All the Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science's top awards for 2014 were taken by female students, with the prestigious Merck Award for the best final-year chemistry student going to Ms Jean Lombard.
Ms Lombard also walked away with the award for the best performance in Analytical Chemistry in the second and third year. This is a new award, initiated by Prof Klaus Koch, to encourage the study of Analytical Chemistry.
The other prize winners were:
- Ms Roxine Staats – Merck award for the best final-year student in Biotechnology
- Ms Petronella Wessels – Element Six (Pty) Ltd DST/NRF Centre of Excellence award for the best third-year student in Chemistry, including Polymer Science
- Ms Sunel de Kock – SMM award for the best honours student in chemistry
- Ms Inge Weideman - Element Six (Pty) Ltd DST/NRF Centre of Excellence award for the best honours student in Polymer Science
- Ms Jana Botha – Book prize for the best second-year student
During a special award ceremony on Friday 24 April 2015, departmental head Prof. Peter Mallon said the department strives towards producing the best graduate students for South Africa's chemical industry.
"The chemical industry and chemists will be central to addressing many of the challenges South Africa faces. We are producing some of the best chemistry graduates in the country, students who will be able to go out and tackle those challenges. Many of our graduates have gone on to leading roles both nationally and internationally" he said.
Over the past 27 years winners of the Merck award, for example, have established a tradition of excellence. The 2009 winner of the Merck award, Sean Robertson, is busy with his doctorate at Oxford University, while other winners like Leigh-Anne Loots (2005), Carola Niesler (1994), Japie Goldie (1990), Lizl Simpson (now Cronjé) (1991), Stefan de Goede (1993) and André de Villiers (1997) are making their mark in academia and industry.
Prof. Louise Warnich, Dean of the Faculty of Science, congratulated the students on their achievements: "If one considers that we have thousands of students going through the system each year, ending up as the best is really special in more than one respect. And remember, we are now watching out for you!"
On the photo, from left to right: Sunel de Kock, Jana Botha, Petronella Wessels, Roxine Staats, Jean Lombard and Inge Weideman.
