Mohammed Kader is all smiles after graduating Cum Laude for his Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering degree at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) 2023 Autumn Graduation which was held at the Olive Convention Centre, Durban this morning (22 May 2023).
The dynamic 25-year-old from Montford, Chatsworth did not only obtain his Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering degree, but has also managed to have three international papers published, a feat not easy to achieve.
Kader is currently working as an Electrical Engineer/Project Manager for a Consulting Engineering and Project Management company located in Durban. He is also involved in many multidisciplinary projects across South Africa and internationally, within the private and public sectors.
His research title is: “The Coordinated Control of Conventional Power Sources and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles for a Hybrid Power System”.
Kader’s research was based on researching the effects of Renewable Energy Systems (RES) such as solar/wind and Plug-in-Hybrid-Electric-Vehicles (PHEVs) on the electrical power grid which can be improved by using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“I initially was unsure that I will be enrolling for my Master’s. This was a suggestion made by one of my previous lecturers and colleagues which gave me an incentive for a new challenge. The procedure for a Master’s Degree was really different from a Bachelor’s degree. At first, a motivation report had to be provided together with a presentation done at the Power Engineering Department which made our fellow students very nervous, however the familiar faces in the boardroom made the event comfortable. Once the gate review was completed, the Engineering Department provided approval based on the comments of senior lecturers and head of the department for the enrolment which kickstarted the research journey,” he said.
According to Kader, the next stage was perhaps the most difficult he had experienced especially when one has no guides, textbooks, exam tables to work from and completely foreign to research. He said that he had realised that the concept which first started this journey had to be gradually built step by step with multiple trials and errors.
“ So many research papers, journals, book chapters, videos, projects, simulations, models etc. was used for the progress of qualitative and quantitative research. The requirement for Master’s Degree were to publish papers at a national level and finish within two years however, by working every single day, noting concept theories, multiple improvement iterations and making use of every idea that came to mind, this method eventually produced 3 publications at an international level and managed to complete all requirements within 1,5 years,” he said proudly.
His first international conference paper was presented in Turkey, at the 10th International Conference on Smart Grid and it was published at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE,https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9848535); the second paper was an international journal published at a Switzerland-based MDPI Journal (Energies, https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/9/3376) and; finally, the international book chapter awaiting to be published in Germany under Springer Nature which is one of the world’s most influential research and journals.
Kader was excited and surprised his family at the graduation as they only got to know he had obtained Cum Laude on the day. He expressed his sincerest thanks to his family, friends, colleagues and highly respected research mentors, Dr Kayode T Akindeji from DUT and Dr Gulshan Sharma from the University of Johannesburg.
“This would have not been possible without the positive encouragement, guidance, and keeping in contact with me consistently during my research journey,” he said.
Pictured: Mohammed Kader.
Simangele Zuma
