July 2011

Head of School Feedback

In this edition of The Node I’d like to

introduce you to the people and the

companies that make up our Industrial

Advisory Board (IAB), and also share

with you the history of one of the oldest

funded Chairs in South Africa.

As you will be aware, we were recently

honoured to award an Honorary

Doctorate to Dr Tingye Li, retired from

AT&T Bell Laboratories. But as I

introduced him to a breakfast audience

I had occasion to indentify some of our

Industrial Advisory Board Members – in

the context of industry partnering and

working with the University in order to

strengthen the School and therefore our products – graduates and research.

The importance of the role of the IAB cannot be overemphasised.

The IAB was established in 2004 to advise the School on:

Industry’s needs regarding graduate competencies

Programme and curriculum development

Research training needs

Research thrusts and outputs

Planning and strategy to achieve the School’s objectives

It is also a forum to ensure:

The maintenance of a productive interface between the School and industry

That industry remains aware of the progress of the School

It is my view, and that the School’s Executive Committee, that the IAB has served

the School exceptionally well – and this has been because the individuals who

make up the Board have shown an incredible commitment to their responsibility. I

have no doubt that the broad objectives listed above have been met.

Currently our IAB is constituted as follows:

In this issue

Visit to Wits by Dr and Mrs Li

Profile

Witsies win second place award in IEEE

R8 SPC 2011 competition

ACTOM Funding Modernises Energy Lab

Between art and engineering: Introducing

Game Design at Wits

Helping to educate aspirant CIOs: a

unique offering at Wits

IEEE Career Guidance Event for (STEP)

2011

Links

EIE homepage All archived versions of The Node Alumni Relations homepage WITSReview magazine Careers Development & Fundraising Wits University homepage What's on?

Upcoming Events

EIE School Open Day on 24th October, 2011

Contact Information

Gill van der Heever Administrative Manager School of Electrical and Information Engineering University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Gill.vanderHeever@wits.ac.za Tel: (011) 717 7244 Fax: (011) 403 1929

Mr Thomas Eichbaum – Chairperson (Siemens South Africa)

Mr Rudi Coetzee (CBI-electric – Low Voltage)

Mr Peter Colborne (Actom SA)

Prof Barry Dwolatzky (JCSE)

Dr Riaan Els (Carl and Emily Fuchs Foundation)

Prof Ian Jandrell (Head: School of Electrical and Information Engineering)

Prof Beatrys Lacquet (Dean: Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment)

Mr Kannan Lakmeerharan (Eskom)

Mr Kieron Leeburn (CBI-electric – Africa Cables)

Mr Sean McLean (IBM South Africa)

Mr Roberto Melaia (Electrical Engineering and Allied Industries Association)

Mr Dudley Miller (Schneider South Africa)

Dr Charles Pritchard (Entelect Solution)

Mr Peter Spyres – immediate past Chairperson (Electro-Spyres Medical)

Mr Chris van Heeswijk (Goldfields)

Currently these organisations are assisting us in achieving our strategic objectives

by driving, funding and advising on various activities within our School. Their

support takes a variety of forms, with some organisation funding Named Chairs;

others are strong supporters of our Research Activities; and others are funding the

establishment of laboratories. In fact, we hope during the next few months to be

announcing the opening of the CBI-electric Laboratory and the Actom Energy

Laboratory.

It is our view, and the view of the IAB, that member companies and the School

benefit from this form of engagement. We feel that this engagement is both healthy

and necessary for a School like ours which is recognised for excellence.

Although it would be premature to make any announcement at this time we are in

the final stages of welcoming an additional Board member – a company that will be

funding a new Chair within our School.

One of our IAB members is the Carl and Emily Fuchs Foundation. The Carl and

Emily Fuchs Chair of Systems and Control Engineering is the oldest established

Chair in the area of Control in South Africa.

The Carl and Emily Fuchs Chair of was established in 1969 by the Foundation –

and has been in place ever since. The Chair has been held by many esteemed

academics including the late Prof Ian Mc Leod and more recently Prof Tshilidzi

Marwala.

The current holder of the Chair is Prof Anton Van Wyk. His direct team includes

Prof Brian Wigdorowitz and Mr Otis Nyandoro, but the Chair also has strong links

with Prof George Gibbon (electronics and instrumentation, with a specialisation in

biological systems) and the Biomedical Engineering Group itself, headed up by Prof

David Rubin and comprising Dr Xriz Richards, Mr Steven Dinger, Ms Robyn Herron

and Mr Adam Pantanowitz. As a whole this is a formidable team, and their

contribution to both the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes has been

outstanding.

