Staff members of the Faculty of Applied Science recently pulled out all the stops to show learners that chemistry is fun.

From making ice cream in less than five minutes to powering a clock with a fork and lemon the interactive demonstrations showed learners that chemistry is part of everyday life.

Their recent activities formed part of the International Year of Chemistry, a worldwide celebration of the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to society.

As part of their activities for the Year of Chemistry, staff in the faculty put together a jam-packed programme to show learners that a career in chemistry has much to offer.

Coordinator of the Chemistry Programme, Merrill Wicht said they invited Grade 9 and 10 learners from local schools to spend a day at the Cape Town campus and participate in some fun chemistry experiments.

Lecturers demonstrated how to build fruit batteries, using lemons and forks and also showed off their rocket-building skills. Using everything ingredients from vinegar to sweets, lecturers built a number of rockets, which were launched in the faculty’s quad, in full view of the learners.

Prof Luigi Nassimbeni, head of the Crystal Engineering Unit, wowed students when he created ice-cream in just under five-minutes. Mixing together cream, sugar and liquid nitrogen, Prof Nassimbeni made tons of ice-cream, which was enjoyed by the awe-struck learners.

GAME: A student enjoys a science game that focuses on the periodic table

Students were also shown that chemistry and music talents go hand in hand when student Emeline Nizeyimana rapped the periodic table. Wicht said the event proved to be a huge success.

“The idea was to expose them to a career in chemistry and also to give them access to our labs,” she said.

She said they are looking at making the school visit a permanent feature on their year calendar.

By: Candes Keating

Written by CPUT News
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The Faculty of Applied Science is taking bold steps to increase the number of doctoral graduates in South Africa.

Currently, South Africa produces just over 1000 doctoral graduates a year – a dismal figure compared to other countries producing far higher numbers. According to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), this figure is way below the number of doctoral graduates required for the growth of the South African economy.

With CPUT committed to addressing local and national problems, the Faculty of Applied Science has put in place strategies to increase the number of doctoral graduates.

Prof Michael Mcpherson, Faculty Research Coordinator said they have submitted an application to the Department of Education for the approval of several new programmes at the Doctorate of Technology level. 

“By offering more doctoral programmes we will be able to broaden our research base,” he said.

Doctoral programmes are planned in the Departments of Agriculture, Horticulture, Food Technology and Nature Conservation. The faculty already offers doctoral programmes in Chemistry and Environmental Health.

Prof McPherson said they are also in the process of recruiting post-doctoral fellows, who will play a critical role in the contribution of research and supervision of doctoral students.

The faculty has also increased its staff profile by employing several researchers who hold doctoral qualifications while a number of existing staff members have improved their qualifications up to doctoral level.

These initiatives will go a long way in improving the faculty’s research output, said Prof McPherson. Currently the faculty boasts the second highest research output at CPUT in terms of journal publications, conference proceedings and book publications.

The faculty’s initiatives are being supported by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Technology Innovation and Partnerships, Dr Chris Nhlapo.

“Efforts by Prof McPherson are lauded as these can only expand our research base and increase our research output,” said Dr Nhlapo.

The faculty’s initiatives are also in line with the CPUT 10-year Research and Innovation plan, which was tabled in September of this year. The plan outlines strategies that will ensure CPUT produces more doctoral candidates, research output and patents.

“The generation of new knowledge by researchers is highly acknowledged, lauded and fully embraced by my office. It is indeed the only way of building a globally competitive faculty,” said Dr Nhlapo.

By Candes Keating

Written by CPUT News
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Hundreds of qualifications were conferred during the CPUT Spring Graduation on the Bellville Campus today.

The event is one of the highlights of the CPUT academic calendar and provides the university with an opportunity to celebrate and recognise the achievements of students from all faculties.

During this year’s Spring Graduation CPUT will confer 989 diplomas and degrees, including 45 Masters and Doctoral degrees, in two ceremonies on the Bellville Campus.

This was the first graduation which Chancellor Thandi Modise presided over since her installation as CPUT chancellor, and marks a new era for the university.

Modise, who is also Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, has succeeded former Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, who was the inaugural chancellor at CPUT.

The morning ceremony saw qualifications being conferred to students who completed academic programmes in the faculties of Applied Science, Business and Management Sciences, Education, Health and Wellness Sciences as well as Informatics and Design.

Acting Vice-chancellor, Dr Chris Nhlapo, told the audience that the day represents several years of study which required sacrifices not only from the graduates but also from their partners and family members.

“The number of our graduates show that we are making great strides in research and innovation,” said Nhlapo.

In the afternoon ceremony graduates in the Faculty of Engineering will be capped, including 21 Masters and Doctoral degrees.  

Written by Kwanele Butana
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Students and staff gathered for an illuminating talk on the do’s and don’ts of social media by social media lawyer Emma Sadlier.

She presented a talk about how to stay on the right side of the law when using digital platforms at the Auditorium on Bellville campus last week.

South Africa’s leading legal expert on social media law used well-known local cases of crimen injuria and defamation to explain the consequences of posting ill-judged messages and perpetuating fake news online.

Sadlier started off her talk by posing a simple tenet to judge whether you should post a message or not. “Would I put it on a billboard?” she told the audience to ask themselves. “Once it is out there, it is out there. When you get that feeling in your tummy when you are about to post, think ‘billboard’.”

