ENERGY + ENVIROFICIENCY
months preceding the regional Expo’s, which would typically
take place from July to September each year, regions are training
educators, organising workshops for learners and identifying new
schools. It is mandatory for each region to have two new develop-
ment schools participating at their regional expo each year
• At the regional Expo’s, projects are judged, prizes awarded and
selections made to participate at the ISF in Johannesburg
• At the ISF about 200 judges are drawn from the NGO sector,
education departments, tertiary institutions and the corporate
sector. Participants are awarded gold, silver and bronze medals
as well as special awards worth over R1 M. Selections are made
for projects to participate at various International Science Fairs
The learners who excel at Eskom Expo for Young Scientists' ISF each
year are selected to represent South Africa at various science competi-
tions around the world. Since the beginning of the year, three teams
were sent to participate and each team came back with awards. This
proves that if our learners are given the opportunity and, with the right
science intervention, they can beat the best in the world.
To kick off 2014, two learners participated in the Taiwan Interna-
tional Science Fair, which is a science research competition for high
school students from Grades nine to twelve. Eighty international
delegates from 20 countries participated this year. Savanna Mendel-
sohn from Cape Town went on to win a fourth award in the Social and
Psychological Sciences category. Her winning project was about the
effect of hands-free-cell phone conversation on visual fields.
In April, two learners represented South Africa at the Interna-
tional Sustainable World Energy Engineering Environment Project
Olympiad (ISWEEEP). Three hundred and eighty five high quality
projects from 66 different countries were displayed at the George R
Brown convention centre during the week April 28 – May 4. Learners,
James Garish and Richard Grant received Bronze Medals as well as
a cheque for $150 each.
Richard Grant from Pretoria developed a sophisticated outdoor safety
system (OSS) system, which tracks a hiker or cyclist, and uploads co-
ordinates and photographs to a web site. James Garish fromNorthern
Cape, developed a Portable Solar Box which supplies cost effective
electricity that is accessible to everyone.
In May, a group of 12 Eskom Expo winners represented South
Africa at Intel ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair) where
approximately 1 700 young scientists from 70 countries gathered for
the largest science fair from 11 to 16 May.
Four of the South African students received awards at Intel ISEF:
• Neil Fair from Pretoria received a First Place Special Award of
$5 000 from United Airlines Foundation for his project titled:
‘The intelligent energy saving power strip’. The invention saves
electricity used by secondary appliances (which require primary
appliances to function) that are mostly on standby.
• At the Grand Awards Ceremony, Toni-Ann Black from Johan-
nesburg received a Third Award of $1000 in the Microbiology
category. Her project entitled: ‘Utilising UV rays to eradicatemicro-
organisms on healthcare workers’ cellular phones to prevent
cross infection’. Her invention decreased bacterial colony counts
(some of the organisms found to be the most common causes
of hospital-acquired infection in the ICU) on cellular phones by
99,9% immediately after use.
• Lungelo Sigudla from Newcastle received the Fourth Award of
$500 in the category Energy and Transportation. His project titled:
‘Utilising pine cone briquettes as an alternative energy source”
created an efficient, reliable, low-cost and alternative source of
energy frompine cones’. Lungelo alsomade South African history
by being selected to join four Nobel Laureates for lunch and he had
the opportunity to pose an intriguing question to the panel: ‘Can
gravity be eliminated to overcome Newton’s first Law of inertia
so that it will aid in propelling coal power station dynamos for
continual rotation without it experiencing a balanced force’? Can
dynamos be redesigned to operate without coils and magnets?’ A
question that would have mere mortals completely dumbstruck.
• Sophia Demetriou fromBojanala, received a Fourth Award of $500
in the category Computer Science. Her project titled: ‘A novel ap-
proach to biometric identification using an iris scanner’ provides a
cheap, user-friendly and accurate method of identifying a person
by making use of the unique random patterning of the iris.
Conclusion
Eskom Expo for Young Scientists inspires and ignites learners to dis-
cover their passion to explore - not only the world and how it works,
but your true potential as a young scientist. Eskom Expo for Young
Scientists drives this theme.
Parthy Chetty grew up in Chatsworth, Durban where he
completed his schooling at Glenover Secondary. He obtained
a teaching degree at the then, University of DurbanWestville,
now UKZN. He began his teaching career in a high school
in Chatsworth, teaching Physical Science, Mathematics and
Computer Studies up to Grade 12. He furthered his studies in
the computer field at the then University of Natal (now UKZN). He became a
subject advisor in Gauteng in the Technology learning area and two years later
he was promoted to the Ministry of Education in Pretoria. After serving the
formal education sector for 12 years he joined Intel Corporation to introduce
their brand new Intel Innovation in Education initiative. He has been associ-
ated with Eskom Expo for over 10 years as a board member and as chairman
of the board of Eskom Expo. He was appointed Executive Director of Eskom
Expo in May 2013 and currently setting up structures in all the provinces
across the country to expand project based learning.
Enquiries: Eskom Expo for Young Scientists National Office: Tel. 011 894 1365
or email
.
In order to grow passion in science and constantly
improve our research capabilities, we invite profes-
sionals in all the science fields, especially engineers, to
become involved in Eskom Expo for Young Scientists.
Electricity+Control
July ‘14
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