The SA SKA Project Postgraduate Bursary Conference a huge success

6 December 2008

also need to offer opportunities to young scientists. SKA is one of these projects that offer huge possibilities where they can develop the skills that they have acquired. I have all reason to believe that the next Nobel prize winner could come from the ranks of the SA SKA team," said Minister Mosibudi Mangena, Minister of Science and Technology, at the opening ceremony of the third annual SA SKA postgraduate bursary conference held in Stellenbosch from 1 – 5 December 2008.

"Two months ago South Africa launched it first electrical car. Now we are a very strong contender to build the largest telescope in the world. Projects like these are doing our psyche good. We are beginning to believe in ourselves," he said.

Prof. Arnold van Zyl, Vice-Rector: Research at the University of Stellenbosch explained that as at January 2009, more than 90 postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows as well as 29 undergraduates will have been funded by the South African SKA Project.

"Through this project South Africa is building a core of scientists and there is no project in South Africa that can compare to this when it comes to human capacity building and the development of post graduate skills. At the same time it is drawing top scientists of the world to South Africa," he said.

"We started in 2004 from zero and it is astonishing what good work has been done. We have young, enthusiastic engineers and scientists. We are now actually at a point where the supervisors have been saturated, but we are increasingly getting co-supervision from the international community. We believe that the input from leading international scientists are extremely important and are also thankful for the enthusiasm from the other eight African countries participating in SKA," said Dr. Bernie Fanaroff, Director SA SKA Project.

"SKA is one of the most important science projects of the 21st century, therefore it is a valuable prize. However, irrespective of whether we do win the bid or not, the big investment that was made in people and the spin-offs that South Africa will get from the project is just astounding."

When asked if government fully supports this project, Dr. Phil Mjwara, Director General of the Department of Science and Technology, said: "If government didn’t believe in this project, we surely would not have invested more than three quarters of a million Rand in it. So, yes, we are so fully behind SA SKA. By passing the South African Astronomy Geographical Advantage (AGA) Bill, we have put our money where our mouth is."

To increase the number of highly-skilled scientists and engineers able to support the SKA and MeerKAT during the design, construction and operational phases of the telescopes, the DST through the NRF and the South African SKA Project Office initiated a human capital development program in 2004.

"The South African SKA Project’s Human Capital Development Program’s deliberate focus on capacity development has been recognized internationally as unique and highly successful. Heads of astronomy departments and radio astronomy engineering facilities around the world have commented on the high quality of research being done by the postgraduate students and academic staff working with the MeetKAT team. A big thank you must go to all students, postdoctoral fellows and the supervisors for boosting South Africa’s reputation internationally."

"The SKA will be one of the largest facilities in the world and will consolidate Southern Africa as a major hub for astronomy in the world. It will attract the best scientists and engineers to work in Africa and will provide opportunities for scientists and engineers from African countries to work on cutting edge research and collaborate in joint projects with the best universities in the world."

"The SKA therefore represents an unrivalled opportunity for the development of very high level skills and expertise in Africa in science and technology which will be crucial in the next ten to twenty years in the global knowledge economy. These technologies include very fast grid computing, very fast data transport, data storage, wireless engineering, digital electronics, image processing and software development, among others. Hosting the SKA would make Africa a world centre of physics, astronomy and high tech engineering thus strengthening Africa’s capacity to innovate."

According to Dr. Mjwara other positive spin-offs of the postgraduate program include:

1. The increase in collaboration between industry and universities in South Africa and the rest of the world around the engineering challenges of the MeerKAT.
2. The increase in collaboration between South African universities and the astronomy effort in South Africa.
3. Collaboration between the SKA team and SA universities with the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Berkeley and Caltech and the National Radio Astronomy Observatories of the USA and with institutions in the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Canada, Australia and France.

After attending the conference, Prof. Justin Jonas, Associate Director: Science and Technology of the SA SKA Project, was extremely impressed by the amount of enthusiasm of the students, universities, supervisors and everybody involved in the project: "Enthusiasm is everything and I saw enough of it at the conference" he says.

"I have always believed in peer support and at the conference the students experience that. The standard of the presentations were excellent, as in previous years. I believe that our students can easily match with their international peers and I give a lot of credit for that to the supervisors, both local and international.

Prof. Jonas was one of the major forces behind the project from the beginning. "When we realized that we needed to grow people in the fields of engineering and astronomy, we started out by identifying specific academics as possible supervisors. They got all was absolutely the right way to go. We have succeeded in creating centers of critical mass. The Universities of Cape Town, Western Cape and Rhodes have become very strong in Astronomy and the Universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town excel in Engineering. Previously only one or two universities did radio astronomy research, but currently there are about ten universities working together on this project.

Commenting on the excellent financial backup that the students get, he says: "We believe in funding for success. If students are under financial stress, their academics will suffer."

"We are extremely fortunate in that this project is a government priority. Winning the SKA bid will be a major step forward for the government’s Astronomy Geographical Advantage Program (AGAP). It will not only be to South Africa’s advantage, but also to the other eight African countries that will site the outstations.

What the students said about the conference

Gideon Wiid, PhD student from the Engineering Faculty at the University of Stellenbosch, who was working with Eskom for six years after finishing his Masters at Stellenbosch, was sourced to do his PhD on SKA. He is all smiles when he says: This was the best move I could ever have made. It is just so exciting doing research again, and specifically on this project." On being asked how he could afford to study full time again after being in the market for six years, he says that he did have to take a slight dip in income, but that it was thoroughly worth it and that the SKA Youth into Science and Engineering Programme is looking after its students extremely well.

