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09 November 2023 | Story André Damons | Photo SUPPLIED
Prof Atangana
Prof Abdon Atangana, a professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of the Free State (UFS), is the highest-ranked UFS scientist included in Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% Scientists list.

A professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of the Free State (UFS) is again the highest-ranked scientist from the institution included in Stanford University’s annual ranking of the top 2% of scientists in the world. 

Prof Abdon Atangana from the UFS’s Institute for Groundwater is ranked number one in applied mathematics, mathematical physics, mathematics, and statistics in the world, and number 260 in all of science, technology, and engineering in the Stanford University World’s Top 2% Scientists list. He is also ranked highest (5 620) of all the UFS scientists included in the career-long data set. 

‘Africans in Africa can impact the world’

“The ranking provides us with the impact of our outputs, and it shows that Africans can contribute to the development of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics while still in Africa,” Prof Atangana said. “This also shows that Africans in Africa can have impact on the world. My motivation is to tell the next generation that Africans do not always need to graduate from the top universities of the global North to make a global impact.  

“We must work hard to make our African universities reach the same level of those from the global North, such that a student from the global North will wish to enroll in our universities. The development of our continent does not rest on sport, music, and so forth alone, but on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Having the best scientists, mathematicians, and engineers in the world in Africa should be the strive of all Africans.” 

Three of the UFS’s SARChI Research Chairs have also been included in this list: Prof Hendrik Swart, Chair: Solid-state Luminescent and Advanced Materials (Applied Physics, ranked 40 269 in the single-year dataset); Prof Melanie Walker, Chair: Higher Education and Human Development (ranked 68 337); and Prof Maryke Labuschagne, Chair: Disease Resistance and Quality in Field Crops (Plant Sciences, 165 780).  

Other UFS scientists included in the single-year data set are: Prof John M. Carranza (Geology, 4 837); Prof Muhammad Altaf Khan ( Applied Mathematics, 6 366); Prof Maxim Finkelstein (Statistics/ Mathematical Statistics, 63 394); Prof Marianne Reid (School of Nursing, 72 861); Prof John Owen (Centre for Development Support, 103 368); Prof Brownhilder Neneh (Department of Business Management, 73 635); Prof Jorma Hölsä (Research Fellow: Department of Physics, 88 833); Prof Johann Beukes (Philosophy & Classics, 6 547 764); Rian Venter, (829 709); Dr Yuri Marusik (Zoology and Entomology, 553 619); Prof Robert Schall (Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, 276 681); Prof Deborah Posel (Department of Sociology, 275 535); Dr Vijay Kumar (Physics, 274 541); Dr Abhay Prakash Mishra (Pharmacology, 229 625); Prof RE Kroon (Physics, 226 554); Dr Krishnan Anand (Chemical Pathology, 235 300); Prof Andrew Marston (Chemistry, 147 147); Dr Seda Igret Araz (Applied Mathematics,125 824); Prof Jeanet Conradie (Chemistry, 106 521); Prof Louis Scott (Plant Sciences, 73 874); Prof Johan Grobbelaar (Plant Sciences, 97 722); Prof David Motaung (Physics, 53 553); Dr Samuel Nambile Cumber (Health Systems Research and Development, 555 563). 

Career-long data set 

The Stanford University rankings also include a list of the top 2% of world-class researchers based on citations over their full careers. Scientists are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields. Field- and subfield-specific percentiles are also provided for all scientists with at least five published papers. Career-long data is updated to the end of 2021, and single recent-year data pertain to citations received during calendar year 2021. The selection is based on the top 100 000 scientists by C-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above in the sub-field.

The career-long data set includes the names of:

Prof Carranza (17 466); Prof Scott (55 882); Prof Reid (57 173); Prof Hölsä (64 402); Prof Grobbelaar (71 094); Prof Walker (78 239); Prof Andrew Marston (Chemistry, 84 484); Prof Schall (90 268); HA Snyman (Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences, 96 374); Prof Swart (103 895); Robert WM Frater Cardiovascular Research Centre (111 896); Prof Frederick Kruger (Centre for Environmental Management,117 971); Prof Finkelstein (124 118); Prof Johan Visser (Geology, 125 331); Prof James C du Preez (Biotechnology, 168 841); Prof Posel (172 295); Prof Conradie (178 157); Prof Michael D MacNeil (Dairy and Animal Science, 184 193); Prof Khan (201 101); Prof Owen (262 897). 

