College of Science, Engineering & Technology

Automotive industry giant joins Unisa as distinguished scholar

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Prof Igor Gorlach was recently appointed as a distinguished professor at Unisa, in the  College of Science, Engineering and Technology. As leader of the university’s automotive catalytic niche area, Gorlach will develop synergistic collaborations between Unisa and the automotive sector in order to enhance human resource development and bring about benefits to communities at large.

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Prof Igor Gorlach (Image credit: Nelson Mandela University)

The title of distinguished professor is reserved for above-scale scholarly leaders who have achieved the highest levels of scholarship over the course of their careers. Distinguished professors will typically have earned national and international level distinctions and honours of the highest level.

Gorlach is the Isuzu Chair of Mechatronics and holds a master’s degree from the University of the Witwatersrand and a doctoral degree from the North-West University. One of his main tasks at Unisa is to drive the university’s automotive catalytic research niche area. A key strategic aim of this niche area is to provide assistance for manufacturing-related development and problem solving at the original equipment manufacturers, as well as at local automotive suppliers in tier 2 and 3 levels in South Africa.

Gorlach’s plans for the niche area include

  • facilitating collaboration between the automotive industry and Unisa with the purpose of knowledge transfer to undergraduate and postgraduate engineering programmes.
  • establishing new research and development trends, opportunities and initiatives which would benefit the local automotive industry and addressing community and social needs. 

Comments Gorlach: "Modern engineering educational programmes require fast adaptation to new knowledge in order to address rapidly changing industry demands due to strong competition and the impact of globalisation. This can be achieved if students are exposed to practical situations on a consistent basis right from the beginning of their studies."

He continues: "Students would benefit through exposure to real-world industrial cases and the latest technologies. Interaction with company engineers is a key aspect of the process, to ensure that a long-term partnership is developed and to maximise the potential benefits."

Prior to joining Unisa, Gorlach has led demonstrable industry-based research projects which were carried out by third-year undergraduate students through the Isuzu Chair of Mechatronics. These included designing a torquing station for automatic transmissions for Isuzu bakkies, improving the material supply chain of the Isuzu truck cabins from the storage to assembly  area, and developing a method to handle truck chassis that are shipped in containers from Japan.

As a result of activities of the automotive research niche at Unisa, Gorlach envisages contributing towards the development of postgraduate students, solving industry-related problems, producing scientific publications, and increasing and expanding international collaborative research and enhanced educational programmes. 

* By Dr Nozipho N Gumbi, Communication and Marketing Specialist (acting), Unisa College of Science, Engineering and Technology

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Publish date: 2024/02/27

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