She had won second place in the regional competition, so the win at the national competition came as a complete surprise for Luzane Aiken, a BTech Electrical Engineering student from Atlantis.
Luzane recently won first prize for Universities of Technology in the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) national competition for her BTech project, which saw her doing a real-time simulation of a power system.
“I was really surprised to win. Initially, I felt very intimidated by all the other students’ projects. Most of them physically built something, where I only did a simulation,” says Luzane, who works as a maintenance and commissioning technician at Koeberg Power Station.
The last time she had won any competition was in grade 6, when she produced the winning essay in a competition sponsored by her current employer, Eskom. It was also a merit bursary from Eskom that paid for her National Diploma in Electrical Engineering. “The difference between a merit bursary and a regular bursary from Eskom is that I’m not compelled to work for them after completing my studies,” she explains.
She completed her service learning at Koeberg and was offered a job upon graduation. Her BTech did not come without difficulty. She enrolled for the postgraduate degree last, but fell seriously ill in the second semester. “I enrolled this year again, but wasn’t coping. When I tried to deregister I was told it was too late and since I was paying for the course, I figured I might as well do it.” This gamble paid off since Luzane pass two of her four final subjects with distinction this year.
She plans to further her studies by obtaining a BSc and ultimately wants to qualify as a Nuclear Engineer, but for now, she’s just enjoying the fact that yet another chapter in her study life has closed more successfully than she had ever hoped for.
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Written by Abigail Calata
