schoolsthatrock
Today we celebrate Miss Sumari Hattingh.
Her family moved from Free State to Gauteng and afterwards to Northern Cape for the first 18 years of her life. She attended a high school for all girls in the Free State and later began her student life at Potchefstroom North-West University.
She is a final year student of Masters in Astrophysical Sciences at the
NWU – North-West University
and the main focus of her research is to study surface brightness (light curve) profiles of group galaxies, with data from both Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). These surface brightness profiles describe how galaxies’ brightness fall as the radius increases.
Ms Sumari says, Physics has always been very interesting to her since the day she was introduced to Natural Sciences as a school subject. She was so fascinated by this that one day she knew she wanted to become a physicist. The art of learning and engaging with new ideas to understand our World better and how it functions is such an indescribable experience through which she learns more every day and she is so thankful to be part of it.
She has been a recipient of the National Astrophysics and Space Science Program (NASSP) scholarship since she her honours course. She was the NASSP student representative at the NWU node in 2018 and is the NASSP student newsletter writer for the NWU node this year (as from March 2020).
Ms. Sumari went beyond the physics classroom to make a difference. She is a certified English Teacher to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and aims to make a difference in the field of physics by helping those who want to improve their English language to take their background, culture and dialect into account. She is a strong believer in excellent and truthful communication, and also wants to inspire those who want to do the same, particularly in the research field of physics.
We asked her how the pandemic influenced her work:
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a big effect on my work routine as I’ve been working from home for the time being. My schedule looks different (work, sleep & eat) since I’ve been living with my family since the beginning of the lockdown in March 2020. While it was emotionally and physically difficult to adjust to, I am grateful that I learned a lot more about myself, the family and where I see myself in the future of physics. I was selected as one of 25 international students to attend the Vatican Observatory Summer School (Rome, Italy) in June 2020. And though it was later postponed to 2021, it made me so grateful for the experiences in physics that I would never take for granted. I’m very excited to fulfill my goals with the completion of my MSc. And then, to continue my career in physics.
We wish you a Happy Women’s Month 
