Dean’s Award – Wits

Overview

The Dean’s Special Award is one of the highest honours awarded by the
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the
University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).

It is reserved for students who have gone beyond academic excellence to:

• Represent the University on national and international platforms
• Demonstrate exceptional technical capability
• Contribute meaningfully to the Faculty’s research reputation and global standing

In 2025, this award was conferred in recognition of outstanding contributions to
High Performance Computing (HPC) through participation in elite global student supercomputing competitions.

Awarding Authority

• Issued by: Prof. Thokozani Majozi
• Position: Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
• Institution: University of the Witwatersrand
• Date: August / October 2025

The award followed a rigorous faculty-level evaluation process recognising academic distinction, leadership, and long-term research potential

Citation and Purpose of the Award

The Dean’s Special Award is granted to a student or group of students who have gone the extra mile to represent the Faculty and the University on a global stage.

In this case, the award recognises:

• Exceptional performance in student supercomputing competitions
• Sustained excellence at both national and international levels
• Contributions made as part of the Wits High Performance Computing (HPC) Team
• Leadership and technical achievement under Professor Ling Cheng

Context: Wits High Performance Computing (HPC)

What is the Wits HPC Team?

The Wits High Performance Computing Team is a competitive, research-driven student team that:

• Designs, builds, and optimises HPC clusters
• Runs real-world scientific workloads under strict power and performance constraints
• Competes against the top universities globally

Participation requires deep skills in:

• Linux systems and cluster administration
• Parallel programming (MPI, OpenMP, CUDA)
• Performance tuning and benchmarking
• Scientific workloads and optimisation

International Representation (2024–2025)

🌍 ASC Student Supercomputer Challenge – China (ASC25)

• Event: ASC Student Supercomputer Challenge
• Location: Xinghai / Xining, China
• Scale: 350+ universities from six continents

In 2025, Wits became:

• 🥇 The first African university ever to qualify for the ASC global finals
• 🏆 Achieved a Top 25 finish worldwide

This milestone positioned Wits — and South Africa — among the world’s leading student HPC teams.

Wits HPC Team (ASC25):

• Prof. Ling Cheng (Advisor)
• Reinhard Jansen van Vuuren (Team Captain)
• Lily de Melo
• Jonathan Faller
• Talhah Patelia
• Sephora Kapenga

🌍 ISC Student Cluster Competition – Germany (ISC24 & ISC25)

• Event: ISC Student Cluster Competition
• Location: Hamburg, Germany
• Context: Held alongside the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC)

Wits represented South Africa as part of a national team selected through the CHPC Student Cluster Competition, competing against top global institutions in:

• System design
• Scientific application performance
• Energy-efficient computing

These appearances further cemented Wits’ reputation as a globally competitive HPC institution

National Excellence: CHPC (South Africa)

The Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) National Conference is South Africa’s premier HPC event.

Over the last 11 years, Wits HPC teams have achieved:

• 🥇 First place – 7 times
• 🥈 Second place – 6 times
• 🥉 Third place – 4 times

This consistency demonstrates institutional excellence, not isolated success.

Why This Award Matters

The Dean’s Special Award recognises more than competition results.

It reflects:

• Advanced technical mastery in high-performance computing
• Proven ability to operate under real-world engineering constraints
• Leadership, teamwork, and resilience on global stages
• Contribution to South Africa’s research capacity in computing and engineering

It is both a recognition of past achievement and a vote of confidence in future research leadership.

Postgraduate Bursary (Included)

As part of the award, the recipient is granted:

• 🎓 Full tuition bursary for a full-time Master’s Degree
• 🏫 Registration within the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
• 🏠 Wits University accommodation (if required)

This support reflects the Faculty’s commitment to nurturing individuals with exceptional promise in research and innovation :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}.

Summary

The Dean’s Special Award represents:

• One of the highest faculty-level honours at Wits
• Recognition of global technical excellence
• Formal acknowledgment of contribution to international research competitiveness
• A fully funded pathway into postgraduate research

It stands as both an honour earned and a responsibility entrusted.

Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
University of the Witwatersrand