“There is a place in the sun for us all to succeed and achieve our goals. We all have our own pace of success, so keep to yours."
This is the advice from Johané Nienkemper-Swanepoel to the youth of today. At only 28 years of age, Johané will be completing her PhD in Mathematical Statistics while also lecturing full time in the Genetics Department at Stellenbosch University (SU).
According to Johané, she has been able to achieve so much in a short span of time through her faith and the help and support of her husband, family and mentors.
“I think mentorship is very important. I am fortunate to have dedicated supervisors who mentor me through the obstacles and virtues of a research career. I also have an amazing support system within my family. My mother has always been passionate about research and completed her PhD when she was 50, therefore she understands the PhD track."
Johané comes from a family of clinical practitioners. Her father and sister are both medical doctors and her mother is an occupational therapist. When she was younger, Johané also thought of becoming a doctor but her love for numbers prevailed. “My true passion for mathematics grew in high school, greatly due to a brilliant teacher who challenged and motivated me. Teachers get to shape and inspire the minds of the future and play a vital role in creating stepping stones for opportunities."
Johané completed her undergraduate, honours and master's studies at the University of the Free State (UFS). While she was busy completing her studies in Mathematical Statistics at the UFS, she also managed to achieve many other academic and extra-curricular goals. In 2011, she was the youngest presenter at the South African Statistical Association's annual conference. She received the Senate Medal for the best honours degree student at the UFS in 2012. Most recently, the International Federation of Classification Societies also named her as an outstanding researcher younger than 30 years of age in 2017.
“I am so fortunate to have been able to attend a number of international conferences where I could meet leaders in my research field. Networking in academia is crucial to develop as a researcher." Johané stresses the importance of applying for financial support for academic activities. “Don't sell yourself short, don't be afraid to apply for opportunities. You never know what might happen and the exposure you will get from international conferences is invaluable."
Johané's PhD research focuses on visualising and handling incomplete multivariate data. Missing observations are prevalent in the majority of disciplines where data are collected. Her research helps reduce the loss of information, using her skills in statistics, applied mathematics and computer programming.
Apart from her academic achievements, Johané is also an accomplished performer. She won six medals at the World Championship of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, USA, for tap dancing in 2000. At the UFS, she was her residence's cultural representative and was part of the women's a cappella group Amaranth Echo. The group competed in the international Varsity Vocals competition in New York in 2009 and went on to launch a CD in 2011.
According to Johané, there seems to be a growing interest in the field of data analytics and statistics. “I think people are more aware of data and the importance of trustworthy statistics." Also, Data Science has been titled the sexiest job in 2012 by the Harvard Business Review, which placed a spotlight on this scarce skill. Johané notes that the proportion of female to male students with an interest in numbers, specifically analytics, has improved, with an equal representation of both genders compared to in her undergraduate years.
She quotes JW Tukey, and American mathematician, to end her interview: “The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone else's backyard."
“I would like to get involved in more projects and establish my missing data techniques in different multidisciplinary fields in the future," she adds.
Johané Nienkemper-Swanepoel is completing her PhD under the supervision of Profs Niël le Roux and Sugnet Lubbe at the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at SU.
Photo by Stefan Els.
