as
troublesome
• No
government
iniHaHve
on
STEM
studies
“Several
researches
demonstrate
that
classrooms
in
Bangladesh
are
a
kind
of
living
nightmares
to
the
students.”
The
Daily
Independent,
January
2014

25. STEM Educa-on In the US
• President
Obama-­‐by
2021
to
prepare
100,000
STEM
teachers
• 200,000
Federal
scienHsts
and
engineers
to
engage
and
encourage
STEM
studies

26. STEM Educa-on In the US
• NaHonal
Science
FoundaHon
(NSF)
iniHaHves
— Improve
STEM
studies
— learning
through
evidence-­‐based
form
— Received
$325
million
to
expand
graduate
fellowship
programs
• Department
of
EducaHon,
NSF
and
The
Smithsonian
InsHtuHon
contribuHng
to
STEM
educaHon
at
all
levels
• Private
sector
iniHators
— General
Electric
— Exxon
Mobil
— Intel

27. Achievements Through Compe--ve
Learning
• IOI
inspired
11
year
old
Gennady
Korotkievich-­‐
Gold
medal
in
6
consecuHve
years
from
2007
to
2012
• 3
Bangladeshi
students
outperformed
seniors
in
regional
ICPC
with
no
formal
background
in
programming
• Millennium
problem
solver
Grigorii
Perelman,
youngest
Fields
medalist
Terrence
Tao,
first
woman
Field’s
medalist
Mariyam
Mirzakhani
all
proved
their
potenHal
in
IMO

28. Problems of Providing Quality
Educa-on in Developing Countries
• Massive
populaHon
— Unfavourable
teacher-­‐student
raHo
• Lack
of
funds
and
resources
— No
trained
teachers
— No
lab
faciliHes
— No
libraries
• Quality
of
educaHon
is
not
considered
as
an
important
factor
• EducaHonal
acHviHes
are
unpopular

29. Problems of Providing Quality
Educa-on in Developing Countries
• Teachers
and
students
rarely
follow
results
of
IMO,
IOI,
IPhO,
IChO
or
Turing
awards,
Fields
medals,
Abel
prizes
or
Nevanlinna
awards
• Science
events
do
not
appear
to
be
popular
among
scienHsts
and
science
students.
• EducaHonal
Olympiads
failed
to
aNract
sponsors
unlike
their
interests
in
sporHng
events

30. Poten-al Measures
• Good
text
books
• IntroducHon
of
ICT
and
TV
tech
to
students
in
classrooms
• Organizing
Olympiads
— For
different
subjects
and
disciplines
— Mass
publicity
through
electronic
media
can
create
vast
interest
among
young
peoples
— Can
be
organized
for
different
regions
and
localiHes
— Ensure
a
generous
reward
to
the
winners

31. Online Contests for Programming
Skills
• hNp://uva.onlinejudge.org/
• hNp://www.acmsolver.org/
• hNp://www.spoj.com/
• hNp://kurukshetra.org.in/#!/events/
onlineprogramming
• hNps://www.topcoder.com/tc
• hNp://acm.hust.edu.cn/
• hNp://www.codechef.com/
• hNps://code.google.com/codejam/
• hNp://acm.Hmus.ru/

32. Online Contests for Mathema-cal
Skills
• hNp://www.davidsongihed.org/db/ContentMissing.aspx
• hNps://projecteuler.net/
• hNp://www.webmath.com/
• hNps://brilliant.org/
• hNp://mathforum.org/pow/other.html
• hNp://nrich.maths.org/frontpage
• hNp://www.artofproblemsolving.com/
• hNp://www.worldmathsday.com
• hNp://vjimc.osu.cz/
• hNp://euclidlab.org/programs/archimedean-­‐challenge/
• hNp://www.imc-­‐math.org.uk/
• hNp://olympiad.sanjesh.org/en/index.asp
• hNp://internetolympiad.org/
• hNp://internetolympiad.org/

33. How it happened in Bangladesh
• Celebrated
educaHonist
and
author
Dr.
Muhammed
Zafar
Iqbal
with
some
academics
pioneered
the
introducHon
of
Olympiad
compeHHons

34. Bring the Inspira-on to Bangladesh
• Wise
patron
Professor
Jamilur
Reza
Choudhury
-­‐
President
BMOC
• Tagged
along
with
MaHur
Rahman,
editor
of
the
Daily
Prothom
Alo
(the
most
popular
newspaper
in
Bangladesh,
525k
circulaHon)and
forward
looking
Dutch-­‐Bangla
Bank

35. Bangladesh Informa-cs Olympiad
CommiRee
Senior
Professors
of
Computer
Science
of
different
universiHes
A
spiritual
leader
and
philanthropist
in
Sufi
Alhaj
Mijanur
Rahman
Chowdhury,
Chairman
of
PHP
Group
of
Industries,
generously
support
Bd
InformaHcs
Olympiad
acHviHes.

36. Road to IMO
• Our
coach
Dr.
Mahbub
Majumdar
— Graduate
of
MIT,
Stanford
and
Oxford

37. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR
YOUR PASSIONATE HEARING

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