Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan
Professor of Zoology University of Cape Town
Tel: +27 21 650 4007
www.zoology.uct.ac.za
Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, a leader in the field of palaeobiology, was the first scientist to use the microstructure of extinct animals’ bones to decipher their life on Earth. In 2005 she published The Microstructure of Dinosaur Bone: Interpreting Biology through Fine Scale Techniques, the first book devoted to fossil bone microstructure.
Chinsamy-Turan is passionate about stimulating interest in science among the public and her first children’s book, published in 2008, is entitled Famous Dinosaurs of Africa. Chinsamy-Turan was honoured as the 2005 Shoprite Checkers/SABC2 Woman of the Year, South Africa’s most prestigious award for women.
Rowena Hay
Founder and MD Umvoto Africa
Tel: +27 21 788 8031
www.umvoto.com
Cape Town hydrogeologist Rowena Hay founded earth sciences consultancy Umvoto Africa in 1992. The company has become an internationally recognised leader in research and innovation relating to groundwater management, with clients such as the United Nations and the World Bank. Umvoto and its project partner SA Rock Drills were finalists in this year’s National Science and Technology Forum awards.
Her local clients include municipalities and the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs. Hay is not only noted for her exceptional scientific contributions, but also for her involvement in up-skilling scientists, especially women. Hay was the 2009 Cape entrepreneur in the annual Businesswomen’s Association Regional Business Achievers awards. Last year, she was the runner-up in the achiever award for a women scientist in industry.
Karin Jacobs
Senior Lecturer: Microbiology Department Stellenbosch University
Tel: +27 21 808 4628
www.sun.ac.za
Dr Karin Jacobs studies several economically important fungi and has embarked on a research project into the fungal ecology of the fynbos soil. Jacobs started her undergraduate studies at the University of the Free State and obtained her PhD in 2000 from the University of Pretoria. The aim of her research is to improve the understanding of ecosystems, to the benefit of all people.
In 2003, she received Unesco’s international fellowship for young women in science and in 2005 the DST-L’Oreal women in Science award. She has also received a prestigious fellowship for doctoral studies and a post-doctoral fellowship from the National Research Foundation. Jacobs currently serves as president of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology and vice president of the African Mycological Association. She has published 32 papers in peer-reviewed journals and presented her work at a number of national and international conferences.
Nonhlanhla Mokoena
Physicist Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, Eskom
Tel: +27 21 550 5433
www.eskom.co.za
As a teenager, Nonhlanhla Mokoena sold sweets at school and cleaned houses to contribute to the family income. She fell pregnant at 15 and had to drop out of school briefly to give birth to her son. But with encouragement from her grandmother and teachers, she returned to school, matriculated and continued to college where she studied maths and science education.
After completing a further course in adult education, she decided to proceed to university. She received a BSc degree from the University of Zululand in physics and industrial science and recently completed a master’s degree in physics in material science. Mokoena has tutored physics at the University of the Western Cape and worked as at iThemba Labs.
In her current post as a physicist at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station she is responsible for monitoring and analysing the performance of the fuel core. As a motivational speaker, Mokoena encourages children from disadvantaged backgrounds to fulfil their potential.
Nomakwezi Mzilikazi
Senior Lecturer in Zoology Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Tel: +27 41 504 2421
[email protected]
Nomakwezi Mzilikazi is Africa’s first black evolutionary physiologist. Originally from a small village in the Eastern Cape, she studied zoology and chemistry at the University of Transkei before specialising in zoology as a postgraduate student. She is an expert in the behaviour and physiology of small Afrotropical mammals such as the elephant shrew and bush baby, and holds a PhD in zoology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
She started her working career as a teaching assistant and later temporary lecturer at the UKZN School of Botany and Zoology, and after a stint as teaching assistant at the State University of New York she returned to UKZN as a lecturer in the School of Education, Training and Development before taking on the post of zoology lecturer, then senior lecturer, at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU). A prolific researcher, Mzilikazi has had a number of papers published in international, peer-reviewed science journals.
She has completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Philipps Universität Marburg, Germany and is a member of the research ethics committee (animal) at NMMU; a reviewer for African Zoology, Journal of Mammalogy, American Journal of Physiology, and the Journal of Comparative Physiology; and a grant, scholarships and fellowships reviewer for the National Research Foundation.