Masters Scholarships
Ms Daniek Joubert
Ms Joubert is currently in her first year of study towards a master’s degree in Applied Mathematics at Stellenbosch University. Her area of research is computer vision and her project is focused on the fusion of depth information as seen by a robot. This may eventually be used to aid navigation for a fully autonomous road vehicle. Relevant academic achievements include reaching the top 20 merit list of the Western Cape in her grade 12 year, obtaining both her BSc and BSc Hons cum laude, and being awarded the Best Female Achiever Award in Applied Mathematics in her third year of study. Her future plans entail a doctoral degree in Applied Mathematics while continuing her research in computer vision.
Ms Neann Mathai
Ms Mathai is currently an MSc student in Computer Science at the University of Cape Town. Her research is focused on developing computational methods for understanding and improving carbohydrate vaccines against the broad range of pneumococcal diseases that affect infants and young children in the developing world.
Ms Tshegofatso Thejane
Ms Thejane is currently registered for a master’s degree with the University of Johannesburg in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Ms Thejane’s research is focused on computing and validating an electric model of the human auditory periphery for otoacoustic emissions, on which she presented a paper at the 22nd International International Association of Science and Technology for Development Conference on Modelling and Simulation, held in Calgary, Canada.
Doctoral Scholarships
Ms Gugulethu Mabuza
Ms Mabuza recently received her MTech and MSc degrees in Electrical Engineering Telecommunications cum laude from the Tshwane University of Technology and ESIEE Paris in France. She is now registered for DTech and PhD degrees in the field of Biometrics. She published manuscripts in the proceedings of the 2010 International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and in the proceedings of the Broadcom 2008 Third International Conference on Broadband Communications, Information Technology and Biomedical Applications. Ms Mabuza’s research is on the reconnaissance and extraction of distinct human iris features for utilisation towards iris classification. The success of her research will contribute towards the unique identification and recognition of an individual based on the biometric features of their iris.
Ms Dithoto Modungwa
Ms Modungwa is a DPhil candidate at the University of Johannesburg in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Her DPhil project focuses on the optimisation of parallel manipulators using artificial intelligence techniques. Ms Modungwa is also pioneering research on parallel manipulator robots with special emphasis on the development of parallel kinematic mechanisms and their applications as reconfigurable machine tools. Ms Modungwa holds an M. Tech and B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering: Mechatronics, from Tshwane University of Technology and a B. Eng in Integral Product Design Engineering from the Hogeschool Utrecht (in the Netherlands). The design and development of mechatronic systems, central to Ms Modungwa’s field of research, adds significantly to South Africa’s competitive advantage in manufacturing industries.
Ms Tozama Ogunleye
Ms Ogunleye holds a masters degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Cape Town. Ms Ogunleye (née Qwebani) is currently at the CSIR and registered as a doctoral student at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her project focuses on the chemo-enzymatic synthesis of novel antimycobacterials and antibacterials to counter emerging antibiotic drug resistance, with particular emphasis on tuberculosis infections.
Ms Ogunleye’s involvement in science dates back to her primary school days when she became a champion in the Maths 24 Competition in the Kokstad region. While at high school, she represented South Africa in an international science competition held in Europe (Austria). As a university student, Ms Ogunleye served as a Chemistry Departmental representative (2003), a Vice Chairperson for the Science Student Council (2004) and a Vice Chairperson for the Post-Graduate Student Association (2006). Ms Ogunleye has co-authored two articles and is now in the process of submitting a third article.
This article originally appeared in the Mail & Guardian newspaper as an advertorial supplement