Alumni
Dr Kenneth Ozoemena
Dr Kenneth Ozoemena (PhD 2003) studied in Professor Nyokong’s Laboratory and writes, “On completion of my PhD in Professor Nyokong’s labaoratory in April 2003, I spent a year at the Chemistry Department of the University of Pretoria as a Claude Harris Postdoctoral Research Fellow. I returned to Rhodes Chemistry in March 2004 as Andrew Mellon Foundation Lecturer. While at Rhodes, I had the opportunity of visiting the laboratory of Prof MJ Cook of the University of East Anglia, Norwich (United Kingdom) under the sponsorship of the South Africa-Royal Society programme. On return from the UK in March 2006, I took up a position as a Senior Lecturer in the Chemistry Department of the University of Pretoria. In 2007, I was in the laboratory of Prof Steven de Feyter of the Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven (Belgium) as research fellow. Since January 2008, I have been at the laboratory of Prof Nagao Kobayashi of the Tohoku University, Sendai (Japan) as a research fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
When I think of Rhodes Chemistry, the first thing that comes into mind is a Chemistry Department that provides you all you need, in an informal and conducive environment, to succeed in the real world out there; confidence, passion for research, discipline, and some leadership styles that you may never learn from books. I did not fully realize these qualities as they were being instilled in me, but they now come in quite handy in all aspects of my present research activities at the University of Pretoria. I have also realized that when you study at Rhodes, it’s in your blood, always very proud of yourself, the kind of pride that makes you stronger everyday to excel. “
Dr Moira Bode
Dr Moira Bode (PhD 1994) writes: “I graduated with my PhD under supervision of Prof. Kaye and my first job was as a lecturer in chemistry at UNISA. I stayed at UNISA for two years but didn’t enjoy the work there and was happy to start working for Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (OVI) as a researcher in the Toxicology Department. The work involved structure elucidation and synthesis of natural products relevant in the accidental poisoning of livestock. I stayed at Onderstepoort for 5 years and enjoyed the work very much but when the opportunity arose to do a post-doc at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands in 2001, I resigned from OVI to take it up. I spent a year at Delft working in the laboratories of Prof. Roger Sheldon in the area of biocatalysis. After returning from the Netherlands I started working at CSIR, then BioChemtek, now CSIR Biosciences. I have been at CSIR for 5 years and am working in the area of drug discovery.
On a more personal note I was married in 1994 to a fellow-Rhodian Dean Brady, a biochemist, and we have two children, a daughter Jessica who is 6 years old and a son, Liam, who is 4 years old.
As far as Rhodes University is concerned, I thoroughly enjoyed my studies there and think that Rhodes offers an all-round experience not available at many other universities. I regarded the chemistry department as home and was extremely happy under the supervision of Prof. Kaye. I came to rely on his unflappable nature and learned the important lesson not to panic if things don’t immediately go as planned! Rhodes University impacted very positively on me and played a very important role in more than just my academic education.”
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