Unisa 2008 Research Report - University of South Africa

college of science,
engineeRing and
technology | cset
Research activity in the College continues to
thrive and covers all key disciplines represented
in the College. The CSET research agenda is
informed by its vision of being ‘The responsive,
enabling and accessible provider of ODl science,
engineering and technology programmes
in Africa’. CSET engages in a range of research
from basic or blue sky research through to
applied research that focuses on solving practical
problems of the modern world, as well as
ODl research.
CSET has a vibrant research seminar programme
aimed at creating a vibrant community of
researchers. 2008 saw the launch of the African
Scholar Programme, in which researchers from
elsewhere in Africa are invited to share their
work with academics in the College. Three
researchers have visited the College so far: Prof.
Abegaz (University of Botswana), Prof. Gatsinzi
(University of Botswana) and Prof. Gerdes
(Research Centre for Mathematics, Culture and
Education, Maputo).
CSET also hosted six high profile visiting
scientists from Russia, Germany, Brazil,
Australia and Greece:
• Dr Jeff Johnson, President and Principal
Consultant of UI (Usability) Wizards
presented a workshop entitled The evil
web designer: How to really confound and
annoy users bwah, hah, hah! The workshop
was attended by a group of students and
staff from the School of Computing, as well
as visitors from other universities.
• Prof. kieka Mynhardt and Prof. Ernie Cockayne
from the University of Victoria, Canada
visited the Department of Mathematical
Sciences, during which visit Prof. Mynhardt
gave a lecture titled Regular graphs are not
universal fixers.
• Dr OI kartavtsev and Dr AV Malykh from
the Joint Insititute for nuclear Research
visited the Department of Physics as part
of the DST-JInR (Russia) agreement and
collaborated with staff members on problems
in few body physics.
• Prof. lauro Tomio from the Instituto de
Fisika Teoria (IFT), Universidate Estadual
Paulista, Sao Paolo, Brazil visited the Department
of Physics with the purpose to establish
collaborations between South Africa and
Brazil in theoretical physics. Discussions
were held with nRF for this purpose.
• Prof. n Elander from Stockholm University
visited the Department of Physics, continuing
work on a joint project with Prof. SA
Rakitianski on ‘Quantum resonances in
molecular systems’.
• Prof. IE lagaris from the University of
Ioannina, Greece, was a visiting scientist at
the Department of Physics. During his visit,
two new projects were initiated, one on the
location of potential resonances in momentum
space formalisms and one on quantum
profiles.
ReseARch AssocIATes
Given the scarce skills of the disciplines in
CSET, the College endeavours to find creative
ways of ensuring that it remains at the cutting
edge of research. As such, the College appointed
the following seven highly respected
researchers as research associates of the
College:
• Dr Arina Britz: Research Associate (School
of Computing)
• Prof. Paula kotzé (Meraka Institute): Professor
Extraordinarius (School of Computing)
• Prof. Thokozani Majozi (University of
Pretoria): Professor Extraordinarius (School
of Engineering)
• Dr Happy Sethole (Centre for High Performance
Computing): Research Associate
(Department of Physics)
• Dr ludwig Combrink (HARTRAO): Research
Associate (Department of Electrical and
Mining Engineering)
• Dr Mariekie Frick (retired): Research
Associate (Department of Mathematical
Sciences)
• Prof. keika Myhardt (University of Victoria):
Professor Extraordinarius (Department of
Mathematical Sciences).
ReseARch oUTPUT
A total of 55 papers were published in accredited
journals and 25 papers in accredited
conference proceedings. These figures indicate
a 15,9% increase in the number of accredited
research outputs in 2008. There is also a shift
in focus towards publishing in journals rather
than in conference proceedings.
Prof. Mamokgethi Setati
Executive Dean of CSET
12