“The representation of our researchers from a variety of disciplinary domains in this prestigious ranking, is confirmation of their excellence, impact, and the global esteem they hold. UFS is proud to be a home to scholars in our midst who take us incrementally forward as an institution because of their cutting-edge research,” said Prof Vasu Reddy, UFS Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation. 

  • Prof Atangana has also been shortlisted as one of the finalists for the prestigious Alkebulan Immigrants Impact Awards (AIIA) 2023, in the South African Flag Carrier category. Voting started on 1 November, and the award ceremony is set to take place on 23 November in Johannesburg. 
Prof Melanie Walker, Chair: Higher Education and Human Development, is ranked 68 337 in the single-year data set.
Prof Melanie Walker, Chair: Higher Education and Human Development, is ranked 68 337 in the single-year data set.
Prof Brownhilder Neneh, from the Department of Business Management and Vice-Dean for Research Engagement and Internationalisation, is ranked 73 635.
Prof Brownhilder Neneh, from the Department of Business Management and Vice-Dean for Research Engagement and Internationalisation, is ranked 73 635.
Prof Marianne Reid from the School of Nursing is ranked 72 861.
Prof Marianne Reid from the School of Nursing is ranked 72 861.

News Archive

SA cannot sustain momentum - Boesak
2010-09-02

Photo: Stephen Collett

South Africa finds it increasingly difficult to live up to the challenges facing it as a nation because of its failure to meet its democratic ideals and possibilities, peace and lack of self-belief.

This was according to renowned cleric and former political activist, Dr Allan Boesak, who recently delivered the CR Swart Memorial Lecture, the oldest memorial lecture at the University of the Free State (UFS). His lecture was on the topic Creating moments, sustaining momentum.

He said South Africa had plenty of opportunities to show the whole world what was possible if all the people of this country joined hands and worked together to build a truly united society. However, he said, the country somehow invariably contrived to find its way out of these wonderful possibilities.

He cited events of historical significance like Codesa, the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first democratic president of South Africa, the assassination of South African Communist Party leader, Chris Hani; and the rugby and soccer world cups.
To drive his point home about this dismal failure of the country to “sustain momentum”, he alluded to the current public servants’ strike that is gradually crippling public service.

“The public servants’ strike was neither unexpected nor is it completely unjustifiable. Most of us have understanding for the frustration of teachers and health workers. Their demands resonate with most of us, and I think that it is scandalous of SACP fat cats to tell workers to “stop crying like babies,” he said.

He also added to the criticism of the much-maligned decision of the government to spend billions of taxpayers’ money to purchase weapons when there was “no discernible military threat” to the country. He said the greatest threat to the security of the country was poverty, inequality and social cohesion.

“As for the argument that arms sales bring in foreign exchange – how can we be instrumental in killing the poor elsewhere with the intention of feeding our poor, and then our ill-gained profits feed only the already well-fed?” he asked.
“Can we see the hopeless contradiction, the total impossibility of being both the apostle of peace and a merchant of death?”

He also lambasted the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy of the government which he said benefited only those connected to the political aristocracy.

“It couples with the unashamed, in-your-face display of wealth by the privileged elite in this country, the crass materialism of the so-called “bling generation”, and the casual carelessness with which promises to the poor are given and treated. It is only the public symptom of the deep-seated scorn our political elites feel for the poor,” he said.

He said the government’s disdain to the poor was “setting fire to our future”.

“The anger of people on the ground can no longer be denied or ignored, and little by little, the leadership articulating and directing this anger is being estranged from politically elected leadership, and even more disturbing, from our democratic processes,” he said.

He concluded that the country’s difficulty in dealing with race and racism was putting the reconciliation process kick-started by Mandela just over a decade ago, under a threat.
 

 

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