Support from the Carl and Emily Fuchs Foundation, for a period of over 40 years,

has allowed this group to flourish and grow.

Enjoy this issue of The Node.

Ian R Jandrell - PrEng, PhD

HoS and CBI-electric Professor of Lightning

Visit to Wits by Dr and Mrs Li

The School of Electrical & Information Engineering had the honour of hosting Dr Tingye Li and his wife Mrs Edith Li in July. Dr Li was in

Johannesburg to receive the degree DSc(Eng) honoris causa on 21 July 2011 in recognition of his pioneering achievements in the field of

lasers and optoelectronics. This was Dr Li's first trip back to South Africa since graduating from Wits in Electrical Engineering some 60

years ago.

Among his numerous scientific contributions, Dr Li achieved key insights into the behaviour of laser resonant cavities, and produced

dramatic enhancements in the speed of optical communications by leading the development of amplified wavelength division multiplexing.

On July 20, Dr Li delivered a riveting business breakfast talk at the Sunnyside Park Hotel entitled “Evolution of the Lightwave

Communications Industry: Technologies, Demand and Business”. This was followed by an equally enthralling technical lecture on the Wits

campus later that day entitled “Lightwave communications: a mainstay of the information society.”

The next day, on receiving his honorary degree, Dr Li delivered the graduation address. His sharp, wit, gigantic intellect and gentle

humanity made the address truly inspirational.

It was a great privilege for staff and students of the School to get to know Dr and Mrs Li. They are a delightful couple and the visit left us

with a renewed sense of purpose and pride.

Dr Li and Mrs Li at the business breakfast.

Dr Li gave a technical lecture on the Wits campus.

Dr Li receiving his honorary degree at the graduation ceremony.

Profile

Tingye Li was born in Nanjing, China in 1931. The son of a diplomat, he spent much of his

youth in foreign countries. While in South Africa, Li studied Electrical Engineering at the

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and completed his final year in 1952,

graduating with a BSc.(Eng) in Electrical Engineering, cum laude in 1953. Li then

furthered his education in the USA, where he graduated with a PhD from Northwestern

University, Evanston, IL in 1958. On completing his PhD, he joined AT&T Bell

Laboratories in New Jersey, where he worked until his formal retirement in 1998.

At AT&T Bell Labs, Li was principally engaged in the following activities: seminal work on

lasers, including laser resonator modes; pioneering work on optical fibre communications;

microwave antennas and propagation, including satellite communications and rain

scattering effects; and millimetre-wave waveguide transmission (in the 50-100GHz range).

In his laser work, Li, together with A.G. Fox, demonstrated, using computer simulation,

that an open-sided resonator containing a laser medium would have a number of unique

modes that characterize the transverse field profiles. This was important in determining

the gain needed in the active medium for laser action and offered, for the first time, an understanding of the development of modes in laser

resonators. The paper describing these modes is regarded as a classic, and the predictions were borne out when the first gas lasers were

operated. Li and Fox extended this technique to other resonator geometries as well as to lasers with non-uniform, and saturable gain

media.

In his work on optical fibre communications, Li led several research groups at AT&T Bell Labs that designed and fabricated novel opto-

electronic devices, demonstrated the first optical repeaters, and performed record-setting systems experiments. He was the main advocate

and a principal leader for the development of amplified wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) transmission systems using erbium-doped

fibre amplifiers as repeaters. WDM systems have provided more than 100-fold increase in capacity in optical communications, thus

supporting the continuing growth of the Internet. His pioneering contributions to broadband optical fibre communication were responsible for

shaping modern high-speed optical networks, which constitute a mainstay of the contemporary information society.

In a career spanning more than four decades, Dr Li, has registered 15 patents, edited 4 books, authored or co-authored over 100 peer-

reviewed scientific publications and presented his work at over 200 conferences. He has received numerous awards and honours including:

IEEE Edison Medal (2009); IEEE Photonics Award (2004); International Engineering Consortium Fellow Award (2001); Achievement Award

from the Photonics Society of Chinese-Americans (1998); OSA Frederick Ives Medal (1997); AT&T Science and Technology Medal (1997);

OSA/IEEE John Tyndall Award (1995); IEEE David Sarnoff Award (1979); and the IEEE W.R.G. Baker Prize (1975).

Dr Li is a Fellow and past president of the Optical Society of America, a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, a

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Member of

Academia Sinica, and a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He is the recipient of the Northwestern University 1981

Alumni Merit Award, and has received an honorary doctorate in Engineering from National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. In addition, Dr

Li has been named an honorary professor in 15 universities in China.