Running through the agreements everyone signs up when using social media, Sadlier pointed out you give free social media platforms permission to use your content and reminded everyone present to think before they post.

“Do not think that you can be anonymous online. Don’t think you can say something was a joke or that you were hacked. When you joke online you lose context and control of the audience,” she said as she highlighted cases of people prosecuted for stating online they wanted to harm people.

Though the idea might seem macabre, Sadlier reminded people that if they use Facebook they should appoint a Facebook legacy contact. This is a person who decides what should happen to your account after you die.

While it applies to everyone, she admonished students especially to start policing their own digital footprint because more and more prospective employers check you out online as part of their recruitment strategy. She highlighted the justdelete.me directory of links as useful for deleting online accounts you no longer use and haveibeenpwned.com as useful for checking whether you have been hacked.

“The more you protect your privacy, the more you have,” said Sadlier.

After the presentation Dean of Student Affairs Prem Coopoo said she hoped to invite Sadlier to address the rest of CPUT campuses later this year.

Written by Theresa Smith

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A group of nurses have benefited from visual acuity training recently provided by CPUT’s Ophthalmic Sciences Department.

Lecturer Prasidh Ramson said the Department was approached by TASK Applied Science to bolster nurses’ training in three basic screening tests that are important for patients that have tuberculosis (TB).

As a rare side effect which is mostly reversible, TB medication can affect certain components of vision. Thus, vision changes can be indicators of side effects related to the condition. While these vision changes can occur infrequently, the overall adherence to medication is vital in the continued health of patients with TB and others in their community.

“There are some forms of TB medication that, with time, can affect the part of your eye that you use for colour vision. Through testing, we screen to see if any changes have occurred due to the TB medication. If a patient does appear to have colour vision challenges, the dose or type of medication then has to be reviewed by their doctor,” says Ramson.

Ramson led the training and was assisted by his colleague, Michael Jowell.

Michelle Eriksson, site coordinator at TASK Applied Science, said the training had been a valuable learning experience for nurses.
“We would like to thank CPUT’s Ophthalmic Sciences Department for being so willing and supportive in providing this training. Our nurses really enjoyed the interactive and engaging training session and feel they have consolidated their knowledge and improved their understanding and skills in visual acuity training”

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Mbalenhle Dlamini, the Western Cape Indigenous Knowledge Systems Documentation Centre (IKSDC) project coordinator, is delighted that the centre has managed to work with the Attaqua community, handing over a community laptop to the community leader, Chief Poem Mooney with a total 171 participants who were documented with over 500 claims (indigenous plants and food).

“We have a process for documentation. From being on the field and completing the questionnaire to uploading the questionnaire onto the laptop then ultimately synching the data to the National IK [Indigenous Knowledge] system.”

The centre is in the Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Applied Science. In 2004 the cabinet approved the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) policy and the Department of Science and Innovation, which is funding the project, has a specific directorate (Knowledge Management Systems) managing and documenting indigenous knowledge. The policy aims to affirm, develop, promote and protect indigenous knowledge.

Dlamini says the pilot project began in the provinces in 2016 and that the Western Cape pilot was hosted by resonance bizarre, then as of 2019, CPUT has been the host. “The vision of the national registration system is to be the leading treasure hub for communal socio-economic development. Objectives are to manage, develop, protect and preserve indigenous knowledge.

The centre has been working with the Attaqua community, which they took over from the previous host, and they have since closed the community and it targets communities that are rich with indigenous knowledge especially in traditional medicine and traditional foods. “We have only worked with one community, (Attaqua). We are currently in the process to secure a new community in the West Coast.”

Dlamini facilitates the documentation processes as well as the day-to-day activities of the project which include and are not limited to community awareness workshops, data quality assessments, financial management and many more. “We recognise indigenous knowledge as an important element in our communities. We would like to work/ collaborate with other units that are in the field of indigenous knowledge to ensure maximum impact of awareness of indigenous knowledge.”

As the centre is still in the negotiation phase for a new community, it means the department and faculty get to finally start and work on a project from beginning to end. “Therefore, we get to facilitate everything from the beginning which is exciting. We've learnt from our previous mistakes and take note of our achievements too.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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The intricacies of Chemistry and its unlimited potential drive the academic success of the Faculty of Applied Science Dean’s medallist.

Clarise Theron is so absorbed in science that she has enrolled for a Chemical Biology degree after completing her Analytical Chemistry diploma at CPUT.

Theron says that once you unlock the science of chemistry, it will be a fascinating, rewarding, and enjoyable discipline.

“Unpacking the different layers of the subject and drawing links between the different modules is what I enjoy most. Drawing links between modules and studying the calculations involved with the subject is my passion,” she says.

Theron also credited her lecturer, Dr Shirley Le Roux, for giving her the confidence to seek a purposeful career in her field of interest. Theron says students who want to replicate her academic success (distinctions in all subjects with special awards) should focus on their journey.

“Remember that it is normal for your path to look different from someone else’s. University is a good time to develop interpersonal skills and grow. Do not be afraid or ashamed to ask for help,” she says.

“I feel proud knowing that the hard work paid off.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce

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