PAST EXCECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Dr. Rosinah Modiba: Deputy (2018 - 2021) and Interim chairperson (2021 - 2022)
Dr Rosinah Modiba is a Senior Researcher at the Manufacturing Cluster, Advanced Materials Engineering, CSIR. She obtained her PhD from the University of Limpopo in 2015. Her research focus is on the alloy development of materials using computational modelling techniques. She has published several papers and delivered invited lectures at conferences. She is the associate researcher at Sefako Makgatho University in the physics department. She promotes science and engineering amongst women and plays a significant role in activities of Women in Physics South Africa (WiPiSA). She is the previous deputy and interim chairperson of WiPiSA (2018-2022). Dr Modiba is currently the SAIP Council Member, Outreach and Public Understanding of Physics Portfolio Holder, from July 2023.
Prof Raesibe Sylvia Ledwaba: Chairperson (2018 - 2021), Student Representative (2016-2018)
Raesibe Sylvia Ledwaba is an Associate Professor in Physics at the Materials Modelling Centre, University of Limpopo. She holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Limpopo. Her research work is based on advancement of electrode nanomaterials for application in high density lithium-ion batteries. The project is part of a collaborative programme between University of Limpopo (SA), University of Kent (UK) and University of Southampton. The outputs of this work have been presented at various local and international conferences. Sylvia has developed a ground breaking framework for modelling composite cathodes materials with high manganese content, which have recently seen her being nominated as one of the 10 Young scientists representing South Africa at the BRICS Young Scientist Forum in July 2017. She was also featured in the Mail and Guardian 200 Young South Africans 2017 list, in the Science and Technology category. In 2015, Sylvia was a Project coordinator for the DST/WiPiSA Grant 2015/2016 outreach project at University of Limpopo and selected as one of the ‘top 7’ WiPiSA/ICTP/UCT Poster Project candidates, where 7 most inspirational South African female physicists were selected to take part in a documentary photo essay . Her large scale atomistic models were instrumental in commissioning, testing and bench-marking of the petascale machines the CHPC National Infrastructure under Material Science division launched in June 2016.
Dr. Onesimo Mtintsilana: Student Representative (2018 - 2022)
Dr. Onesimo Mtintsilana, from the University of the Witwatersrand, is a particle physicist who holds a PhD in Physics and served as the student representative for the Women in Physics in SA Forum from 2018 to 2023. With a PhD earned at WITS and NRF-iThemba LABS, in collaboration with the ATLAS Experiment at CERN, Onesimo focused on High Energy Physics, working with the sophisticated ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. By analysing collision events, Onesimo aimed to uncover new particles and understand the fundamental laws of nature, contributing to a deeper comprehension of the universe’s origin, structure, and evolution.
Prof Buyi Sondezi: Chairperson (2016 -2018)
Prof Buyi Sondezi holds a PhD in Physics and is a researcher in Experimental Physics of Highly Correlated Matter. She is passionate about knowledge transfer, hence her versatile lecturing strategy that ensures and enhances understanding. This stems from an ongoing experience of more than 15 years of Academic involvement. She is currently head of the Physics Department at the University of Johannesburg, a department that is full of potential and diverse research activities of international stature. She recently completed an MBA from Johannesburg Business School.
Dr Moyahabo Hellen Chuma: Secretary (2016 -2018), Student Representative (2014-2016)
Moyahabo H. Chuma is a Senior Scientist at Johnson Matthey, specialising in computer simulations. By making use of first-principles methods, she develops atomic-scale models to investigate physical and electronic properties of various catalytic materials. She has experience with high performance computing (HPC) and performing density functional theory (DFT) calculations using GPAW, QE, CASTEP and DFTB+. She uses her expertise in atomic-scale modelling on a wide range of projects to provide insight on the improvement and/or discovery of new catalytic materials and chemical reaction processes. Her research interests are in the domain of heterogeneous catalysis, encompassing the disciplines of material sciences and surface chemistry.