Dr Li is now an independent consultant in lightwave communications, and serves on a number of boards of directors of optical components

and systems companies.

On 21st July, 2011, the University awarded Tingye Li, the degree Doctor of Science in Engineering honoris causa in recognition of his

pioneering and seminal contributions to laser development and optical communications.

Witsies win second place award in IEEE R8 SPC 2011 competition

Congratulations to our two Wits graduates, Daniel Mankowitz and Andrew Paverd, for their success at the IEEE Region 8 Student Paper

Contest (SPC) 2011, Lisbon, Portugal. Their presentation was well received by the international jury, and they were awarded the second

place overall in the competition. It is worth mentioning that, in the final round, the other four teams were presenting their respective masters

level research, while Daniel and Andrew were competing at this level with their 4th undergraduate project.

In the letter to Prof. Ian Jandrell, Head of School, Electrical and Information Engineering, Daniel and Andrew mentioned, “We would like to

convey our sincere thanks to you and the School of Electrical and Information Engineering for the sponsorship which enabled both of us to

attend and participate in the oral finals of the IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest (SPC) 2011. Attending part of the IEEE EUROCON

Conference, at which the oral finals were held, was definitely a worthwhile and inspiring experience… We were very proud to represent

Wits at this event and we hope that the school, in collaboration with the IEEE Student Branch, will continue to participate in this contest in

the coming years”.

Daniel and Andrew were awarded the “Best Open Day Presentation Prize” for this project and their paper has been entered into the IEEE

Region 8 Student Paper Contest. They both graduated with distinction in December 2010 at Wits.

SPC participants outside the conference venue, Instituto Superior Tecnico.

Daniel and Andrew preparing for the SPC presentation.

Andrew presenting to the SPC jury.

ACTOM Funding Modernises Energy Lab

A project to set up a new energy laboratory in the School of Electrical & Information Engineering is well underway. This has been facilitated

by a R450 000 grant from ACTOM and roughly equal funding from the university. The “ACTOM Energy Lab” as it will be known is due to be

completed by the end of this year and will be ready for use from the beginning of next year. Prof Willie Cronje, head of the School’s Power

Machines & Energy Research Group, is responsible for much of the planning and he is overseeing the installation of the new equipment

and lab benches.

The old equipment and desks dating back to shortly after World War II will be replaced, and some of these obsolete assets will be offered to

a museum of electrical engineering.

According to Prof Cronje, the existing energy lab can only accommodate 80 students per semester, and the School is rapidly approaching

this limit. The expansion and upgrade of the facility will double this capacity and will also enhance the laboratory’s safety.

The new facility will comprise 20 benches and modern equipment, as well as an additional bench and equipment for the instructor.

The antiquated Amp, Volt and Watt meters will be replaced by a combination of modern portable units containing current and voltage

transformers to facilitate the viewing of signals on an oscilloscope. Some combo units designed and assembled by the School proved

successful during a pilot run in the first semester of this year.

Instrumentation kits comprising meters, switches, circuit breakers and indicator lights, will be installed in the consoles of the new benches.

In addition, “hidden hardware” such as variac transformers rotating machines, drives and inverters, will be installed in the bases of the new

benches.

A video camera and data projectors will be installed to display experiments and presentations. This will facilitate live projections of

demonstrations given from the instructor’s bench, thus avoiding students having to crowd around the bench.

The source of information in this article is ‘What’s Watt’ June 2011 Issue.

Courtesy from 'What's Watt' June 2011 Issue. Prof Willie Cronje and ACTOM's Andries Tshabalala stand beside one of

the benches and some of the equipments for the new Energy Lab for Electrical Engineering students at Wit University.

Between art and engineering: Introducing Game Design at Wits

By Hanli Geyser

Ms Hanli Geyser is a

Lecturer in Game Design

in the Digital Art Division

of the Wits School of Arts.

In an exciting collaboration with the Wits School of Arts the School of Electrical and Information Engineering will be pioneering a new

degree in Game Design: a Bachelor of Engineering Science in Digital Art in 2012. Based on the very successful Biomedical Engineering

program the BEngSci Digital Art will introduce students to the burgeoning field of digital games design and development.

Creating a digital game requires a variety of skills, stretching from the technical development and programming side to the creative

disciplines of illustration, animation, writing, and sound design. Game design is at the heart of all these, the point where the disciplines

intersect to create something great. This is why the Game Design courses will be offered to students from both Electrical and Information

Engineering and the Wits School of Arts. as part of two separate degrees. One is housed in the Wits School of the Arts, the other in the

School of Electrical and Information Engineering. Students will therefore be able to approach Game Design from two directions, catering to

their own interests: the creative arts, or the technical software and engineering side. Students in both degrees will attend the same core

Game Design course, side by side.

