Top achievers in the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science (CAES) on UKZN’s Westville campus received awards at a recent prize giving ceremony.
The awards - cash and floating trophies - were made in the various Disciplines across the four Schools in the fields of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science (MSCS); Life Sciences, Chemistry and Physics, and Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Master of Ceremonies at the event, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Teaching and Learning, Professor Bala Pillay, welcomed guests and emphasised the importance of recognising high performing students.
Dean of Research for CAES, Professor Kevin Kirkman, announced the names of the winners and acknowledged the many sponsors.
External sponsors included Acacia Operations Services; Allan Gray; Barclays; Bruker SA; DMT Kai Batla; Inqaba Biotech; Kerry; Labcon; MERCK; NITheP; PerkinElmer; South African Mathematical Society; South African National Space Agency; Statistics South Africa; Whitehead Scientific, and Zeiss.
Statistics South Africa (SSA) sponsored the top student in each of the first, second, third and honours years of study in the Discipline of Statistics, while Allan Gray sponsored Kindles worth R3 000 to the top third year and honours students in Computer Science.
Individual sponsors included Anne Alexander, G.I. Bateman, the late Herby Govinden and Hanno Rund.
Dr Betty Govinden spoke about her late husband and the Herby Govinden Floating Trophy before she presented the award to the Best Honours Project student in Chemistry.
Internal sponsors included the Quantum Research Group; the School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences; the School of Chemistry and Physics; School of Life Sciences, and the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science.
Award winners included:
* School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences: Kaylene Moodley, Dieter Kerkhoff and Luke Engelbrecht.
* School of Chemistry and Physics: Shimal Harichurn, Dhaneshwar Sunder, Zahra Kader, Zanele Ngcobo, Prishani Kisten, Thalia Naidoo, Stephanie Anne Fraser, Sonam Singh, Prezlyn Pillay, Sanele Moloi and Veruskha Chetty.
* School of Life Sciences: Sonam Singh, Shanice Sewnarain, Parushka Pather, Wesley Dalton, Emma Brown, Cheslin Moodley, Amica Muller-Nedebock, Nikita Van Schoor, James Broughton, Jananee Padayachee, Avishna Ramcheritha and Shannon Reardon.
* School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science: Thimershen Archary, Nashlen Govindasamy, Asad Jeewa, Bhavna Harbhajan, Warren Naidoo, Deveshnie Mudaly, Kishan Dayaram, Yasmin Randeree, Cebelihle Zwane and Courtney Govender.
Representatives of external stakeholders who were present to hand over awards included: Dr Avinash Bisnath of DMT Kai Batla, Ms Nomali Msomi of Acacia Operations Services, Mr Thys van der Merwe of PerkinElmer, Ms Varsha Ramdeen of Zeiss and Mr Sakhile Mpanza of SSA.
KwaZulu-Natal Executive Manager of SSA, Mrs Helen North, said: ‘Statistics South Africa is delighted to be able to support and reward the top four Statistics students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. As Statistics South Africa we are eager to witness these students’ contribution to the body of Statistics where skills are scarce. We are glad to have been given the opportunity to acknowledge these top future statisticians.’
Bisnath said: ‘DMT Batla has been supporting the top student for the past four years as we believe in supporting outstanding academic achievements and promoting youth within the industry.’
Ramdeen of Zeiss said: ‘Zeiss is proud to be given the opportunity to sponsor the top students in the microscopy categories. Congratulations to the College of CAES for hosting a remarkable awards evening. We look forward to our continued partnership with the College in the future.’
The event concluded with singing from a talented student in UKZN’s Music Department, Ms Yunus Moekona. |