One of his fellow PhD-students at the same faculty, Phillip Kibbet, is from Kenya. He is thoroughly enjoying South Africa, and more specifically Stellenbosch. On going back to Kenya he will be lecturing and doing research on their SKA project. He says that working in South Africa with fellow engineers on SKA is an excellent networking opportunity for him.

Another fellow student of theirs who is busy with her MSc, Jacki van der Merwe, is of the opinion that the conference was very well organized and the ideal opportunity to network not only with peers but also the top specialists attending the conference. "It also gave us an excellent opportunity to gain experience with for instance presentations, as the environment was not so stressful."

Two MSc students from the University of the Western Cape were surprised to meet each other for the first time at the conference. Lwando Kondlo and Claudio Moises are both Astronomers, but with different supervisors. They see the conference as a wonderful opportunity to learn. "When you present your work to your peers, you get a feeling of the standard of your work and get some valuable advice from other supervisors and internationally recognized specialists." For this reason Lwandlo feels that it would even be good for the students and supervisors to meet twice a year.

Both are extremely enthusiastic about Astronomy as a field of study. "Astronomy opens up your mind therefore it can teach the new generation to ask questions," Claudio says. Both of them have a soft spot for the younger generation and would like to invest in the scientists of tomorrow.

Claudio comes from Mozambique and has got the vision of establishing Astronomy in their curriculum at high school level. Currently he is one of only three Astronomers in Mozambique, but he foresees the development of a strong contingent of Astronomers, especially if South Africa wins the bid and one of the outstations is build in Mozambique.

Lwandlo comes from the small Eastern Cape village of Whittlesea and he dreams of taking his laptop and a small telescope, sitting down with the children of the village, and showing them the wonders of the universe.

Both these students feel that they are extremely fortunate to be part of the SKA Youth into Science and Engineering Programme. "We as students have the best possible academic and financial back-up and opportunities to even travel abroad to meet with our international supervisors and gain international experience. It is our responsibility to grab the opportunities and learn as much as possible," they say.

What the supervisors and co-supervisors said about the conference

Prof. Athol Kemball from the Department of Astronomy and Center for Extreme-scale Computing at the University of Illinois, USA, was extremely positive about the overall standard of the conference. "The work reported by the postgraduate students at the meeting was of a very high standard and is a vital contribution to the South African SKA project, MeerKAT, as well as to the broader international SKA project."

"The human capacity project under which the students are supported by DST and NRF is outstanding and a leading-edge example of how to build a scientific and engineering community for such an advanced instrument. The research projects in which the students are engaged are also directly related to skills in advanced technology, engineering, science, and computing needed to build the workforce of the future in South Africa. This DST programme is also broadening and diversifying the base of human capital within South Africa and the local region in this area and is succeeding in addressing inequities in opportunity in an effective manner. This conference was refreshing, exciting, and scientifically stimulating. It was a priviledge to attend," he said.

According to Dr. Riana Geschke who is lecturing at the Engineering Faculty at the University of Stellenbosch, the strongest attraction for students to work on SKA is the fact that it is a real project. "We’re not only talking text book here. Students like exciting projects like this and there are so many people working on it that they don’t feel isolated."

Dr. Wim van Driel, Astronomer at the Paris Observatory, has been involved with SKA for a number of years and represents France on the international SKA committee. As such he will be a member of the committee who makes the final decision on who wins the bid.

In his opinion it still is a very fair competition. "Australia does have the advantage of 50 years of radio astronomy experience, but I am amazed with the effort that the South Africans have put into this project. First of all there is the commitment from the government and then there is the investment in building human capacity. You can have all the money in the world, but if you don’t have the right people to do the job, nothing will happen. I have nowhere in the world seen 90 KAT bursary holders working on one project. It is truly remarkable!"

It is clear that Dr. Van Driel is extremely excited about MeerKAT. "MeerKAT is a done deal, irrespective of whether South Africa wins the SKA bid or not. It is a fantastic instrument and a real path finder to SKA."

According to Prof. Renee Kraan-Korteweg, who heads the Astronomy Department at the University of Cape Town, there really are some top quality students working in the SKA program and she feels that the bursaries and good future prospective are two of the main reasons for the success of the program.

"MeerKAT is a fantastic instrument for a relatively small community which means that South African astronomers will have large access to observation time. Salt will be fully commissioned soon, and with Salt and MeerKAT local astronomers really are in an extremely fortunate position."

"I get the impression that this is a pride building exercise for the government. South Africa wants to show that we can be up there with the best in the world, and with MeerKAT we indeed are," she says.

Prof. Pieter Meintjes from the University of the Free State who is the supervisor for two PhD-students (one from Uganda and one from Rwanda), describes this project as a lifeline for research in Astrophysics.

"Radio astronomy was starting to die down in South Africa, but this project opened up new horizons. The Australians are strong in radio astronomy and will be difficult to beat, but even if we don’t win the SKA bid, this will be a huge injection for astronomy, technology and communication in South Africa. As a spin-off to the research done on the SKA, I foresee that our internet development will take quantum leaps over the next five years in terms of data analysis, high level manpower and software development."