14 July 2017Official weekly newsletter of NUST

Namibia University of Science and TechnologyNUST_Namibia

@NUST_Namibia

NUST BRIEF website: www.nust.na

NUST pledges its commitment to sustainability and clean energy.

An award-winning university

Since 2014, NUST and AIRBUS have held several discussions on the best possible remote-sensing-solution mix for Namibia. Despite a lot of efforts in this regard, the proposal of a ’Direct Receiving Ground Station’ for Namibia was abandoned in 2015 due to the high costs associated with establishing such a station. However, renewed discussions focused on investigating a value-based cost effective remote sensing solution for Namibia and this has resulted in the plans to establish NSDC.The Centre will find wide applications in Namibia in the fields of aviation, maritime and land transportation, urbanisation, mapping and surveying, human health, disaster management, food security and sustainable agriculture, environmental monitoring and natural resources management. The data will be made available to government

ministries and various entities.Dr Tjama Tjivikua, the NUST Vice-Chancellor said: “This initiative, therefore, is a step in the right direction of achieving some of our goals as set in our National Space Science Strategy and supports directly some major goals of our Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) of sustainable and equitable economic growth, development of human resources, ensuring a sustainable environment and promoting effective data enabled good governance.”Stephanie Le Grand, the Airbus Bid Manager, gave a presentation on the overview of the Centre, giving detailed logistics of how the project will be executed.The date on which the establishment of the Centre is envisaged, is yet to be announced as in-depth trial runs must first be conducted.

An information-sharing session to deliberate on the proposed Namibia Space Data Centre (NSDC) was held with various stakeholders at NUST. The framework to collaborate on the NSDC became a reality via a ‘Letter of Intent’ signed by AIRBUS and NUST on 16 February 2017.

Martin Sefzig, Head of Southern Africa: Airbus (front row, fourth from left); Dr Tjama Tjivikua, Vice-Chancellor: NUST (front row, fifth from left); Stéphanie Le Grand, Bid Manager: Airbus ( front row, sixth from left), pictured with various stakeholders and staff at the information-sharing session.

The competition, which is held annually, mimics a real-world scenario where the participating teams run, maintain and secure networked computer systems to defend their cyber environment from external attacks. The attacks are unleashed from a pool of qualified penetration testers and scoring is based on the period a team can keep its services running, the speed at which they can recover after an attack and general professional conduct.The competition officials were impressed by the NUST team’s professional demeanor. “The officials were also immensely impressed by the level of security on services running on Linux (a computer operating system), saying that the services had been so well secured by the NUST team that they failed to penetrate the system. They eventually resorted to using insider attacks to get access,” said Mercy Chitauro, a lecturer in the Faculty of Computing and Informatics, and the NUST team coach.Students that participated in the competition

affirm the value of the high level education they are receiving at the University.Last year the NUST team won this competition. The competition organising committee at NUST expressed gratitute to various companies for the sponsorships that enabled the team to participate in the international competition. The main sponsors were: KPMG, Business Connexion- Namibia (BCX), Telecomm Namibia, CSS Tactical Security, Green Enterprise Solutions (Pty) Ltd, XON Systems Namibia, Office of the President, Cornerstone, New Point Electronics Systems, and the Namibian Police.The next local competition will be held on the 6th of October this year and the organisers are inviting industry to once again be involved either through donations or availing themselves as judges. There is also an opportunity for high schools and colleges to participate and represent Namibia on international events.

The NUST Cybersecurity team scooped the Most Professional Team Award at the International Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition that was held at Highline College, in the United States of America (USA). Four teams were involved, namely; Brigham Young University (USA), Politeknik Negeri Medan (Indonesia), University of Central Florida (USA) and NUST.

Mercy Chitauro, lecturer: Faculty of Computing and Informatics (front row, centre), photographed with other NUST staff and students who participated in the competition.

THE NAMIBIA INSTITUTE OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY (NIST) SPACE WEEKNIST, in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), is organising a ‘Namibia Space Week’ from 4-10 October 2017. Stakeholders with interest in space technology, space applications and space science are invited to participate. The aim is to promote national cooperation in this field.

Cost: FREEDeadline for entries: Friday, 28 July 2017Enquiries: Tessa Olavi, 061 207 2531, tolavi@nust.na

NUST scoops professionalism award in USA

A step closer to the Space Data Centre

NUST representative, Ottillie Sheehama attending to a member of the public at an exhibition which was recently held at Wernhil Park. Applications for 2018 are now open until 31 August 2017. Manual applications for undergraduate studies cost N$165, and N$265 for postgraduate level. Online applications are FREE. Further information can be found in the NUST Yearbook, the Guide to Prospective Students or on the website www.nust.na

Welcome to NUST!Dr Hylton James Villet is the newly appointed Director of Harold Pupkewitz Graduate School of Business replacing Dr Grafton Whyte. Dr Villet holds the following qualifications: Ph.D. in Organisational Communication and Mediation (Ohio University, USA), Master of Arts in Organisational Communication and Leadership (Ohio University, USA), and a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Psychology, Public Administration, and Political Science (University of Western Cape, SA). He has over 30 years corporate, strategic leadership, entrepreneurship, consulting and academic experience gained from various sectors such as Mining and IT. He has also been engaged in consultancy with government agencies and local and international corporate organisations.

Dr Hylton Villet, Director: Harold Pupkewitz Graduate School of Business.

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