RESEARCH REPORT 2014-15 ScienceFACULTY OF SCIENCE Rothko: Insert Faculty ‘snapshots’ here! STRATEGIC RESEARCH PLAN 2015 TO 2020 The new Strategic Plan aims to increase the DST/NRF international impact and relevance of research 12 undertaken in the Faculty. It recognises six SARChI Chairs distinct, multidisciplinary impact areas in which the Faculty will strive to become a world leader: African climate & development 348 Biodiversity & the Cape floristic region Accredited journal units Chemistry & biology for health in Africa (Units are assigned to accredited research outputs and translate into a total monetary value) Marine biology & the southern oceans raised via Southern skies & the evolving universe R 10 8 314 million contracts Human evolution & the African quaternary UCT RESEARCH 2014-15 1 External AWARDS NRF RATINGS Professor Daya Reddy, Department of Mathe- Top rated researchers matics and Applied Mathematics and DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Computational Mechanics – named next President of the International Council for Science (ICSU). 16 A rated Associate Professor Coleen Moloney, 66 B rated Department of Biological Sciences and director of Ma-Re Institute – first woman marine scientist to win the national Gilchrist Memorial Medal. 6 P rated 2 new A ratings in 2014 evaluation round: Honorary Professor Michael Feast received the prestigious John FW Herschel Medal from the • Professor Russ Taylor, UCT/UWC SKA Council of the Royal Society of South Africa. Research Chair • Professor Patricia Whitelock, Department of Astronomy and astronomer with the South The 2015 Erna Hamburger Prize was African Astronomical Observatory awarded to Professor Jill Farrant by the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) WISH Foundation (Women in Science and Humanities) to leading researchers in science, engineering and architecture worldwide. Internal AWARDS POSTGRADUATES Associate Professor Sophie Oldfield, Department of Environmental & Geographical Science – the UCT Social Responsiveness Award for her PhD404 students Master’s463 students approach to scholarship and pedagogy built through a decade-long collaboration with Gertrude Square and the Valhalla Park United Front Civic 72 139 Organisation. Doctoral graduates Master’s graduates – a record high 23 percent with distinction Dr Andrew Hamilton, Department of Physics, for his work in the decade-long experiment to detect Ms Wunmi Isafiadeand Ms Emma Gray the elusive Higgs boson; Dr Vanessa McBride, awarded L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Department of Astronomy, for her work on the (Sub-Saharan Africa) Fellowships use of optical, infrared and X-ray observations of neutron stars accreting material from normal stars; and Dr Deena Pillay, Department of Biological Sciences, for his work on marine ecosystems, particularly in lagoonal settings – the Claude Leon Merit Awards for Young Scholars. 2 UCT RESEARCH 2014-15 DOCTORAL GRADUATIONS R.E. DIAMOND (GEOLOGY) Stable isotope hydrology of the Table Mountain group C.A. AGYINGI (MATHEMATICS) Supervised by Professor C. Harris Hyperconvex hulls in categories of quasi-metric spaces P.M. DRIVER (PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY) Supervised by Professor H.-P. Kunzi Rainfall variability over southern Africa M.A. AMBELE (CHEMISTRY) Supervised by Professor C. Reason and Dr B. Abiodun The role of lipid in malaria pigment (Haemozoin) H.L. EVERS-KING (PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY) formation under biomimetic conditions Phytoplankton community structure determined through Supervised by Professor T. Egan remote sensing and in situ optical measurements M.A. BENAMER (CHEMISTRY) Supervised by Emeritus Professor F. Shillington, Chemical speciation and spatial distribution of heavy Dr S. Bernard, Associate Professor M.I. Lucas and Dr metals and their adsorption onto sediments of the Berg S. Henson River, Western Cape, South Africa J.E. FEARON (PHYSICS) Supervised by Professor G. Jackson and Dr K. Winter Strategies adopted by undergraduate physics students W. BLACK (ARCHAEOLOGY) when modelling solutions to hands-on tasks Dental morphology and variation across holocene Supervised by Professor A. Buffler and Professor Khoesan people of Southern Africa F.E. Lubben Supervised by Associate Professor B. Ackermann and S.P. FEBRUARY (APPLIED MATHEMATICS) Professor J. Sealy Structures in the cosmic void L.K. BOAST (ZOOLOGY) Supervised by Associate Professor C. Clarkson Exploring the causes of and mitigation options for T.J. FLUGEL (ENVIRONMENTAL AND human-predator conflict on game ranches in Botswana: GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE) How is coexistence possible? The evolution of the Congo-Kalahari Watershed: African Supervised by Emeritus Professor L. Underhill mega-geomorphology S. BODENSTEIN (PHYSICS) Supervised by Dr F. Eckardt and Dr F.P.D. Cotterill Precision