Professor Sunil Maharaj, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT), recently received the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers' (SAIEE’s) 2015 Engineering Excellence Award at the Institute's Annual Banquet and Awards Function. This was the first time that an award of this kind was made to an academic employed by a university.

The award, sponsored by Doble Engineering, is awarded to electrical or electronic engineers who are members of SAIEE and have excelled in their fields. It recognises outstanding and dedicated individual contributions to the promotion of the growth and development of the community and SAIEE's endeavours to support the electrical engineering profession.

SAIEE has a membership of almost 7 000 and is dedicated to serving the interests of professional electrical and electronic engineering in South Africa. Members are professionally engaged in the full range of engineering activities, including academic research, manufacturing, electronics, telecommunications, measurement and control, mining and infrastructural power services. They make meaningful contributions to the quality of life of the community, as well as to the steady advancement of technology.

The Institute strives to be a leading and respected society of qualified electrical and electronic engineers through:

• promoting electrical and electronic science and its applications for the benefit of its members and the Southern African community;
• maintaining close contact with appropriate national and international organisations;
• recognising achievements by promoting individual members to higher grades of membership within the Institute and thereby enhancing the status of the profession; and
• being apolitical and non-discriminatory.