Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
18 March 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Elfrieda Lotter
From the Centre for Microscopy are, from the left: Edward Lee, Prof Koos Terblans, Hanlie Grobler, and Nonkululeko Phili-Mgobhozi.
In its quest to inspire excellence, the University of the Free State (UFS) is in the process of installing state-of-the-art microscopy instruments that will differentiate them as leaders in materials research.

This project to the value of R65 million will not only promote research in, among others, the fields of Chemistry, Physics, Microbiology, Geology, Plant Sciences, Zoology, and Cardiothoracic Surgery, but it will also increase the number of research articles published. 

Prof Koos Terblans, Head of the Department of Physics and Director of the Centre for Microscopy at the UFS, indicates that the university recently purchased a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and a focused ion beam secondary electron microscope. 

“The installation of the equipment that was delivered on 1 March 2021 will take approximately three to six months,” he says. 

Research at another level

The biggest instrument, the HRTEM, allows for direct imaging of the atomic structure of samples. This powerful tool will allow researchers to study the properties of materials on an atomic scale. It will, for instance, be used to study nanoparticles, semiconductors, metals, and biological material.

The instrument will also be used to optimise heat treatment of materials, as it can heat the sample up to 1000 °C while recording live images of the sample. “With this apparatus, the UFS is the only institution in South Africa that can perform this function,” says Prof Terblans. 

He says to install the apparatus, they had to dig a hole of 2 m deep in a special room where the machine was to stand. The machine was then mounted on a solid concrete block (4 m x 3 m x 2 m) in order to minimise vibration. The instrument also acquired a special air conditioner that minimises the movement of air in the room. 

The focused ion-beam secondary electron microscope that was purchased, is used together with the HRTEM, explains Prof Terblans. It is used to cut out samples on a microscopic level to place inside the HRTEM. 

Having access to both the HRTEM and the ion-beam secondary electron microscope places the UFS at another level with its research, says Prof Terblans. 

At the forefront of microscopy 

The third machine acquired, the SEM – which is an electron microscope – allows researchers to produce images of a sample by scanning the surface of the sample with a focused beam of electrons. Prof Terblans says this machine will be used to serve researchers in the biology field with high-resolution SEM photos. 

The UFS Centre for Microscopy can, besides UFS researchers, be accessed by researchers from the Central University of Technology, the national museum, and other research facilities. 

With this injection of state-of-the-art equipment, the UFS is now more than ever at the forefront of research in South Africa. 

Prof Koos Terblans (left) with Prof Jannie Swarts. Prof Swarts is from the Department of Chemistry and manager of the expensive equipment fund of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. They stand in front of the new HRTEM.
Prof Koos Terblans (left) with Prof Jannie Swarts. Prof Swarts is from the Department of Chemistry and manager of the expensive equipment fund of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. They stand in front of the new HRTEM.
The high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and a focused ion-beam secondary electron microscope.
The high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and a focused ion-beam secondary electron microscope.

News Archive

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC
2005-08-03


 

The UFS Central SRC

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC of the University of the Free State, Mr Tello Motloung on Wednesday 3 August 2003

The Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke,
The Vice-chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie
The Vice-Rector Student Affairs of the UFS, Dr Ezekiel Moraka
The Presidents of the main campus SRC and the Vista campus SRC
Colleagues in the Central SRC, campus SRCs, students and fellow South Africans

Please receive my heartfelt revolutionary greetings

Vice-chancellor and rector what I bring here with me assisted by facts, is just the work of my imagination. Like a love letter addressed to a sweetheart miles away, even though you do not know how she feels, what she wants to hear, and do not even know what she looks like.

I value speech as just an honest intimation, that’s why I got into a habit of establishing a dialogue with people, looking at each other’s face, and persuading one another of what we are saying.

Vice-chancellor, today marks an important milestone in the history of the existence of the UFS. Today reflects the confidence and trust that students of the UFS have placed in us. They are confident that the Central SRC has both the will and the capacity to take our university forward as we confront the challenge of transformation.

Students are confident that they are correct to trust the Central SRC as the principal agent of change in our university that is genuinely committed to the objective of building a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic university. We need to frankly ask ourselves, as CSRC members, whether are we up to all these challenges?

All Central SRC members have to understand this fully, internalize it, and ensure that everything we do, does not betray the confidence and trust of students, or disappoint their expectations. I say this knowing that all Central SRC members have committed themselves to serve the students of the UFS, black and white, and no one among us (CSRC) needs any special lectures about this central commitment.

The UFS should be an omnibus, welcoming everybody on board. But we should be a bus with a clear direction. We will certainly lose our way if we, as an institution, don’t have a clear road map spelling out where we are heading to.

There should be clear guidelines on the role of students in the transformation process. Students should also be viewed as role players in transformation along with the University management, and not just opposing forces. There is no right time, other than this one, to move away from the politics of opposition to politics of transformation.

However, we need the support of management to do so. The University should value the role and contribution of student leaders, hear our legitimate claims and consider them as part of political and policy decision making.
     
Vice-chancellor and Rector, it remains our task to ensure that the UFS is transformed into an institution that is seen to be playing a vigilant role in developing students academically, intellectually, socially, culturally, politically and otherwise. The process of transformation is not ending tonight, it is just beginning tonight.

Judge Hancke, Prof Fourie, Dr Moraka, fellow students and fellow South Africans, I lead students at this university with a sense of pride and duty, and I know very well that I lead men and women, students who are all determined that we reach our destination safely and on time.

A navy divided within its ranks will be destroyed and vanquished by the enemy, but the navy united in purpose and action, loyalty and commitment will not sink but sail on to victory.

It is befitting to mention that every drop of my blood is telling me that the UFS is my home. I firstly became a student here, I became the SRC treasurer in my first year here, I became the deputy president here, and I became the first president of the Central SRC of the UFS.

Therefore you should never doubt my commitment towards the transformation of this university. To paraphrase what was said by students at another institution, “If there is no UFS in heaven, then I am not going.”

Let me conclude by thanking my ancestors for teaching me that even if I wined and dined with kings and queens, I am not a king myself, so I should not turn my back on people who made me what I am today.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the Almighty God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving me time and power to lead this university.

It will be theoretically irresponsible if I ended my speech without indicating that “Only a Kovsie knows the feeling”.

I thank you.

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