Rate My Professor Arunasalam Arunasalam Rahunanthan

Arunasalam Rahunanthan is Professor of Mathematics and Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Central State University (CSU), where he also serves as Interim Dean of the John W. Garland College of Engineering, Science, Technology, and Agriculture. He began his tenure at CSU in January 2015 as Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in August 2018, and became Department Chair in August 2019. Prior appointments include Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Toledo (2014-2015 and 2012-2013), Instructor at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania (2013-2014), Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the University of Wyoming (2009-2012), and earlier roles as Graduate Assistant at Wyoming, Engineer at Celetronix in Sri Lanka, and Instructor at the University of Peradeniya. Rahunanthan obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Wyoming in 2009 and B.Sc. Engineering in Computer Sciences from the University of Peradeniya in 2001.

Rahunanthan's academic interests center on mathematical modeling of multiphase flows through porous media, Bayesian methods for uncertainty quantification, discontinuous Galerkin approximations, and high-performance computing on GPUs. His peer-reviewed publications include "Contaminant Transport Forecasting in the Subsurface Using a Bayesian Framework" with A. Mamun et al. (Applied Mathematics and Computation, 2020), "Multi-Physics Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods for Subsurface Flows" with V. Ginting and F. Pereira (Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 2015), "Rapid Quantification of Uncertainty in Permeability and Porosity of Oil Reservoirs for Enabling Predictive Simulation" (Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 2014), "Hysteretic Enhancement of Carbon Dioxide Trapping in Deep Aquifers" (Computational Geosciences, 2014), and "High-order W-methods" (Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 2010). As principal investigator or co-principal investigator, he has obtained grants totaling millions, such as the $500,000 NSF Excellence in Research Award (2023) for groundwater contamination forecasting, $299,208 NSF Research Initiation Award (2016-2021), Ohio RAPIDS grants exceeding $200,000, and $2.25 million USDA NIFA scholarship program. Recognitions include the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education Faculty Excellence Award (2017), CASL Fellowship (2019-2020), and Scientific Teaching Fellow (2018-2019). His contributions enhance predictive capabilities in environmental and energy sectors.