GIRLS IN CONTROL FOR ZULULAND

Professor Syamala Krishnannair, a specialist in Automation and Control in the Department of Mathematical Sciences coordinated    the first ‘Girls in Control’ workshop .This notable event  took place at UNIZULU Science centre on 25 July 2022 .

The first session of the workshop included coding exercises, virtual motivational talk, and discussions to explain and experience the fundamentals of control and motivation towards pursuing a career in control engineering. The second session, the was the  Science tour around the centre and exhibitions which were coordinated by Dr. Derek Fish, UNIZULU Science Centre enhanced the importance of Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics(STEM). STEM education and its importance in STEM-related disciplines. 

There were thirty girls from Enqoleni Primary ranging from the ages  between 10  to 15 years from participated in learning about control. These sessions were offered in Zulu and covered control theoretic principles, different control applications, the concept of a proportional controller, and the implementation of controllers in Scratch.

Mokwape Lekganyane  who is the Pr Eng, Senior Manager for eThekwini Electricity’s HV Projects Branch gave an online motivational talk for a career in engineering.  Lekganyane also highlighted the importance of STEM education in general and possible career choices in related disciplines in her talk. The workshop was a great success and there are plans to replicate  it in the future for other regions in Zululand and other provinces  in other languages.

The team who  worked tirelessly  planning and putting this workshop together  was Prof Syamala Krishnannair (coordinator and organiser), Dr Derek Fish (coordinator at UNIZULU Science Centre) , the sponsors (South African Council for Automation and Control (SACAC) and I Learn to Live (NGO)  ) and the postgraduate students in ‘Control Group’, the Department of Mathematical Sciences (Siyabonga Msweli, Malibongwe Shange,  Lindokuhle Mbhense, Lebogang Mphahlele, and  Nonhlanhla Cebekhulu facilitated the workshop in Zulu ).