Remember the name Katlego Moloto, because you will be hearing a lot more of this young North-West University (NWU) scientist in the years to come.
Katlego, who is a member of the NWU’s Centre for Space Research and a lecturer in the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, was recently awarded the Outstanding Paper Award for Young Scientists for his research manuscript that was published in the journal, Advances in Space Research (ASR). His manuscript was titled: “Numerical integration of stochastic differential equations: a parallel cosmic ray modulation implementation on Africa’s fastest computer.”
The announcement of the award will take place during the COSPAR 2020 Scientific Assembly that will take place in January 2021, in Australia. This assembly will mark the 43rd edition of the conference.
According to Katlego, he would like to acknowledge the contributions made by his fellow co-authors, namely: Prof Eugene Engelbrecht (his PhD supervisor), Prof Du Toit Strauss (his academic mentor under the new Generation of Academic Programme – nGap), Jabus van den Berg (a fellow PhD student) and Dr Daniel Moeketsi (a researcher at the Centre for High Performance Computing – CHPC).
Katlego’s main research interest is in cosmic rays. He explains: “A cosmic ray is the general term for extremely small particles with high energy (radiation), that travel around outer space.
“Cosmic rays as valuable messengers from the far reaches of the universe and by studying these particles we can unlock many of the universe’s secrets. Through our research we try to understand cosmic rays and their accompanying radiation danger as much as possible to minimise the risk for anyone who is exposed to outer-space.”
Katlego is currently busy with his PhD studies.
Katlego Moloto