Game Design as creative art falls under the auspices of the BA Performing and Visual Arts degree (BA PVA) with a major in Game Design.

This degree would cater for students interested in game graphics, narrative, character design, music and sound and in later years,

animation. In this degree students would do a professional subject of their choice in WSOA (Design and Drawing, Writing, Film and

Television, Music Literacy etc.), an academic subject in WSOA (History of Art, Drama and Film, Music History), any subject from the

Humanities faculty (so English , Philosophy, Psychology, Economics, etc), and of course Game Design. As the degree progresses the other

subjects fall away and the Game Design core course becomes the central focus. This is a 4 year professional degree.

The technical Game Design degree is a Bachelor of Engineering Science in Digital Art (BEngSci Digital Arts). This 3 year degree is based

on the same design as the very successful Biomedical Engineering degree. In this degree students attend half of their courses in the EIE

faculty. Here they would do Physics, Math, Circuits, Software Development, and Electromagnetic systems with Game Design as the core

course. This degree aims to give students an introduction into both the hardware and software environments. On graduation should they

wish to study further students may continue into the third year of Electrical and Information Engineering or into the Honours course in Digital

Arts.

The core Game Design course will address most of the elements of game design as a discipline. The course will have a strong practical

component, but also seeks to emphasise a solid academic grounding in the field. Areas of academic study will include game history and

theory, game studies and analysis, and game creation in many of its incarnations. Students will learn about game mechanics, rule and

system creation, puzzle design, level design, character design, etc. Each theoretical element will be underlined by a practical project. This

will require students to develop a familiarity with both sides of the coin: the artistic as well as the technical. This understanding would

facilitate greater co-operation later in the course where students would move into more distinct roles. Students will work in game

development applications; at this point we are investigating Game Maker and Unity. A key focus of the final years of the course is the

development of a portfolio of games with which the graduate can approach industry.

Screenshot from "Gunjitsu" a game in development by Digital Art Masters Student Michael de Jager.

Helping to educate aspirant CIOs: a unique offering at Wits

By Rex van Olst

Prof. Rex van Olst is the head of

Telecommunications Research

Group under the School of Electrical

and Information Engineering. He is a

Fellow of the SA Institute of

Electrical Engineers and a Fellow

and Professional Member of the

Computer Society of South Africa.

Now in its sixth year in its current format, the Multidisciplinary Professional Certificate in Chief Information Officer (CIO) Practice has trained

more than 100 senior level ICT executives since it was launched in 2006.

Why “Multidisciplinary”? The CIO course is unique in that it is managed by two Wits University Faculties; the Faculty of Commerce Law and

Management, and the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.

Why a CIO programme? With the rapid growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), organisations in both the government

and private sectors are faced with a range of new and difficult challenges. These include: on-going business re-engineering; issues around

security and risk management; the growth of the Internet and its effects on the supply chain and work organisation; an increasingly mobile

work force, and many more. At the same time the rapid availability of detailed and accurate information is growing in importance. To

manage these challenges many organisations are appointing people at the senior executive level. Often called the “Chief Information

Officer” (CIO), these people carry enormous responsibility in this new knowledge-based economy.

Wit University spotted the gap available in the tertiary education market for training aspirant CIOs. A panel consisting of senior academics

from the Graduate School of Public & Development Management, The LINK Centre, the School of Economics and Business Science

(Information Systems) and the School of Electrical and Information Engineering designed a short course programme which covers a

combination of strong technical, business and leadership skills. This Multi-disciplinary Certificate in CIO Practice programme is aimed at

people aspiring to fill the CIO role, and incorporates a mix of topics dealing with issues relating to technology, strategic (C-level)

management, business leadership, human capital management processes and ICT policy in regulation. The focus is to provide an

integrated overview of issues and trends in all of these areas. The programme has been step-wise improved over the years of it being

offered and today it has matured into a valuable programme which includes topics like the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) as

promoted by the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering; as well as a topic like the management of IT benefit realization, both necessary

and popular in the age following the world’s financial crisis.

The programme, which is administered by Wits Commercial Enterprise, is run over approximately sixteen weeks at Wits Business School.

The class is divided into syndicates to emphasise group activities in the learning experience and during the periods between fulltime

sessions, the syndicates are encouraged to meet regularly to tackle their syndicate assignments from the programme.

