Prof Daniel Mashao, current Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (FEBE) at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), has been elected as a fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering (SAAE), the highest professional distinction for an engineer. Prof Mashao was admitted due to his outstanding contributions to novel processing of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies and for leadership in engineering education.
The Academy comprises eminent engineers of all disciplines and related professionals with proven ability and stature. It is able to harness their wealth of knowledge and experience which, with the interdisciplinary character of the membership, provides a unique resource for independent, evidence-based advice.
Prof Mashao is the 6th current fellow of the SAAE from FEBE be elected to the prestigious academy following: Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, UJ’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal; Prof Saurabh Sinha, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research & Internationalisation; Prof Jan Pretorius, Head of School: Postgraduate School of Engineering Management; Prof Johan Meyer, Head of School: Electrical Engineering Technology and Prof Pat Naidoo, Research and Innovation Chair: Green Economy.
“I am truly honored and humbled by this recognition,” said Prof Mashao. “This is a tremendous acknowledgment of the research achievement, teaching excellence and public service accomplishments of UJ and our School of Engineering. This reminds us that there is a difference we can make and there is more to make. The problems we have as a country shows us that we need to make more things happen.”
“I couldn’t have accomplished so much without the remarkable efforts of my graduate students, postdoctoral scientists, research assistants, staff and academic colleagues. I have also been very fortunate to have outstanding support from the leadership of UJ’s Management Group, which has been critical to the growth of FEBE.”
Prof Mashao’s research interests include using 41R technologies to enable public delivery service.
During this time of Prof Mashao’s tenure, FEBE has seen its research units grow to 716 research output units. During this same time, undergraduate enrollment has been at a steady growth kept at 7,500 to 8,000.
Prof Mashao has also demonstrated a significant commitment to faculty, staff and student diversity, resulting in the Faculty being the highest producer of doctoral students within Engineering in the country and also doctoral graduates at UJ.
Under Prof Mashao’s leadership, FEBE has been extensively engaged in outreach to South African public services. The School of Civil Engineering at UJ is researching a project to 3-D print RDP houses. This will be launched later this year in 2020.
Prof Mashao earned his PhD from Brown University specialising in Artificial Intelligence, using Markov Models for Speech Recognition.
