With an extensive track record in human capacity development in the field of engineering, Professor Tshilidzi Marwala’s research interests are multi-disciplinary and include the applications of computational intelligence to engineering, computer science, finance, social science and medicine.
Marwala started his career with a BSc in mechanical engineering (magna cum laude) from Case Western Reserve University in the United States in 1995, followed by a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pretoria, and finally a PhD degree in engineering from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. He was also a postdoctoral Research Associate at Imperial College in London, and completed a Programme for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.
Today, Marwala is a registered, professional engineer, and is the deputy vice-chancellor of research and innovation at the University of Johannesburg. He is a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the Academy of Science of South Africa, the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and the South African Academy of Engineering. In addition, he is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and a Distinguished Member of the Association for Computing Machinery.
He has published eight books and 264 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal and Current Science, written several proceedings and book chapters, received 2 675 citations and holds three international patents. He is an associate editor of the International Journal of Systems Science and was an associate editor of the South African Journal of Science.
Marwala has received more than 40 awards, including the Order of Mapungubwe: Bronze, the TWAS-AAS-Microsoft Awards for Young Scientists, and the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme Technology Award for Outstanding Project Leader. His writings and opinions have appeared in the New Scientist and Time magazines, and he was named one of 20 Future Leaders by the Mail & Guardian.
To date, he has supervised 46 master’s and 19 PhD students to completion. Some of these students have completed further studies at leading universities such as Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, British Columbia, Rutgers, Purdue and Concordia. Currently, five of his former students are employed as senior lecturers at universities across the country.
Marwala’s strategy to develop human capacity includes the identification and nurturing of potential black South African candidates as undergraduates, and appointing them as research assistants. Of the 31 black South African students he supervised, 10 completed their dissertations with distinction.
His publications, along with his humble approach, have attracted postgraduate students from China, Jordan, Algeria, Brazil, India, Cameroon, Nigeria, Botswana and Eritrea. He believes in stimulating his students’ creativity by placing them in multi-cultural, multi-racial, and multi-religious environments so they can unlock every single fibre of their potential.