Giving credit to his beautiful wife, who has been his role model and pillar of strength during the highs and lows of his study period has made Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Shaveen Maharaj’s goal of achieving his Degree of Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering (Low Current) with a dean’s merit award.
Maharaj graduated today (Monday, 08 May 2017) during the 3rd Session of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment graduation ceremony at the Fred Crookes Sports Centre.
Upon hearing of his success, Maharaj expressed how delighted he was of the achievement. “The award makes be proud and honored to receive such a distinguished accolade. This is a testament that hard work, perseverance and passion for your work are the formulas to achieve your set goals,” he said happily.
Maharaj currently works at DUT’s Indumiso campus in Pietermaritzburg, he lectures Electrical Technology for levels one, two and three.
Having faced obstacles during his research in form of what he calls external forces that were out of his control, the nature of his research project was industrial based. This meant that the majority of his project was designed, manufactured and tested in an industrial plant at Illovo Sugar Mill in Eston.
“Having being dependent on the mills operating schedule meant testing at odd hours under hazardous environments. Although these conditions helped develop this project into a successful prototype thermoelectric generator and having heaps of data during every phase of the development testing process,” said Maharaj.
Speaking of his experience in studying at DUT, he had nothing but praises for the institution.
He said his experience at DUT over the past 16 years has been instrumental in sculpting his strong technical skills during his career at industry and fostering his academic skills as a lecturer.
“Completing my Master’s degree at DUT has not only strengthened my technical analysis skills but it has also developed my writing skills having published and presented numerous papers at various conferences in South Africa as well as multiple magazine articles. This experience has helped me network with fellow academics from across the world,” he said.
His study focused on the performance of the TEG generator by means of testing using different configurations, different heat sources and different cooling methods.
Being a lecturer at DUT, he is loyal to the DUT brand and would love having more students come and study at DUT. “I believe that DUT is growing from strength to strength in providing students with innovative and leading concepts in technology placing them in the forefront of global topics,” he said proudly.
Maharaj’s future plans include pursuing his doctorate in the field of instrumentation and control systems forcing on heavy industry optimisation.
Pictured: Shaveen Maharaj, at his graduation ceremony.
—-Waheeda Peters
