A former head girl from Waterkloof High School in Pretoria, Melise du Toit, was awarded the Dean’s Medal for the best honours student in 2015 in the Faculty of Science at Stellenbosch University (SU).

The medal, cast in solid silver, is awarded annually to an honours student who scores the highest average percentage throughout both the BSc and BSc honours programmes.

Melise majored in Applied Mathematics and managed to consistently achieve an average of 81% and higher. For her honours year, she achieved an average of 91,6%.

Her recipe for success?

“I obtained nine distinctions in matric, because I knew I had to work for a bursary to be able to study at Stellenbosch University. But the large volumes of work at university level is something nobody can prepare you for. An aptitude and passion for maths can help, but I really had to work very hard.”

She says in her case having a group of friends that study together and motivate each other, also helped a lot.

For the next two years she will complete her internship in the Modelling and DigitalSciences research group at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Stellenbosch. The studentship will consist of completing her MSc in Applied Mathematics at SU under the supervision of Prof. Francois Smit and Dr. Josefine Wilms. The first four years of her studies were also funded by the CSIR.

Her MSc will focus on one aspect of the first Africa-based Earth System Model, currently being developed at the CSIR. She explains: “One aspect of this project is the model-generated interaction between land surface and water. I will focus on the modelling of fluid flow from the land surface to the river mouths. The idea is to consider the existing physical model and apply a data-driven model (machine learning) to try and improve the accuracy of the results currently obtained by the model. This will allow for a more trustworthy and accurate prediction of future changes in river runoff.”

“I am really grateful for being able to pursue a career in something that I am passionate about,” she adds.

On the photo, Melise du Toit (on the right) receives the dean's medal from Prof. Louise Warnich, Dean of the Faculty of Science at SU.