Eswatini-born scientist dreams of producing energy materials that would last in solar panels for 20 years or longer.
A recent PhD in science Witsie has been admitted as a post-doctoral scholar and employee at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Light Source (SSRL) at Stanford University in the US.
Sikhumbuzo Masina has been accepted at the SSRL, a facility that produces intense x-rays as a source for researchers to study the world at the atomic and molecular level. Masina will be broadening his knowledge to learn and examine the fundamentals of molecular structures and surfaces in a more detailed and complex manner.
Masina submitted his thesis titled “The Electrolytes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells” at the beginning of 2023. His passion for science led him to take up the opportunity at the SSLR to broaden his knowledge on solar cells and to understand the fundamentals of synchrotron radiation which is the circular acceleration that occurs during electromagnetic radiation.
This love for science started when he enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in physics and chemistry from 2009 to 2013 at the University of Eswatini. The year 2014 leading to 2016 saw Masina tutoring high school learners in mathematics, physics and chemistry. This is how he manged to save money to come to South Africa and further his studies.
He then enrolled at Wits in 2017 for an honours and followed that with a master’s, which got converted to a PhD because of the quality of his research. He told Wits Vuvuzela that “No one went past high school at home so I’m grateful to Wits for the skill that I can now use internationally.” He also extended his gratitude to his two supervisors, Dave Billing and Caren Billing, “as they didn’t just produce students, they produced people with skills who will go out there and commit themselves professionally”.
Sikhumbuzo Masina works on formulae on his whiteboard. Photo: Lesedi Maako
Masina’s goal is to now learn the necessary skills he needs at Stanford with the hopes to one day build an African source of electromagnetic radiation as Africa is the only planet without one. Caren Billing described him as “such a pleasure to supervise, as he is so driven to work, learn and also train the other students after him.
“When the PhD in science students went to the Synchrotron Beamline at Brookhaven National Laboratories in New York, his abilities, enthusiasm and work ethic impressed his employer and the beam line scientist there,” Caren Billing said.
Darren Fynn, a science student that Masina supervised, said he was sad to see him go as he had provided him with invaluable mentorship. “He was extremely patient even when explaining the most complex of topics in science and chemistry and would give his undivided attention when helping others.” Masina said that his journey at Stanford would include doing more research on energy materials for potential use in solar cells as the aim is to improve the highly efficient light absorbers in order for them to last in solar panels for 20 years and longer.
FEATURED IMAGE: Sikhumbuzo Masina in his office at Wits University Gate House. Photo: Lesedi Maako
Wits TikTok star shares his beliefs on the power of content creation; and the responsibility that comes with it.
BCom Economics Honours student at Wits University, Lebogang Rampedi has garnered success on the social media platform TikTok, with his lifestyle content, since posting his first video in November 2022.
The 24-year-old rising star has only been creating content on social media for a year and four months, but has 83 600 followers on TikTok, with four million likes; and 52 600 subscribers on YouTube.
Rampedi told Wits Vuvuzela that he chose to focus on lifestyle content — that tackles real life issues — because he is a human being that faces some of those challenges himself.
He started producing his content on YouTube, but as TikTok became more popular, Rampedi shifted some of his content there.
News24reported in October 2022 that an estimation of around six million South Africans use TikTok daily and that the diversity and content creation was grabbing global attention.
Seeing this, he explained that on the business side of things, TikTok was the next move and he worked to transform his content to be applicable to the platform.
Lebo Rampedi shooting a video for his YouTube channel featuring Kudzai Mhlanga and Pabalo Maota. Photo: Aphelele Mbokotho
Rampedi understands that his peers spend a lot of their time on social media, and he wants his content to be relatable and have an impact on people’s lives.
“I wanted people to understand that not everyone is okay, we have this perspective that people online are living it big, but I wanted to be one of the first people with a large social presence expressing how sometimes I don’t know how tomorrow is going to go, but still within the effects of making people smile,” said Rampedi on some of his content, which shows some of the harsh realities people are faced with in South Africa.
“TikTok is a relatability app…The impact I was trying to make on TikTok is to have someone watch my video and be like ‘oh why do we all do this?’ And also, everything is bad news these days, so it felt good to make people happy,” he added.
Rampedi started creating content in high school, where he was heavily involved in the writing of plays, directing, and acting. However, putting the content on social media was difficult for him because of the scrutiny that comes with it.
His brother and fellow content creator, Thato Rampedi told to Wits Vuvuzela: “He is someone that is very creative, he is in touch with what makes audiences and viewers react, outside of his comedy, he is aware of what makes someone click on something, respond and engage; and I think he’s talented and unique in that.”
Content creator and friend Gontse Mohlatloe, mostly known as Justdaddyg said that Rampedi is a consistent TikToker, and that he loved his videos because they were relatable – and that outside of him being a content creator, Rampedi is an amazing person overall.
Although his numbers are growing, and people can claim that he is successful, Rampedi feels he still has a long way to go.
“ TikTok is a great platform because anyone can be huge based on their views, but in terms of following and the community that you can build is what I define success…if you can build a community so great that they also push the same narrative into their own lives of making other people laugh , that is what I see as success,” he explained.
In the future, he plans to go into the creation of dramas and short stories.
FEATURED IMAGE: Lifestyle content creator Lebo Rampedi posing for a picture. Photo: Aphelele Mbokotho
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