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Tebogo Mashifana
Senior Lecturer, University of Johannesburg
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The world is changing exponentially and requires you to believe in yourself and pursue careers in STEM.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
I am a Senior Lecturer (Department of Chemical Engineering) and a Researcher. My research area is in Environmental Engineering focusing on the beneficiation of solid waste and wastewater treatment.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS FIELD?
As a young girl, I always saw myself in a white lab coat with a beaker mixing chemicals. Choosing a career in Chemical Engineering was the closest thing to the picture in my mind. I only found out later on that in my career, that Chemical Engineering is more than what I thought. The passion I have to provide solutions to environmental pollution challenges is what has kept me in this field.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK AT & THINK, "I WISH YOUNGER ME WOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS WAS POSSIBLE?"
Vice Chancellor’s Promising Young Teacher of the year (2020), University of Johannesburg. •Inspiring 50 South African women in STEM (2020), Inspiring Fifty
•Top 10 Trailblazers, Southern African Women in Leadership
•Finalist, Gauteng Women Excellence Awards: Young Women Achiever of the Year (2019)
•Top 100 Young Independents 2019 •Mail and Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans 2019 (under-35s) •Institute of Professional Engineering Technologist Award, Highest Academic Achievement in BTech Engineering all disciplines) in South Africa during 2008 (2009)
WHY DO YOU LOVE WORKING IN STEM?
Every single day I am looking forward to discovering new things to solve problems related to environmental pollution. I wake up to show a little girl in a rural area, in a village, township, and city that it is achievable and doable. I live to lift as I rise.
BEST ADVICE FOR NEXT GENERATION?
The world is changing exponentially and requires you to believe in yourself and pursue careers in STEM. You can thrive in a STEM field. Believe, and know that you can be anything and go as far as you want to go.
INSPO / FUN FACT
Whenever you climb a staircase higher, remember there is a multitude of young women who are looking up to you and waiting for you to turn, give your hand and lift them with you.