Fulufhelo Vincent Nelwamondo (OMS) is an electrical engineer by training, and holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Computational Intelligence) from the University of the Witwatersrand, in South Africa. He is the youngest recipient of the Harvard-South Africa Fellowship Programme amongst other honours. His research and practical experience has covered a wide spectrum of areas, including software engineering and computational intelligence. His interests include biometrics-based systems, data mining and machine learning tools.[1]
Fulufhelo Vincent Nelwamondo | |
|---|---|
 Fulufhelo Nelwamondo | |
| Born | 1982 (age 41–42) |
| Nationality | South African |
| Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand Harvard University |
| Known for | Artificial intelligence Missing data Information security |
| Awards | Order of Mapungubwe in Silver |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrical Engineering |
| Institutions | University of Johannesburg Council for Scientific and Industrial Research |
| Thesis | Computation intelligence techniques for missing data imputation (2008) |
| Doctoral advisor | Tshilidzi Marwala |
| Website | whoswho |
Early life and career
editNelwamondo was born in 1982 in Lukau village, within the greater Lwamondo Village in Venda, Limpopo province, South Africa. He attended Belemu Primary School and matriculated at Mbilwi Secondary School. He was awarded a bursary by Eskom to study electrical engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,[2] obtaining his BEng(Electrical) in 2005. He was accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa in 2006 and obtained his PhD in 2008 under supervision of Tshilidzi Marwala.[3]
Nelwamondo is the chief executive officer of the National Research Foundation of South Africa.[4] Nelwamondo joined the Modelling and Digital Science unit (MDS) of the CSIR in 2008, and became acting director in 2014 and executive director in 2016; prior to 2008 he had been a principal researcher and a competence area manager for Information Security.[5]
He was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University for 2008–2009 as part of the Harvard Centre for African Studies' South African Fellowship Programme,[6] becoming the youngest recipient of the Harvard-South Africa Fellowship Programme.
In November 2011 he was listed as a Senior Member of the IEEE.[7] He is a visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg[8] (UJ) and was listed as a Promising Young Researcher in UJ's list of NRF-rated researchers.[9] He is a founding board member of the South African Young Academy of Science.[10]
In 2011, the South African breakfast cereal manufacturer Pioneer Foods conducted an interview with Nelwamondo as part of a series of advertisements celebrating South African achievers and the breakfast cereal ProNutro.[11]
Awards
editIn addition to a number of CSIR awards, Newlamondo has been awarded the following, inter alia:
- In 2017, President Jacob Zuma awarded the Order of Mapungubwe in Silver to Nelwamondo for "his excellent contribution to the field of science, particularly electrical engineering. He serves as an enormous inspiration to young people in South Africa."[2][12][13]
- In 2016 the Operations Research Society of South Africa (ORSSA) awarded Nelwamondo a Category III Recognition Award, granted to a non-member of the ORSSA for outstanding contributions over a long period of time.[1]
- At the 2009/10 National Science and Technology Forum awards, he was awarded the National Research Foundation–sponsored TW Kambule award for a distinguished black male researcher over the last 2-5 years.[14]
- Nelwamondo featured in the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans in 2008[15], 2010[16] and 2012.[17]
Conferences and journals
editNelwamondo was an editor and a reviewer for a number of international journals and in programme committees of several international conferences. He has published over 100 research papers in peer-reviewed journals (such as the SAIEE[18]), conferences and book chapters.[1] Some of the conferences in which he has participated include:
- Fourth International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (2008)[7]
- International Conference on Cloud and Green Computing (2012)[7]
- First Deep Learning Indaba In South Africa, (2017)[19]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Category III Recognition Awards: Hall of Fame: Nelwamondo" (PDF). ORSSA.org.za. ORSSA: The Operations Research Society of South Africa. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ a b "Prof Fulufhelo Nelwamondo". The Presidency. The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ Mohlala, Thabo (15 November 2012). "A passion for research". mg.co.za. Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ "CEO of NRF". NRF Website. 26 March 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ "CSIR: Search results: Nelwamondo". CSIR. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Harvard University Centre for African Studies" (by The Wayback Machine). Harvard.edu. Harvard University. Archived from the original on 9 January 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ a b c "IEEE - Search results". IEEE. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Fulufhelo Nelwamondo". Academia. University of Johannesburg. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ "Full list of NRF-rated researchers" (PDF). uj.ac.za. University of Johannesburg. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Members: SAYAS". South African Young Academy of Science. SAYAS.org. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
- ^ ProNutroSA (9 May 2011), Celebrating ProNutro SA Achievers - Fulufhelo Nelwamondo, retrieved 14 February 2019
- ^ "Media release: CSIR RESEARCHER HONOURED WITH THE ORDER OF MAPUNGUBWE". CSIR. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "SA Gov News on Twitter @sagovnews". Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Winners of the 2009/2010 NSTF Awards" (PDF). www.nstf.org.za. The National Science and Technology Forum. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans (2008)". Mail & Guardian. M&G Media Ltd. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans (2010)". Mail & Guardian. M&G Media Ltd. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans (2012)". Mail & Guardian. M&G Media Ltd. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ Nelwamondo, F.V.; Marwala, T. (2007). "Fuzzy Artmap and Neural Network Approach to Online Processing of Inputs with Missing Values". South African Institute of Electrical Engineers. 98 (2). arXiv:0705.1031. Bibcode:2007arXiv0705.1031N. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Media release: CSIR, A ROLE-PLAYER IN FIRST DEEP LEARNING INDABA IN SOUTH AFRICA". CSIR. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
External links
edit- Fulufhelo Nelwamondo on Google Scholar.
- Fulufhelo Nelwamondo on ResearchGate.