Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology
Prof RF Sandenbergh, Dean
Telephone number: 012 420 2440
Fax number: 012 362 5173
E-mail address: roelf.sandenbergh@up.ac.za
Message by the Dean
Research forms an integral part of the activities of the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology with the aim to not only provide a sound basis for the programs in the faculty, but to also contribute to the knowledge and application in the fields and professions served by the faculty. Departments were encouraged to develop research areas relevant to the areas served by the programs offered, and staff members were encouraged to join and build existing and emerging research groups. Emphasis was again placed on the delivery of accredited research outputs by the faculty, and the quest is to improve on both the participation of staff and the number and quality of the outputs for the future.
The university was awarded a further DST Research Chair in Fluoro-material science and process integration, based in the Department of Chemical Engineering, with professor Philip Crouse as Chair Holder, with the aim of leading and supporting the development of South Africa’s significant fluor mineral resources into bulk and speciality chemicals. The DST Chair in Artificial Intelligence, based in the Department of Computer Science, with professor Andries Engelbrecht as Chair Holder, is making significant international contributions in the field of computational intelligence as exemplified by the publication of the second edition of the book ‘Computational Intelligence’ authored by professor Engelbrecht. Prof Brian Rand was appointed in the DST Chair in Carbon Technology and Materials based in the Institute of Applied Materials, a joint activity with the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. The research and developmental activities of this group will be the development of high level human resources and carbon materials focussed on the nuclear industry.
Research as an integral part of our activities was furthered by internal research seminars and poster sessions by our staff and students, by increasing the research requirements of our graduate programs, by focussing on research skills and achievement as part of the requirements for appointment and promotion of academic staff, and by pursuing opportunities to increase our research funding and facilities. The activities in the faculty were also made more accessible to the wider public through the publication of the Innovate magazine.
Departmental visitations by the faculty research committee, and other interested staff members, during which the departments presented their research planning and outputs, were used to increase awareness of the research activities in the faculty and to stimulate cross fertilization and interdepartmental cooperation. The excellent progress that some departments made with their research also served as a stimulus to others.
Conference participation by staff members were encouraged, and supported by the faculty, to increase the international exposure and profile of staff members. The feedback received is indeed very encouraging and contributed significantly to the research profile of the faculty.
Consolidation of research activities was encouraged and several departments responded by focussing their research activates such that sustainable groups with the potential to significantly contribute, both locally and internationally were formed. Typical examples of these are the research groups in process control, reactor engineering, computer and data security, teletraffic for the information society, health informatics, minerals processing, pyrometallurgy, business process optimization, mining equipment, mine safety, and book publishing.
The Faculty developed the Advanced Engineering Centre of Excellence with the support of the Department of Trade and Industry as an initiative to foster human capital development in Engineering, to provide the leading edge to commercially significant research and to support the development and incubation of applied research, with an initial focus on advanced materials, manufacturing and mining machinery.
International peer review of our research activities was increased by the appointment of leading researchers as external examiners for theses, encouraging pear review of our staff through the NRF rating system, and encouraging publication of research in leading international journals. We are indeed encouraged by the rising number of staff that received NRF ratings, and by the recognition of Prof Thoko Majozi of the Department of Chemical Engineering, as Distinguished Young Black Researcher over the last 2 to 5 years, by the NSTF.
Strong links with and support of the research in the faculty by industry was again achieved with most of the research projects receiving at least some support from industry. Typical examples are the industry support of the Industrial Metals and Minerals Researched Institute in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, which enables leading edge research on metals production and finishing, the Sentech supported Chair in Broad Band Multimedia Communications in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, the support of the Centre for Teletraffic Engineering for the Information Society by Telkom, and in the Department of Chemical Engineering the support of Sasol for Reactor Engineering, and by ERWAT for waste water research. Several departments are also strongly involved with the development of PBMR related technologies.
The further development, application and commercialization of research are priorities for the faculty. Good progress was made with the further development of silicon based light emitting devices, that has the potential to significantly enhance the speed of electronic devices by using light for on-chip communication, with the avalanche approach to increase the efficiency of the devices, and with securing venture funding to further support the project. The faculty is also involved with the development and commercialization of software applications at the Coach Lab, housed on the Innovation Hub, with the support of industry.
HIV/AIDS is a disease demanding attention from every individual in South Africa. The faculty made several contributions to prevention and control of the disease. Researchers in the School of IT focussed on the employment of advanced ICT technologies in combating the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS, as part of the activities of the larger research area in Health Informatics. In the School of Engineering control theory is being utilized to design treatment strategies in cooperation with researchers in France.
We are indeed encouraged by the very significant progress that the faculty made with its research initiatives during 2007 which should provide the platforms for sustained growth into the future. The support of government and the university for the future growth of the faculty is indeed encouraging and the planned expansions to our physical facilities will significantly increase our teaching and research capabilities in the near future.
Prof RF Sandenbergh
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