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22 April 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Bethany Case
Bethany Case received the prestigious Senate Medal during the April Graduation ceremonies. She completed the Bachelor of Arts Honours and plans to continue creating free resources for beginner and intermediate Hebrew students to improve their comprehension and reading fluency.

An international student and linguist from Michigan in the United States, Bethany Case, received the highest mark in an honours class throughout the university and was awarded the Senate Medal for this achievement during the University of the Free State’s (UFS) April graduation ceremonies.  

Case, who is now living in Mexico with her husband and daughter, completed the Bachelor of Arts Honours with specialisation in Hebrew in the Department of Hebrew in the Faculty of the Humanities. “I am honoured by this recognition; I did not expect any award,” she says.

Internalise the language for lifelong study and enjoyment

With an interest in supporting the work of Bible translation that is still ongoing around the world, Case decided to pursue studies in this specific field. She wanted to specifically support the translation of the Hebrew Bible, since there are fewer available translations of this than for the Greek New Testament. 

Her study in Biblical Hebrew focuses on the grammar of the Hebrew language as found in the text of the Hebrew Bible. “This includes historical reconstructions of its ancient forms, existing manuscripts, critical apparatus for studying the variants, and the poetic devices used in Hebrew poetry,” says Case, who also enjoys reading portions of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls.

With Hebrew being a difficult language to study and master, Case seeks that more students would learn to love Biblical Hebrew through a joyful learning experience rather than feeling intimidated and discouraged by its complexities. 

“My desire is that anyone who wants to learn to read the Bible in its original language will have a chance to do so, even if they don't have money for classes or textbooks. I want those who struggle to learn languages from a grammar-translation textbook model to have a chance to learn Hebrew through a more dynamic audio-visual pedagogy, and for Hebrew students to be able to internalise the language for lifelong study and enjoyment and not forget their Hebrew shortly after graduation,” she says.

Learning through the Aleph with Beth YouTube channel

In order to teach others Biblical Hebrew, Case has created the Aleph with Beth YouTube channel. This lively and informative resource has more than 69 000 subscribers and is grammatically accurate to the biblical text. According to Prof Cynthia Miller-Naudé, Senior Professor and Head of the Department of Hebrew, her work with the 170 videos on YouTube has been praised in academic journals such as Hebrew Higher Education as a free, online resource that provides excellent and high quality videos for learning Hebrew.   
My goal is that more students would learn to love Biblical Hebrew through a joyful learning experience rather than feeling intimidated and discouraged by its complexities. – Bethany Case

According to Prof Miller-Naudé, two of the guiding principles of the Department of Hebrew are to make Hebrew accessible to everyone, regardless of their language background, and to gain insight into the world of the Old Testament through knowledge of Hebrew. “Case has not only excelled in mastering Hebrew, but she also embodies the ethos of the department in her commitment to making Hebrew accessible to everyone. The department is proud of her extraordinary achievement in teaching Hebrew, and her embodiment of our principles that Hebrew can be enjoyable for everyone to learn. We look forward to her bright future as a teacher and scholar of Biblical Hebrew.”
 
Catching the important details that really counts

Concurring with Prof Miller-Naudé is Dr Kevin Chau, Case’s biggest motivator and her BA Honours instructor, who taught all her modules and supervised her mini-dissertation. He also believes that Case has a bright future ahead as a Hebrew scholar. 

“Case also catches the important details. While academia is concerned with details, it is catching the important details that really counts. Over and over in class, she demonstrated this valuable ability that separates exceptional scholarship from the pedestrian,” he adds. 

Case says that, together with her husband, she plans to continue working on the Aleph with Beth video lesson series and provide a free, effective, and enjoyable way for students all around the world to learn the basics of Biblical Hebrew grammar so that they can learn to read the Hebrew Bible in its original language.

News Archive

Researcher part of project aimed at producing third-generation biofuels from microalgae in Germany
2016-05-09

Description: Novagreen bioreactor  Tags: Novagreen bioreactor

Some of the researchers and technicians among the tubes of the Novagreen bioreactor (Prof Grobbelaar on left)

A researcher from the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Johan Grobbelaar, was invited to join a group of scientists recently at the Institute for Bio- and Geo-Sciences of the Research Centre Jülich, in Germany, where microalgae are used for lipid (oil) production, and then converted to kerosene for the aviation industry.

The project is probably the first of its kind to address bio-fuel production from microalgae on such a large scale.  

“The potential of algae as a fuel source is undisputed, because it was these photoautotrophic micro-organisms that were fixing sunlight energy into lipids for millions of years, generating the petroleum reserves that modern human civilisation uses today.  However, these reserves are finite, so the challenge is marrying biology with technology to produce economically-competitive fuels without harming the environment and compromising our food security.  The fundamental ability that microalgae have to produce energy-rich biomass from CO2, nutrients, and sunlight through photosynthesis for biofuels, is commonly referred to as the Third-Generation Biofuels (3G),” said Prof Grobbelaar.

The key compounds used for bio-diesel and kerosene production are the lipids and, more particularly, the triacylglyserols commonly referred to as TAGs.  These lipids, once extracted, need to be trans-esterified for biodiesel, while a further “cracking” step is required to produce kerosene.  Microalgae can store energy as lipids and/or carbohydrates. However, for biofuels, microalgae with high TAG contents are required.  A number of such algae have been isolated, and lipid contents of up to 60% have been achieved.

According to Prof Grobbelaar, the challenge is large-scale, high-volume production, since it is easy to manipulate growth conditions in the laboratory for experimental purposes.  

The AUFWIND project (AUFWIND, a German term for up-current, or new impetus) in Germany consists of three different commercially-available photobioreactor types, which are being compared for lipid production.

Description: Lipid rich chlorella Tags: Lipid rich chlorella

Manipulated Chlorella with high lipid contents (yellow) in the Novagreen bioreactor

The photobioreactors each occupies 500 m2 of land surface area, are situated next to one another, and can be monitored continuously.  The three systems are from Novagreen, IGV, and Phytolutions.  The Novagreen photobioreactor is housed in a glass house, and consist of interconnected vertical plastic tubes roughly 150 mm in diameter. The Phytolutions system is outdoors, and consists of curtains of vertical plastic tubes with a diameter of about 90 mm.  The most ambitious photobioreactor is from IGV, and consists of horizontally-layered nets housed in a plastic growth hall, where the algae are sprayed over the nets, and allowed to grow while dripping from one net to the next.

Prof Grobbelaar’s main task was to manipulate growth conditions in such a way that the microalgae converted their stored energy into lipids, and to establish protocols to run the various photobioreactors. This was accomplished in just over two months of intensive experimentation, and included modifications to the designs of the photobioreactors, the microalgal strain selection, and the replacement of the nutrient broth with a so-called balanced one.

Prof Grobbelaar has no illusions regarding the economic feasibility of the project.  However, with continued research, optimisation, and utilisation of waste resources, it is highly likely that the first long-haul flights using microalgal-derived kerosene will be possible in the not-too-distant future.

Prof Grobbelaar from the Department of Plant Sciences, although partly retired, still serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He is also involved with the examining of PhDs, many of them from abroad.  In addition, he assisted the Technology Innovation Agency of South Africa in the formulation of an algae-biotechnology and training centre.  “The chances are good that such a centre will be established in Upington, in the Northern Cape,” Prof Grobbelaar said.

 

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