Dr Risco Mutelo was born in Katima Mulilo, Namibia. He received the BEng Honors degree in Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering from Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, in 2004 and Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the same University in 2008.
In 1994, he was invited and awarded the Overseas Research Scholarship by the school of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering at Newcastle University for a Ph.D. degree due to his academic achievements and within the same year became a part – time employee of the University.
He became a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology in the UK during his Ph.D.
degree. His research interests include optimization, image processing, machine learning, statistics, mathematical modeling and their application to other fields such as biometrics recognition systems and investment banking.
In 2008 he was the recipient of the Hudswell International Research Scholarship from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), UK, for his contributions to the field of Biometrics recognition.
He published over 18 Journals & conference papers with high profile organisations such as IET in the UK and the Institution of Electrical, Electronic Engineering, IEEE, in the USA, on statistical modelling of face images for storage and recognition purposes during his Ph.D. program.
In addition, Mutelo was an invited speaker at international conferences such as SPIE conference on Defense and Security, Orlando World Center, Orlando, Florida, USA, 2008 and the 4th IET Visual Information Engineering Conference, the Royal Statistical Society, London, UK, 2007.
In 2010 due to his quantitative background, he was employed as a quantitative analyst by an investment bank, Credit Suisse, where he specialized in the application of mathematical methods, such as numerical or quantitative techniques, to financial problems such as algorithmic trading.
Currently he continues to undertake cutting-edge self-directed research in the field of Biometrics recognition and is a senior Credit Derivatives Modelling Analyst within the investment branch of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the UK.
As of next week in the Youth Corner Rector Mutelo would be contributing a weekly youth-inspiring column to inspire other Namibian youth to be interested in mathematics and science.