Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
30 December 2019 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah
Gavin Dollman
Gavin Dollman is involved in virtual prospecting for fossils using a drone.

Gavin Dollman is one of the young researchers selected for the international research programme funded through the US-SA Higher Education Network. This prestigious programme is aimed at giving PhD candidates and their supervisors the opportunity to regularly travel to the USA and spend time at participating US universities where their co-promoters will be based.

“The University Staff Doctoral Programme (USDP) has allowed me to bring my idea of collaborative science to fruition. It’s an exciting opportunity,” Dollman said.

Dollman added that his PhD studies would focus on the machine and deep learning for prospecting for palaeontology. He is studying with the Appalachian State University. Other participating universities are Montana and Colorado State.

He has also had the privilege to work alongside a team of Geologists and Paleontologists from the universities of Birmingham, Zurich and Oxford in a project under the auspices of the University of the Witwatersrand’s Evolution Studies Institute (ESI) on a site in rural Eastern Cape.

“My role within this massive project is to perform a detailed survey of the sites and the surrounding area for later analysis. I used a drone known as the DJI Phantom 3 Pro with which I took hundreds of pictures that were later put together to create a detailed map,” he said.

“The maps allowed for virtual prospecting by the team and will in the long term serve as the basis for a predictive fossil model for the area.”

Dollman is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics on the Qwaqwa Campus.

News Archive

UFS presents short course on dairy
2010-05-02

The University of the Free State (UFS) will present a one-day short course titled “Adding value to milk and milk products” in the Board Room in the Agriculture Building on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein on Wednesday, 19 May 2010, from 08:15 to 17:00. The cost per person is R950,00 and it includes refreshments, lunch, practical experience and course material. The course will be presented by Prof. Celia Hugo and Dr Maryna de Wit of the UFS.

The after the course the attendants will be able to produce cheese, cottage cheese, feta cheese, maas (Amazi) and yoghurt. In South Africa milk is produced on a large scale.  With the basic knowledge anybody is able to add value to this product by further processing of the milk.

For registration contact Anita at 0836698435 or vwsdairy@ufs.ac.za. Please note that registration closes on 7 May 2010. For more information on the course contact Celia at 0514012692 or hugocj@ufs.ac.za or Maryna at 0514013261 or dewitm@ufs.ac.za.

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept