Bloemfontein - Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) proudly conferred two doctorates in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, as well as close to 300 graduates in the engineering field this week, thereby contributing and helping to work towards Government’s aim of developing 30 000 engineers by 2014. “South Africa has for many years placed the field of engineering on the critical skills shortages list. We are very proud of our engineering students, who graduated this week and will be entering the workforce and contributing to the economy of South Africa,” said Dan Maritz, Director of Communications and Marketing at CUT. 

“Both Drs Charles Mutigwe and Didier Nyembwe are CUT doctoral candidates who opted to study at CUT so that they could conduct their research using our world class infrastructure, which is exclusive to the Centre of Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (CRPM) at CUT. We are also proud to have achieved this important milestone that sets the tone for the university to become such an important resource not only in the region, but to South Africa, Africa and beyond, concludes Maritz. Rated the best of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, the Centre allows academics and scientists to conduct applied research in a more conducive environment, supporting and advancing innovations. For more information about CUT and its graduation program, visit www.cut.ac.za. 

CUT is also on Facebook and Twitter (@cutfsonline) More information on the doctorates Dr Didier Nyembwe completed his Doctor Technologiae in Mechanical Engineering. The title of his thesis is “Tool manufacturing by metal casting in sand moulds produced by additive manufacturing processes”. His study investigated the use of rapid prototyping sand moulds for the production of tooling by metal casting. The proposed method referred to as Rapid Casting for Tooling (RCT) contributes to the ongoing worldwide search for improved and innovative tool and die manufacturing processes to meet the stringent customer demand for products. In addition, this study adequately responds to the national imperative of strengthening the tool and die manufacturing industry, which is expected to play an important role as a catalyst of job creation in South Africa. To date, the study has produced six peer-review papers presented at local and international conferences; subsequently published in scientific journals. Our second doctorate, Dr Charles Mutigwe completed his Doctor Technologiae in Electrical Engineering. His thesis is entitled “Automatic Synthesis of Application-specific Processors”. His doctoral study focused on developing a method for the automatic generation of application-specific processors. The output of this doctorial study has been presented, discussed and published in various national and international conference papers and journals. 

More about CUT CUT is a leader in many technology fields ranging from learning programmes in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) a broad field in which CUT has about 45% of its enrolments, much higher than many other South African universities. Further, CUT’s research and innovation leadership in many areas, more especially in rapid prototyping and manufacturing is world class. The latter has been honoured by both the Medical Research Council (MRC) as part of its National Medical Device Platform and the National Research Foundation (NRF), with the latter having granted CUT a Chair in this area. Through its social and technological innovations CUT aims to contribute towards the social-economic development in the region as well as in the rest of South Africa and internationally. Vision 2020 – by 2020, CUT, Free Sate shall be an engaged university that focuses on producing quality social and technological innovations in socio-economic developments, primarily in the central region of South Africa.