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On Monday, September 28, 2020, I was honored to serve as a member of the panel for the Inaugural Lecture of Professor Sehliselo Ndlovu of the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, South Africa.
Prof. Ndlovu arrived in Wits in 2004 after receiving her PhD (Minerals Engineering, Biohydrometallurgy) in 2003 from Imperial College, University of London. Starting as a lecturer, she rose through the ranks to Senior Lecturer (2009), Associate Professor (2012), and Full Professor (2019).
Prof. Ndlovu's academic achievements started early. In high school she obtained ten O Level distinctions, and at the A Levels she was the top student nationally in Zimbabwe. She then graduated with distinction in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Zimbabwe.
At Wits she has revived hydrometallurgy education and research through formation of the Metals Extraction and Recovery Group (MERG), arguably now the top university-based hydrometallurgy research group in South Africa and one of the leading hydrometallurgy research centers in the world. Students from her group have won several major national and international awards, including second place in the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering competition in 2018.
She is the lead author of a timely technical book (Ndlovu, Simate, and Matinde, Waste production and Utilization in the Metal Extraction Industry, CRC Press (2017). A second book is currently in preparation (Simate, Matinde, and Ndlovu, Acid Mine Drainage Treatment Technologies, CRC Press.)
Prof. Ndlovu currently holds the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) SARChI research chair in Hydrometallurgy and Sustainable Development. In 2017/2018 she served as President of Southern African Institution of Mining and Metallugy (SAIMM), the second woman to occupy that position.
Below are the remarks I shared during her recent Inaugural Lecture celebration.
Let me begin by congratulating Full Professor Selo Ndlovu. Our elders say not all footprints are detectable on a stone. You have left your footprints on the field of hydrometallurgy and extractive metallurgy. Through your work we now know that hydrometallurgy may be arguably considered as a branch of Environmental Engineering.
But we know that your accomplishments have not come without challenges. Anyone living in South Africa, and in fact in the world today, knows this. Black Lives Matter! Like the elephant that is not overburdened by carrying its own tusks, you have faced all the associated challenges gracefully and with determination.
Prof. Ndlovu: You have not been a lone ranger! Anyone who has seen your CV will notice that your work has been done in collaboration with students, post-doctoral researchers, and fellow lecturers and professors.
In closing, I thank the following for their contributions to the success of this function and the career of Prof. Sehliselo Ndlovu:
1. The Panelists - Chair, Prof. Rodrigues (Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research); Dean, Prof. Jandrell; Head of School, Prof. van der Merwe
2. Webinar administrators, - Ms. Lakha-Singh and Ms. Gallant
3. Laboratory Managers and Lab Technicians
4. Research Collaborators - Students, Post-doctoral Researchers, Lecturers, and Professors
5. Family of birth - Parents, Siblings
6. Husband and Son
7. All present in the Audience.
