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Dr Fulufhelo Nelwamondo
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He was only 26 when appointed as acting manager of CSIR Modelling and Digital Sciences' information security competency area last year - and this at an age when many researchers are still cutting their proverbial (scientific) teeth. Now he leads the biometric research group as a senior research scientist.
Academic achiever
Dr Fulufhelo Nelwamondo's résumé reads like a good Hollywood movie script. This Venda-born scientist holds a BSc and a PhD in Electrical Engineering in the area of Computational Intelligence from Wits University.
He started entering science expos in standard six (now grade eight) and his first entry was on investigating earthquakes and the design of early warning systems. "I have always been passionate about exploring early warning detection and to develop systems that can warn people in time," he says.
'Early' seems to typify him, as he is already a visiting professor of electrical engineering at the University of Johannesburg. Nelwamondo has successfully co-supervised four Master's degrees in electrical engineering and is currently supervising a number of PhDs at the University of Johannesburg.
He has research and practical experience in software engineering and in computational intelligence in various applications and has interests in exciting and emerging areas of software application, including biometrics-based systems, data mining, modelling of complex systems using machine learning tools and mechanism design.
Nelwamondo was a post-doctoral fellow of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University and the youngest South African ever to receive the Harvard-South Africa fellowship. True to his enterprising nature, he lays claim to many national and international research accolades, from organisations such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers, among others. In 2009, he was a finalist for the National Science and Technology Forum award in the category of Distinguished Young Black Researcher.
Somewhat of a globe-trotter, he has presented his work in various countries such as South Africa, the Czech Republic, Canada, Hungary, England, Taiwan, China and the United States of America, to name a few.
"I don't think in this life one ever reaches a point where you can safely say you have achieved everything. There is always more fruit hanging above one's head," he says modestly. "The only thing I want to achieve in this life is to have a huge impact on society and leave a legacy that will remain long after I have left this world."
Giving back
"I grew up in the very rural area of Lwamondo in the depths of Venda - near Thohoyandou," he says, "I got courage from my mother who was a primary school teacher, we would walk the long distance together to and from school and she always helped me with my school work."
He adds that things changed when he entered high school. "I had to grow up fast and be independent." He says that his father, a migrant worker in Johannesburg at the time, wanted him to be medical doctor. "[Medical] Doctors in my village hold a particular class in the society and are perceived to be more learned," he says, adding, "but when I was in high school, I was falling in love with science, especially with electrical and aeronautical engineering."
Unlike many of his age, Nelwamondo is not concerned over the 'bling' that today defines young men or good social standing in the community; he is more concerned about empowering others, even if it means using his own money to achieve that. "I don't believe in living life for myself, I believe in living life to make sure I contribute to making someone else's life better," he says.
In Soweto, he is part of a group that presents mathematical courses to learners on Saturdays and offers career guidance. "At the moment we are seeing results and I think we are doing a fantastic job considering that when we first launched this initiative some schools were only achieving around 20% pass rate," he says. "But those schools have improved dramatically to achieve pass rates of above 80%."
Interventions such as these, he continues, have huge benefits, but the challenge is that learners do not always attend the classes, although they are free of charge. "Young people seem to prefer to do odd jobs over weekends for extra money instead of attending these classes."
Currently, he sponsors financial awards to learners who excel in mathematics and science in his village.
At the CSIR
Nelwamondo manages the information security competency area. Information Security focuses on the processes, methodologies and techniques used to protect information from unauthorised access. This group investigates the three principles of information security, which are confidentiality – only authorised parties have access to the information; integrity – no unauthorised modifications to information is permitted; and availability – reliable and timely access to data.
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