Dr Bridgette Makhosazana Simelane is a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Pretoria (UP), Hatfield Campus. Her first lecturing position was a  Junior lecturership contract position lecturing Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology at Vista University. She later worked at the same university (Vista) in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, lecturing precalculus. Post Vista and the University of Pretoria’s incorporation, she was offered a permanent position as a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Pretoria, lecturing foundation year mathematics. She also held a managerial position as an Acting Director of the University of Pretoria’s Four-year programme at the Mamelodi Campus. She is currently lecturing mathematics to first-year Engineering students. She is part of the cohort of colleagues who will be leading the Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Department in research related to undergraduate mathematics.

Dr Simelane completed her matric at Hofmeyr High School near Pretoria. She holds a BSc in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Vista University, an Honours degree and a Masters’s degree in Financial Mathematics from UP. She recently completed her PhD in Science and Mathematics Education from the University of Pretoria. Dr Simelane’s achievements include a USAID grant for Honours Scholarship and a Gensec grant for her MSc studies. She received funding for teaching relief and conference attendance through the University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP) for six months towards her PhD. The UCDP also awarded her a grant to attend a Swan Delta 2019 conference in Australia. In addition, she was awarded a grant to attend an international conference (ICM) which was to be held in Russia, St. Petersburg (which was later cancelled due to developing circumstances in Russia). In her PhD thesis, she investigated the academic maturity of students in an extended programme, which includes an investigation into whether Academic Development (AD) programmes foster academic maturity for unprepared first-year students in the STEM study fields.

Research interests: Mathematical education research

1. Mathematical maturity

2. Mathematical support

3. Mathematics issues during the transition from secondary school to university

4. Mathematical diagnostic testing of incoming university students

5. Mathematics for engineers

6. Assessment and mindset in mathematics.