WHAT WE DO
This is the personal webpage of my smallish research group consisting of myself and my postgraduate students, within the Operations Research (OR) division of the Department of Logistics, Stellenbosch University. Our main research focus is within the context of ecological, agricultural and healthcare management problems, for which we attempt to provide practical and realistic decision support. True to OR, we use mathematical modelling, optimisation and simulation techniques to model the real world problem, and find and promote efficient and sustainable ways of improvement based on model results.
RESEARCH
to find and promote ways of doing the right things the right way through mathematical modelling, optimisation and simulation techniques
TEACH AND MENTOR
to train, develop and empower scientific young minds to become innovative and creative problem solvers
REACH OUT
to give back with purpose to society through applied research and active problem solving within the contexts we find ourselves in
TEAM
LINKE POTGIETER
Senior Lecturer
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust
DIRK HUMAN
Research collaborator
"We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction." - Bill Gates
PHILIP PRINSLOO
Masters (final year)
ALUMNI
ANNELIE WESSELS
MCom (Quantitative Management), 2021
"Think big, and your deeds will grow; Think small, and you'll fall behind; Think that you can, and you will— It's all in the state of mind." - Walter D. Wintle
SAMANTHA DOWNING
BCom Hons (Operations Research), 2021
"Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of not succeeding at things in life that really matter." "Let us be eager to leave what is familiar for what is true." - Francis Chan
NOÉ MANFOUO
PhD (Operations Research), 2020
"Research is to see what everyone else has seen and to think what nobody else has thought." - Albert Szent.
PIETER DE WET
MCom (Operations Research), 2020
"Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability." - Roy L Smith
MICHELLE DE BEER
BCom Hons (Operations Research), 2020
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." - Theodore Roosevelt
KYLE VAN HEERDEN
MSc (Operations Research), 2019
“I started my life with a single absolute: that the world was mine to shape in the image of my highest values and never to be given up to a lesser standard, no matter how long or hard the struggle.” - Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.
DEAN MATTER
BCom Hons (Operations Research), 2019
"Those who leave everything in God's hands eventually see God's hands in everything."
THLONI MASIPA
MSc (Operations Research), 2018
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us." - Marriane Williamson
MASHOTO MASELELA
BSc Hons (Operations Research), 2018
"If you FAIL, never give up because FAIL means 'First Attempt In Learning". END is not the end; in fact it means 'Effort Never Dies'. If you get NO for an answer, remember that no means 'Next Opportunity'." - Abdul Kalam
BRYCE SENEKAL
MCom (Quantitative Management), 2017
"If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." - JK Rowling
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BRIAN VAN VUUREN
PhD (Industrial Engineering), 2016
“It doesn't matter what you do, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.” – Ray Bradbury
HELÉNE DELPORT
MCom (Operations Research), 2016
"Everything you accept as the norm, you will never change." - Suzette Hatting
CANDICE MULLER
BCom Hons (Operations Research), 2015
GILLIAN TOPLIS
BCom Hons (Quantitative Management), 2015
"Happiness cannot be travelled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude." - Denis Waitley
KIMBERLEY BAILEY
BCom Hons (Operations Research), 2014
"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour and some style." - Maya Angelo
CHANWYN WILLIAMS
BCom Hons (Operations Research), 2013