Top scientists win
national awards for contributions to research
Two
of Stellenbosch University (SU)'s eminent scientists received national acclaim
on Thursday (30 June 2016) for their outstanding contributions to their
respective research fields.
Prof
Bert Klumperman, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry and
Polymer Science, and Prof Michael Samways, Distinguished Professor in the
Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, won National Science and
Technology Forum (NSTF)/South32Awards. These awards recognise, celebrate and
reward outstanding excellence in Science, Engineering, Technology (SET) and
Innovation in South Africa.
Klumperman
won a Lifetime Award for his outstanding contribution to SET and Innovation
over a period of 15 years or more, while Samways walked away with top honours
in the category:
NSTF-GreenMatter Award towards achieving biodiversity conservation,
environmental sustainability and a greener economy.
Klumperman,
who has been involved with SU since 1998, is regarded as a world leader in
Polymer Science, especially for his work on nanomedicine and the use of
polymers for biomedical applications in collaboration with colleagues from other
faculties at SU. Over the past few years, several patent applications have been
filed on inventions that emanated from Klumperman's research group. Some of
these patent applications have received significant interest from companies for
potential commercialisation.
Klumperman
received an A-rating from the National Research Foundation and also won the
Gold Medal of the South African Chemical Institute (2013) and the SASOL
Chemistry Innovator of the Year Award (2015). He holds the SARChi Chair in
Advanced Macromolecular Architectures, co-authored around 170 scientific
publications and supervised many postgraduate students.
Samways
won NSTF-GreenMatter Award for his significant contribution to insect
conservation and biodiversity science, in particular, over the past 40 years
and helped restore the Cousine Island in the Seychelles to its natural state.
He is the team leader of the Mondi Ecological Networks Programme, a research
group at SU that develops and fine-tunes design and management principles for ecological
networks. Samways has been working for some years with certain large corporates
in South Africa to optimize timber production without compromising
biodiversity. He also advanced the further development of sustainable wine
production.
Recognized
as the most prolific producer of research globally in insect conservation,
Samways has 375 scientific publications, including 15 books, to his name. He
has also received many awards, among others, a Gold Medal of the Academy of
Science of South Africa, the Captain Scott Medal and a Gold Medal of the South
African Academy of Science and Arts, and the John Herschel Medal of the Royal
Society of South Africa.
Source:
www.sun.ac.za
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