Sivalingam obtained his B.E. degree in
computer science and
engineering in 1988 from
College of Engineering, Guindy and then did his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
computer science at the
University at Buffalo in 1990 and 1994 respectively. While at Buffalo State, he served as Presidential Fellow from 1988 to 1991. As an editor, he has served as the editor-in-chief for Springer Photonic Network Communications Journal and the EAI Endorsed Transactions on Future Internet. He has served as a member of the Editorial Board for several international journals including
IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, the ACM/Springer
Wireless Networks Journal and Elsevier's
Optical Switching and Networking Journal. He has served on the Steering Committee of IEEE International Conference on Advanced Networks and Telecommunications Systems (ANTS) and ICST International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Services (MobiQuitous). ==Awards and honors==