Following their showcasing of scientific and engineering innovations aimed at solving local and/or global concerns, young scientists celebrated the winners at the Eskom Expo International Science Fair (ISF).
The fair was held in Boksburg from 24 to 27 September 2019, and brought together the brightest young scientists from across South Africa and other countries around the world.
Pinky Jiyane from Ongoye Secondary School in KwaZulu-Natal was the winner of the Siemens Grand Prize at this year’s Eskom Expo ISF.
Title sponsor, Eskom, awarded a number of bursaries worth R400 000 each, and four Special Awards for the best projects selected in the energy category: Best Project by a Female Scientist, Best Development Project, Best Energy Project and Best Innovation Project.
For the best project by a girl, Iqra Faki from Star College Cape Town, Sybrand Park Campus, won the award for her ‘Fractal exploration: The 3-dimensional Koch snowflake’. In her project Faki examined mathematical trends and noticeable properties for the surface area and volume of the three-dimensional Koch snowflake. She ascertained that it is mathematically attainable, by developing general formulae and graphical representations, to conclude significant trends for the surface area and volume of the three-dimensional Koch snowflake (in accordance with fixed measurements of the initial pyramid). Faki also won the Meiring Naude Award for the most inspiring project.
Maluta Gcabashe from HP Ngwenya Primary School in central KwaZulu-Natal won the best development project award for her work which looked at ‘Creating a low-dust, environmentally friendly chalk’. The aim was to engineer a chalk that creates less dust than regular chalk used by teachers in classrooms. Gcabashe said, “Most teachers have a problem with getting their hands dirty when they write on the board. Chalk dust is also not healthy to breathe in. The low-dust environmentally friendly chalk needed to be produced locally using recycled and natural materials and be accepted by teachers as an alternative to standard chalk and the dustless chalk one can currently buy.”
Miné Steenkamp from Hoërskool Douglas in Kimberley in the Northern Cape won the award for the best innovative project for her submission: ‘Fighting crime with malaria-fighting drug’. Inspired by a murder in her family, Miné aimed to investigate the use of artemisinin combined with luminol to retrieve evidence more efficiently from crime scenes – using a smartphone as the detector, which could provide highly accurate on-scene analyses.
The award for the best energy project was presented to Tripti Patel from Zinniaville Secondary School in Bojanala in the North West, for her project in which she developed an ‘affordable, energy-efficient baby warmer’. This project aimed to make an affordable, electricity-saving incubator, using household materials and found that the heating pad in the incubator would need to be changed every 60 minutes.
Eskom Expo Executive Director, Parthy Chetty said: “ISF 2019 has again astounded us with the innovation coming from bright young learners across South Africa and Africa. We have presented over 13 million rand worth of awards, from various sponsors and partners who join hands with Eskom Expo to help solve some of the country’s problems by encouraging future scientists and engineers. Some of our partners, like Siemens, FFS, Babcock, Wits and UP, are investing in the country’s future through the Eskom Expo.”
The winner of the prestigious Professor Derek Gray Memorial Award was Charmain Williams from the Gert Sibande region in Mpumalanga, for her project ‘Wax worms - a possible threat?’. Williams’s project addressed plastic pollution, noting that wax moth larvae have the ability to digest polyethylene into ethylene glycol which biodegrades.
The Siemens Grand Prize winner was Pinky Jiyane from Ongoye Secondary School, KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, with the ‘Ultra Smart Meter’. The aim of this project was to introduce a new way of loading electricity. “It also introduces a new way of checking the balance left in your meter. Having the smart meter will be like having a meter keyboard in your pocket – wherever you are and at any time,” she said.
Jiyane receives a three-and-a-half-year international technical apprenticeship at Siemens in Berlin and first-hand experience of the company’s technology – gaining skills that will assist her when she takes up a new role at Siemens after completing the apprenticeship.
Siemens CEO for Southern and Eastern Africa, Sabine Dall’Omo said Siemens’s long-standing partnership with the Eskom Science Expo affirms its commitment to the development of young, African minds in the STEM fields. “As a multinational company Siemens is uniquely positioned to provide opportunities that promote international and multicultural exposure within the business, at the same time advancing the skills the company will require in future,” Dall’Omo said.
For more information visit: www.exposcience.co.za