determination of QCD fundamental C.M. FRANCIS (BOTANY) parameters from sum rules Supervised by Emeritus Professor C. Dominguez and Dr Systematics of the Laurencia complex (Rhodomelaceae, W.A. Horowitz Rhodophyta) in southern Africa Supervised by Professor J. Bolton, Associate Professor B. CALDER (MOLECULAR AND CELL BIOLOGY) R.J. Anderson and Dr L. Mattio A proteomic investigation of the heat stress response of H.F. GEROMONT (APPLIED MATHEMATICS) the South African abalone haliotis midae Supervised by Associate Professor V. Coyne and Dr Effective fisheries management with few data: M. Rafudeen A management procedure approach Supervised by Emeritus Professor D. Butterworth H.C. CAWTHRA (GEOLOGY) P.C. GOGWANA (CHEMISTRY) The marine geology of Mossel Bay, South Africa Supervised by Associate Professor J. Compton Investigation of the potential beneficial effects of supplemental polyunsaturated fatty acids and A. CHAMA (APPLIED MATHEMATICS) glycosaminoglycans on the risk factors for calcium Three-field mixed finite element approximations for oxalate kidney stone formation using theoretical, problems in elasticity experimental and human models Supervised by Professor D. Reddy Supervised by Emeritus Professor A. Rodgers and Associate Professor N. Ravenscroft W. CROUS (CHEMISTRY) The simple link atom saccharide hybrid method (slash): K.K. GOVENDER (CHEMISTRY) the St3gal-i mammalian sialyltransferase case study The development of hybrid quantum classical Supervised by Professor R. Hunter computational methods for carbohydrate and hypervalent phosphoric systems M. CYRUS (BOTANY) Supervised by Professor K. Naidoo and Dr G.A. Venter The use of ULVA as a feed supplement in the development of an artificial diet and feeding regimes P. GOVENDER (CHEMISTRY) to produce export quality roe from the sea urchin Development of new bioorganometallic ruthenium- Tripneustes gratilla (Linnaeus) arene metallodendrimes as anticancer agents Supervised by Professor J. Bolton and Dr B.M. Macey Supervised by Associate Professor G. Smith UCT RESEARCH 2014-15 3 S.L. HAMPTON (ZOOLOGY) combination of apatite fission-track and (U-Th)/He Multidisciplinary investigation into stock structure of thermochronometric techniques small pelagic fishes in southern Africa Supervised by Emeritus Associate Professor D. Reid and Supervised by Associate Professor C. Moloney, Professor Professor M. de Wit P. Bloomer and Dr C.D van der Lingen K.L. KIRSTEN-SARDINHA (ENVIRONMENTAL AND D. HATTAS (BOTANY) GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE) Carbon based secondary metabolites in African savanna Evidence of Holocene Environmental Changes from woody species in relation to anti-herbivore defense Diatoms in Lake Sediments, Western Cape, South Africa Supervised by Professor J. Midgley, Associate Professor P. Supervised by Professor M. Meadows Scogings and Professor R. Julkunen-Tiito A.A. KOCK (ZOOLOGY) R. IANJAMASIMANANA (ASTRONOMY) Behavioural ecology of white sharks carcharodon Interstellar medium properties and star formation in carcharias in False Bay, South Africa: towards improved nearby galaxies management and conservation of a threatened Supervised by Professor T. Jarrett and Professor W.J.G. apex predator de Blok Supervised by Emeritus Professor C.L. Griffiths and Ms K. Mauff J. JEYASUGITHTHAN (PHYSICS) Experimental investigation of the characteristics of J.P. KOTZE (ASTRONOMY) prompt gammas produced in tissue during proton Studying the environmental dependence of star therapy treatment formation properties of galaxies in the Abell 1437 galaxy Supervised by Dr S. Peterson cluster and its surrounding large scale structure E.O. JONAH (PHYSICS) Supervised by Professor R. Kraan-Korteweg, Associate Professor P.A. Woudt, Dr D. Gilbank and Dr P. Vaisanen The topology and electrical properties of nanoparticle networks S.C. KRÜGER (ZOOLOGY) Supervised by Professor D. Britton and Associate An investigation into the decline of the bearded vulture Professor M. Härting gypaetus barbatus in Southern Africa S.D. JONES (PHYSICS) Supervised by Dr A. Amar Tomographic reconstruction of the morphology of R.B. KUHN (ASTRONOMY) silicon nanoparticle clusters Photometric techniques for exoplanet detection: Supervised by Associate Professor M. Härting and the construction and deployment of the KELT- Professor D.T. Britton South telescope Y.J.S. JOSE (PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY) Supervised by Professor P. Whitelock and Dr J. Menzies Mesoscale structuring of the pelagic ecosystem in the D. KUTER (CHEMISTRY) Mozambique chanel: a modelling approach Supervised Probing the structure and solvation of Ferrihaem by Emeritus Professor F. Shillington and its chloroquine complex in aqueous solution: An W.R. JOUBERT (PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY) experimental and computational approach Primary productivity and its variability in the Atlantic Supervised by Professor