A significant development from the Wits CIO programme was the establishment of the CIO Council of South Africa. This was initiated in

2009 by some of the CIO alumni together with Microsoft SA and has registered many of the top CIOs in business and Government. The

patron is Len de Villiers, the CIO of the ABSA Group, and some of the CIO course facilitators are represented on the Council’s

management executive. The CIO Council have arranged a number of workshops on topics of general interest to CIOs and aspirant CIOs.

All the alumni from the Wits Multidisciplinary Certificate in CIO Practice are invited to become members of the CIO Council of South Africa.

For further details on the CIO Practice certificate contact Prof Rex van Olst at Rex.Vanolst@Wits.ac.za.

The CIO Class of 2011 in session with Dr Pete van Vuuren, one of the programme facilitators.

IEEE Career Guidance Event for (STEP) 2011

By Yu-Chieh (Jessie) Liu

Ms. Yu-Chieh (Jessie) Liu

is an Associate Lecturer

in School of Electrical and

Information Engineering,

University of the

Witwatersrand.

On 14 April 2011, the IEEE WITS Student Branch and IEEE GOLD (Graduates Of the Last Decade) hosted its first Career Guidance

Evening for graduating engineering students. The event was organised in association with the School of Electrical and Information

Engineering and hosted in the FNB Building, East Campus at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

This event was based on the IEEE STEP event (Student Transition and Elevation Programme), providing graduating students with the

opportunity to learn more about their possible career options as soon-to-be engineering graduates. The event was focussed around the

topic: The Corporate Ladder vs. Entrepreneurship: Strategies for the Young Engineer. Two informative special guest-talks were

presented on each career stream, and thereafter, students were provided with a unique opportunity to network with established engineers

currently working either in academia, in engineering industry, or as entrepreneurs in the field of engineering.

IEEE student members, third and fourth year engineering students, and finishing postgraduate students were invited as participants to

attend the event. The IEEE TUKS Student Branch was also represented at the event by chairperson, Geoffrey Hunt, and committee

members. Guests from academia, industry and entrepreneurship were also invited to attend all proceedings of the event. Congratulations

are extended to IEEE student member, Mr. Justin Wernick, for taking home an Amazon Kindle as the IEEE student member incentive raffle

prize.

The informative talks were presented by special guest speakers: Ms. Lizanne Conradie (Career Office, University of Pretoria), and Dr.

Kerrin Myres (Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at WITS Business School, University of the Witwatersrand). Ms. Conradie

provided the corporate perspective, with her extensive background in graduate recruitment and professional career development. Since

careers in engineering industry remains to be the dominant path for most graduating engineers, she provided tips on skills such as effective

networking, CV writing, negotiation techniques, and personal branding to assist with effectively climbing the proverbial corporate ladder. On

the flip side, Dr. Myres provided the entrepreneurial options, using her personal experiences to inspire graduating students to embark on

the path less travelled. She dispelled many perceived myths regarding the “risk” associated with starting one’s own business and left all

participants with a new appreciation for this career option. Both talks were presented with informative, interactive materials, and received

very well among all participants.

After the formal proceedings, the students were presented with an opportunity to network with engineers from various career backgrounds

over snacks and drinks:

1. Postgraduates, Lecturers and Professors from the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, represented the career

options in academia and research;

2. Graduate and Senior engineers from various companies, including committee member of IEEE GOLD represented careers

options, opportunities and challenges in the engineering industry, and

3. Graduate engineers turned Entrepreneurs who have successfully started their own businesses within the field of engineering,

representing the possibilities in entrepreneurship.

The proceedings of the event were lead by the chairpersons of the IEEE WITS Student Branch and IEEE GOLD, Ms. Marlize Naude and

Mr. Keoikantse Marungwana respectively; closely assisted by the committee members of each association. The event was an

overwhelming success, receiving positive responses from all participants. This is hopefully the first IEEE STEP event of many to come.

Kindle winner of the IEEE student member raffle. Justin Wernick – student winner (left), Yu-Chieh Liu - IEEE Wits Student

Branch committee member (middle), Keoikantse Marungwana – IEEE GOLD Chairperson (right).

Guest speakers and IEEE chairpersons. From left: Lizanne Conradie, Marlize Naude, Dr Kerrin Myres, Keoikantse

Marungwana.

Networking session after the guest lectures. Image shows Graham Paverd (Transnet) interacting with students.

IEEE Commitee photo: includes IEEE Wits SB committee members, IEEE GOLD representatives and IEEE TUKS SB

representatives.

© 2011 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein, Johannesburg

Produced by the School of Electrical & Information Engineering Designed by Wits Marketing