SOUTH AFRICA - IDENTIFYING CANDIDATES FOR SCIENCE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 000147

SIPDIS

STATE FOR OES/PCI/SHAW, OES/STC/ROTTIER
STATE FOR ECA/PE/V/F/E/EILEEN CONNOLLY
STATE ALSO FOR AF/S, AF/EPS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12948: N/A
TAGS: SENV ECON PREL TSPL SF
SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA - IDENTIFYING CANDIDATES FOR SCIENCE
ADVISORY CAPACITY PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA

REF: 04 STATE 272708

Sensitive but unclassified.


1. (U) Post welcomes the proposed Science & Technology
Advisory Capacity Building Partnership and is pleased to
provide feedback regarding appropriate representation from
South Africa. We also support the proposed use of the
Voluntary Visitor program for a follow-on week of meetings
and activities in Washington, DC. We look forward to
working with OES to implement this program.

GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATION


2. (SBU) Contacts at the Department of Science and
Technology recently advised EST Officer that the department
will undergo a restructuring over the next several months,
to more clearly define its primary missions in frontier
science and other areas of science activity and cooperation.
Rather than single out a specific official from the
department to participate in the capacity building activity,
we strongly urge OES to send a letter of invitation to the
Director-General of Science and Technology, Dr. Rob Adam,
asking him to identify an appropriate representative from
his Department to represent the South African government.
The Department has a number of potentially strong candidates
for participation, and working with Dr. Adam's office to
identify a candidate will lead to stronger buy-in from the
top levels of the Department.

UNIVERSITY REPRESENTATION


3. (U) The National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) is
appointed by the Minister of Science and Technology to
advise him (and through him, South Africa's Cabinet) on the
role and contribution of innovation (including science and
technology) in promoting and achieving national objectives,
such as 1) improving and sustaining the quality of life of
all South Africans; 2) developing human resources for
science and technology; 3) building the economy; and 4)
strengthening the South Africa's international
competitiveness.


4. (U) NACI's 22 members hail from government, industry,
academia, parastatal science councils, and public utilities.
Five members, including NACI's chairperson, represent
prominent national universities. We recommend inviting the
NACI Chairperson, Professor Calie Pistorius. We suggest
including language in the invitation asking that, in the
event that Prof. Pistorius is unable to participate, he
designate one of NACI's other university representatives as
a substitute. In light of NACI's role and the commitment of
its members to public service, any of the five would be
excellent candidates for the program. Below is background
information on all five NACI members.


5. (U) Prof. Calie Pistorius, Vice Chancellor and Principal,
University of Pretoria, is an accomplished engineer,
researcher and teacher. He was appointed as Chair of NACI
in May 2004 and held meetings with the Office of Science and
Technology Policy, State Department (with DAS for Science
and Health Lee Morin) and the National Academies of Science
in July 2004 during a visit to the United States. He holds
a PhD and Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from
Ohio State University and a Masters in Science in the
Management of Technology from MIT's Sloan School of
Management. He also has a Bachelors of Science and a
Bachelors of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from the
University of Pretoria.


6. (U) Prof. Cheryl de la Rey, Deputy Vice Chancellor for
Research and Innovation, University of Cape Town (UCT),is
the past editor of the South African Journal of Psychology
and remains on its editorial board. Her recent research
focuses on leadership and higher education. She also serves
on the Board of Control for the NIH-funded Center for the
AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA). Prof.
De la Rey has a PhD from the University of Cape Town and a
Bachelors of Arts and Masters Degree from University of
Natal.


7. (U) Prof. Jennifer Thomson is Professor of Microbiology
in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UCT. Her
current research interest is the development of maize
resistant to the African endemic maize streak virus and
tolerant to drought. She is a vocal advocate of plant
biotechnology and helped to draft the SAG's national
biotechnology strategy, which was published in 2001. She is
the interim Chair of the USAID and Rockefeller Foundation-
supported African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)
and a member of the board of the International Service for
the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA). Prof.
Thomson has a Bachelors of Science in Zoology from the
University of Cape Town, a Masters in Genetics from
Cambridge University and a PhD in Microbiology from Rhodes
University in South Africa. She was a post-doctoral fellow
at Harvard Medical School and a visiting scientist at MIT.

8. (U) Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala, Associate Professor, School
of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of the
Witwatersrand, in November 2004 received a Laureate Award
from the University of Pretoria, the highest recognition
that an outstanding achiever and alumnus can receive from
fellow alumni of the University. In May 2004 the National
Science and Technology Forum recognized him as the leading
up-and-coming black male scientist in the country. Prof.
Marwala's research interests include the application of
neural networks, evolutionary computing and fuzzy logic to
information security, financial modelling, condition
monitoring, target recognition, conflict resolution and
HIV/AIDS. Prof. Marwala holds a post-doctorate degree in
Information Technology from University of London/Imperial
College, a PhD in Computational Intelligence in Engineering
Systems from Cambridge University, a Masters in Mechanical
Engineering from University of Pretoria and a Bachelor of
Science in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western
University in the U.S.


9. (U) Ms. Luci Abrahams, Director of the Learning
Information Networking Knowledge (LINK) Centre of the School
of Public and Development Management at the University of
the Witwatersrand, also chairs the South Africa Reference
Group on Women in Science and Technology. She is convener
of the NACI working group's study on the "Mobility of R&D
Workers." Her research interests include information and
communications technology applications and related policy.
Ms. Abrahams has a post-graduate diploma in Public and
Development Management from the University of the
Witwatersrand.

HARTLEY