News
The Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, has applauded a team of six students from the Universities of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch who will be representing South Africa at the International Student Cluster Competition to be hosted at the 2017 International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) in Germany.
The team was selected from 10 teams from various universities in South Africa, who this week battled it out to demonstrate their cluster building and high performance computing skills.
If you want to model weather systems, perform advanced computational mechanics, simulate the impact of climate change, study the interaction of lithium and manganese in batteries at the atomic level, or conduct the next experiment of your latest in vitro biomedical technique virtually — and you want to do it in Africa — then there is only one place to go; the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC).
Stephanie Fanucchi, a CSIR cell biologist, was awarded the 2016 L'Oreal-UNESCO Sub-Saharan Africa Award for her work involving the use of cutting-edge microscopes and synthetic biology tools to understand how immune genes are regulated. For the past 18 years, the L'Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science (http://www.ForWomenInScience.com) programme has encouraged, promoted and honoured female scientists all over the world.
The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), has commissioned the CSIR to conduct a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for aquaculture development in South Africa.
“The overall purpose of the SEA is to support the responsible growth of the aquaculture industry in South Africa,” says Lizande Kellerman, CSIR environmental scientist and project manager for the SEA.
The Sasol Solar Challenge 2016 comprising 14 teams, eight local and six international, will commence the eight-day event at the CSIR Pretoria campus on 24 September and conclude in Cape Town at the V&A Waterfront on 1 October 2016. CSIR scientists have again been asked to conduct inspections of the participating solar-powered vehicles.
The speed of technological innovation and the continual expansion of disciplinary knowledge leave little time in the curriculum of engineering students to formally study innovation. Speaking at the CSIR, recently, Prof Barry Shoop, President and CEO of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for 2016, highlighted this concern and the importance of formally studying innovation, particularly at undergraduate level.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) undertook research with support from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to define the "business as usual" of the future, whereby resilience is employed to ensure sustainability in the face of modern day global challenges facing businesses.
A transport infrastructure engineering expert at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was awarded the 2016 JD Roberts Award for his involvement in developing new, innovative solutions for bitumen specification and testing.
Georges Mturi, CSIR Senior Researcher and Manager of the bituminous binders' laboratory, has been selected as the recipient of the award, which is sponsored by Murray & Roberts and held in partnership with the CSIR.
A new Photonics Prototyping Facility (PPF) has been established to address the current lack of commercialised photonics products in South Africa by providing world-class facilities, technical support, equipment and scarce skills. Hosted at the CSIR, the facility has been established through support from the Department of Science and Technology for the industrialisation and commercialisation of photonics-based technologies.