Mikhail B. Petrov was born in Port Arthur, China, in 1951. In 1968 he became a student of the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of St Petersburg (former Leningrad) University, Russia, which walls remember Euler and Chebyshev, Markov and Fihtengolts. After graduating in 1973 he was working in the Department of Theoretical Mechanics, teaching and doing research in the area of asymptotic analysis and the theory of shells. He defended his PhD dissertation in 1978 and became an Associate Professor in 1987. Since 1990 Prof Petrov is working in Africa promoting mathematics in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland. He gave wide range of mathematical courses and supervised several dozens BSc and MSc projects and one PhD dissertation. In 1993 he joined SAMSA and since then actively participated in its work, organising conferences, making presentations and plenary talks and promoting young mathematicians. Since 1996 he was involved in the Southern African Postgraduate Programme in Mathematical Modelling (NUFU) with the headquarters in Harare and was coordinating it in 2003-2007. In total more than hundred African students received MSc degree and more than 20 students defended their PhD dissertations and now are working in the region and overseas. Under his supervision the Programme expanded, new representatives from Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia have joined the Steering Committee, and the students from respective countries also studied in Harare. As result the Programme connected the mathematics departments of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe universities with each other and also with some SA universities such as UCT and KZNU.
Since 2008 Prof Petrov is working in UNISWA and is trying to open a Postgraduate Programme in the Department of Mathematics.
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