{"id":624453,"date":"2026-01-08T14:01:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T12:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=624453"},"modified":"2026-01-08T14:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T12:04:16","slug":"the-man-in-charge-of-south-africas-largest-engineering-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/624453-the-man-in-charge-of-south-africas-largest-engineering-department.html","title":{"rendered":"The man in charge of South Africa’s largest engineering department"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Professor Wynand Steyn from the University of Pretoria is one of South Africa\u2019s top academics, driving research which has tremendous value to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steyn is the Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria\u2019s Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is also the Chair of the School of Engineering and has been involved in research at the University of Pretoria for the past 12 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He completed a BEng in Civil Engineering, MEng in Geotechnical Engineering, and a PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steyn has strong ties to the engineering industry and is a South African Institution of Civil Engineers member and a South African Academy of Engineering (FSAAE) fellow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His engineering specialisation is something which most people use but take for granted as just always being there \u2014 pavements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is a professionally registered pavement engineer with research interests in vehicle-pavement interaction, accelerated pavement testing, and pavement materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steyn is globally renowned for his work in the field of pavement engineering, and he presents his research at seminars and conferences worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sets him apart from many other academics is his focus on research that contributes to the betterment of society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, he has completed a synthesis of international accelerated pavement testing activities for the National Academies of Science in the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is also involved in projects with the South African National Roads Agency and the California Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His work supports improvements in pavement engineering, transportation systems, and user experiences of such facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This research has led to the improvement of infrastructure used daily, which has a direct impact on people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steyn is also involved in research activities at Innovation Africa@UP through supporting other faculties and institutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading the country\u2019s top engineering department<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Professor Wynand Steyn from the University of Pretoria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Steyn was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT) on 1 December 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is widely regarded as one of the world\u2019s top engineering departments, with strengths in research, teaching, industry relevance, and graduate outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was the standout candidate for the position due to his exceptional work as Head of the Department for Civil Engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this position, he and his team produced groundbreaking research and development technologies used throughout the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also spearheaded the development of the state-of-the-art Engineering 4.0 facility at the University of Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This facility is a collaboration between the university, SANRAL (South African National Roads Agency), and the CSIR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It includes an active traffic lane for research. This is a 2km stretch of the N4 highway adjacent to the facility, equipped with sensors to collect data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It hosts the National Roads Materials Reference Laboratory, an independent facility for testing road construction materials to ensure they meet national standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The facility also features an accelerated pavement testing (APT) track, as well as concrete and timber laboratories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his new position, he has a strong focus on research which benefits the world and makes people\u2019s lives better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He credited his mentors from the early days of his career, primarily at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, for shaping his research interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He regards these mentors as role models who were instrumental in his development as an academic and researcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steyn is now instilling the same love for the academic field and real-world research in the staff and students in his department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He encourages young people interested in his field to read, observe, experiment, measure, and learn from what they see around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBe inquisitive. Ask questions. Try stuff that has not been done before,\u201d Steyn said in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wynand Steyn is a unique individual who improves the world around him<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Steyn breaks the stereotype of an academic which is hidden behind a desk and produces research which is of little value outside of the academic world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things around him continually improve. He is industrious and loves building, whether it is a new facility or the latest AI software product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MyBroadband spoke to staff members in his department, and they credited him for maintaining world-class standards at UP\u2019s engineering department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He fights for budgets for equipment like ASUS Ascent GX10 Desktop AI supercomputers and new robot technology to ensure his department has the latest tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike many academics, which enjoys the relaxed life a job at a university offers, Steyn works harder than most people in the engineering industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He often responded to emails from MyBroadband at 05:00 in the morning, as he arrived at his office even earlier than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arriving early allows him to do a lot of work before the students or other staff members require his attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when he is not at work, he loves engaging with technology and engineering. This includes being a licensed drone pilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is also a keen cyclist. However, as a self-respecting engineer, he has an electric bicycle to ensure he has help with fighting gravity when needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Wynand Steyn and others like him are why South Africa still boasts globally renowned academic institutions, such as the Tuks engineering department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos of Professor Wynand Steyn and his faculty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor Wynand Steyn from the University of Pretoria is one of South Africa\u2019s top academics, driving research which has tremendous value to the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":624460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[102796,102797,102800,102799,102798,25021,77318],"class_list":["post-624453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-department-of-civil-engineering","tag-geotechnical-engineering","tag-sanral-south-african-national-roads-agency","tag-south-african-academy-of-engineering-fsaae","tag-south-african-institution-of-civil-engineers","tag-university-of-pretoria","tag-wynand-steyn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624453"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624453"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":624500,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624453\/revisions\/624500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}