2011-NMMU-Research-Report - Research Management - Nelson ...

Eskom signed an R11 million research contract linked to research
and development to finalise and commercialise WeldCore TM .
NMMU Racing became the first Formula Student team on the African
continent to successfully compete in all static and dynamic events
of the prestigious Formula Student Germany competition. DibaOne
competed in Hockenheim, Germany, from 2 to 7 August 2011 and came
24th out of 78 teams in the endurance race. The Advanced Mechatronic
Technology Centre (AMTC) and the VWSA-DAAD International Chair
in Automotive Engineering initiated a Solar Vehicle Project, which will
participate in a national competition in 2012.
Significant progress has been made in our research entities,
as evidenced by the number of publications and postgraduate
students. Prof Mikko Korpela from East Finland University has been
appointed as honorary professor in the School of ICT. Three of our
staff members have obtained NRF ratings, which brings the total
number of rated staff in the Faculty to nine.
Multimillion-rand investments were made to upgrade our research
equipment and platforms, which has placed NMMU among the
leaders in the emerging niche research areas of renewable energy,
human settlement development, green technologies, informatics for
health development in Africa, advanced processing technologies for
the aerospace and medical industries, and manufacturing process
optimisation. In addition, we have increased our research staff capacity
and strengthened links and partnerships with industry, research councils,
and national and international universities. These strong partnerships
have contributed to our research successes, and I would like to thank our
partners for their support and ongoing commitment to NMMU.
Significant progress has been made
in our research entities, as evidenced
by the number of publications and
postgraduate students.
Allow me to acknowledge all the staff in the Faculty for their
dedication and hard work in achieving these research successes
and taking the Faculty forward. Our postgraduate students have
performed exceptionally well at national and international level.
Their commitment to their research activities and studies is evident
in our Faculty. Finally, the Faculty extends our appreciation to top
management and the NMMU Research Department for their support
and leadership.
Prof Henk de Jager
Executive Dean: Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and IT
Faculty Researcher
of the Year
Prof Rossouw von Solms
85
Information Technology Professor, Prof Rossouw von Solms
ascribes his research success to his passion for research. “I have
been involved with research for the last twenty-two years and it has
become a way of life. Basically everything in my professional life
centres around research or research related aspects.” Just about all
the research he conducted was in the field of information security.
He claims that the fact that he has fundamentally been involved
with the same field of research has contributed a lot to his success.
He leads an internationally known research group in the field of
information security. “I believe in working in group context. So much
more information, ideas and initiatives are shared, debated and
refined that eventually leads onto better research outputs.” He further
observes that by working in groups, the next generation researchers
and supervisors are always assured of help, assistance and guidance.
On the other hand, old ideas and practices are continuously tested and
challenged for newer and more modern concepts and philosophies.
Prof von Solms leads an internationally
known research group in the field of
information security.
Prof von Solms’ research record is quite impressive. He has authored
or co-authored more than 50 articles published in peer-reviewed
journals and more than 90 conference papers at both national
and international conferences. He has been rated by the NRF since
1994 and currently rated in the B3 category. He is also a Certified
Information Security Manager (CISM) and a Professional Member of
the South African Computer Society.