Chemistry Research Day - 2018

The Annual Chemistry Research Day was held on 26 July, where an exciting mix of presentations, awards, tours and talks are held to showcase current research in the department. This year saw Dr Susan Winks from the H3D Drug Discovery Unit present a lecture on "Chemistry, the perfect mixture of creativity and logic".

"Mole" prize - Most Outstanding, Lively, Enthusiastic presentation

Senior students and researchers were invited to present their posters and this year's Chemistry "Mole" prize, for the "Most Outstanding, Lively, Enthusiastic student presenter" was awarded to Nolwazi Gcwensa. Roshan Klein won the lucky draw for putting forward the name of the winning presenter.

Nolwazi Gcwensa - "Mole" prize recipient

Roshan Klein - "Mole" lucky draw

Class Medallists and other Notable Achievements and Prize Winners

Given that the 2016 year was cut short, awards for both 2016 and 2017 were presented at this year's ceremony.

Spong Bequest Chemistry Prize

The Spong Bequest Chemistry Prizes for best 2nd year student proceeding into 3rd year were awarded to Larnelle Garnie (2016) and Leah Amod (2017).

Larnelle Garnie, 2016 Chemistry Prize

Leah Amod, 2017 Chemistry Prize

Merck Prize

The Merck Prizes for the top 3rd year student proceeding into Honours were awarded to Lenard Carroll (2016) and Larnelle Garnie (2017). Lenard was unable to attend to receive his prize.

Larnelle Garnie receiving the 2017 Merck Prize from Nicole Murphy from Merck

Alistair Stephen Prize

The Alistair Stephen Prizes for Top Honours Project were awarded to Nicole Richardson (2016) and Diana Melis (2017). The prizes were presented by Alistair Stephen's daughter, Ms Judy Twycross.

Nicole Richardson, 2016 Top Honours Project

Diana Melis, 2017 Top Honours Project

Class Medallists - 2016 and 2017

Medals are presented for the top achievers in all 8 courses offered by the department. The Head of Department, Professor Tim Egan, presented the students with their awards.

2016 medallists were:

Shandukani Mulaudzi (CEM1000W: Chemistry 1000) - absent
Blessed Chitamba (CEM1008F: Chemistry for Engineers)
Monique Ferreira (CEM1009H: Chemistry 1009) - absent
Sthembiso Mgenge (CEM1010H: Chemistry 1010)
Talitha Kotze (CEM1011F: Chemistry for Medical Students)
Larnelle Garnie (CEM2005W: Chemistry 2005)
Lenard Carroll (CEM3005W: Chemistry 3005) - absent
Nicole Richardson (CEM4000W: BSc Honours in Chemistry)

Blessed Chitamba: CEM1008F

Sthembiso Mgenge: CEM1010H

Talitha Kotze: CEM1011F

Larnelle Garnie: CEM2005W

Nicole Richardson: CEM4000W (Top Honours Student)

2017 medallists were:

Jonathan De Luz (CEM1000W: Chemistry 1000)
Nicholas Elias (CEM1008F: Chemistry for Engineers)
Mustapha Singlee (CEM1009H: Chemistry 1009)
Pearl Mashaba (CEM1010H: Chemistry 1010)
Peter Walker (CEM1011F: Chemistry for Medical Students)
Leah Amod (CEM2005W: Chemistry 2005)
Larnelle Garnie (CEM3005W: Chemistry 3005)
Athi Welsh (CEM4000W: BSc Honours in Chemistry)

Jonathan De Luz: CEM1000W

Nicholas Elias: CEM1008F

Mustapha Singlee: CEM1009H

Pearl Mashaba: CEM1010H

Peter Walker: CEM1011F

Leah Amod: CEM2005W

Larnelle Garnie: CEM3005W

Athi Welsh: CEM4000W (Top Honours Student)

Merck/MMV/UCT Scholarships

The H3D Unit also took the opportunity to present three of its postgraduate students with new scholarships sponsored by the 5-year collaboration between Merck, Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and UCT's H3D Centre. In addition to the collaborative project, the partnership seeks to develop capacity for further malaria drug discovery in Africa. This scholarship forms part of the capacity building initiative for the collaboration. Recipients for the scholarship were Master's students Constance Korkor and Stephanie Kamunya, and PhD student Samuel Gachuhi.