Former team member
Bethany is an Abstract Maths student at Stellenbosch University, but originally from East London in the Eastern Cape. She has always enjoyed Maths, but also always had a passion for any and all creative pursuits – art, music, you name it, she’s probably dabbled in it!
Bethany joined the Wisaarkhu team at the end of 2019 with no experience in website creation (with WordPress, by coding, or otherwise), but with an itch to learn and help. Being the first and only website she’s ever created or run, it has given her many busy days and sleepless nights, but also much satisfaction and growth.
She hopes to one day go into teaching for Mathematics (either high school or university level). She feels teaching is one of the most rewarding ways to serve people with time, knowledge and creativity.

Dr. Christine Marques
Consultant
Department of Neurobiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
After graduating with a degree in biotechnology engineering at Polytech Marseille, Christine Marques completed her PhD in Neuroscience (INSERM U1118) at the University of Strasbourg. During her PhD, Christine deciphered the molecular mechanisms that selectively trigger cortical neurons dysfunction and degeneration during the course of ALS and improved characterization of the cortical pathology in this disease. She developed a protocol that allowed, for the first time, the transcriptomic analyses of pure populations of cortical neurons isolated from the cerebral cortex of adult ALS mice model at different stages of the disease.
Christine joined the Wainger lab as a postdoc, where she is interested in applying stem cell biology to better understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms of protein spread involved in ALS. Christine received the Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship from the ALS Association in 2019.

Laylaa Motala
Marketing
Engineering Department,
Stellenbosch University,
South Africa
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Summayah is an aspiring Mathematician and Computer Scientist. She enjoys building ideas and digitizing them. Her biggest interest is Set Thoery and how it can be used to explain everything. She is currently an undergraduate student at Stellenbosch University majoring in Computer Sciences and Abstract Mathematics. Just a girl from a small farm town with dreams, aspirations and passion.
Artists

Nandan Malhotra
Illustrator (Memes)
Department of Mathematics IISER Mohali, India
Nandan is a student of mathematics at IISER Mohali, India, and is currently working on his master’s thesis. He appreciates poetry and art, and believes that memes as a medium of expression can help highlight numerous social issues that exist in the society in a satirical way. He uses memes as a tool to showcase various misconceptions or problems that exist within the world of mathematics, and uses them to connect with a wider audience.

Ethan Quirke
Illustrator (Memes)
Department of Mathematics & Computer Science, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Ethan Quirke is currently studying Abstract Mathematics and Computer Science. He originally was doing only Computer science, but took Maths along with it as a possibility as he had some skill in it and enjoyed it, but he didn’t really see the value in it. At the end of his second year, he took a module Linear Algebra, and this was unknowingly his first encounter with real Abstract Mathematics. It resonated with him quite a bit! After some researching he then decided to change his course to Mathematics with Computer Science. His interest in Mathematics continually grows and he is very interested in the possibility of pursuing it further. He also have a keen interest in Psychology, which is quite stimulated by him being a bit more of an intuitive-feeling type of person, and so he is very interested in how these two fields come together! As hobbies, he enjoys skating, music, non-stop talking with friends and anything to do with animals!

Aishwarya Viswamitra
Poet
3rd year BS-MS student at IISER Mohali, India
Aishwarya Viswamitra is a poet, journalist and English teacher. She is passionate about science communication, whether it be through well-researched articles or a spoken word poem. Along with pursuing sci comm via social media management and journalism, she is completing her masters degree in Biology at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali.
In her free time, Aishwarya can be found giving people existential crises on her Instagram page @_.twoinabillion or nursing a runny nose (she’s allergic to cats and has one). A passionate foodie with a distaste for cooking, she will never be found in the kitchen unless she’s seated at the dining table.
Her goal is to continue to share people’s journeys through her writings while figuring out her own, one article at a time.
Cayla Basson is a designer who works with Wisaarkhu to add a visual twist to their articles.
She believes in ethical design with a spectacular focus on the small details to ensure a successful end product.
Cayla has secured a spot in the top ten best designers amongst her peers. She has also landed one of five spots in the international “IF” poster exhibition, hosted by the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology (PJAIT) and European National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC-Warsaw), to be exhibited in Poland.
Cayla is a third-year Visual Communication Design student from Stellenbosch University. She is working towards her bachelor’s degree and expects to take her education further to ensure the best quality designs her skills have to offer.

Miekie Verster
Illustrator, Artist
Visual Communication Design Student, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
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HOSANA RANAIVO
Poet
PhD Student in Mathematics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Hosana is soft-spoken yet candid female poet, who draws inspiration from her background in rural Madagascar where she seeks to uplift and inspire other young children to fight the scourge of poverty that bedevils society. She is also a PhD candidate University of Stellenbosch in the department of Mathematics. There she continues to engage with other young people on various pertinent themes during various activities such as choir, hiking and poetry sessions.
Editors

Chad Brache
Editor
Phd Student Stellenbosch University Lecturer at Explore
Seeking to understand the universe and its machinations, Chad begin his career as a mathematician at UCT. Coming from theorems, proofs, lemmas and propositions, he now endeavours to achieve his PhD from Stellenbosch University. Alongside this, he is a lecturer at Explore, bring the maths behind data science to new minds! Chad is also happy to play a game of Magic: The Gathering with you!

Iain Le Roux
Editor
Mathematics and Computer Science , Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Iain Le Roux has always been passionate about Mathematics and Computer Science and consequently is pursuing a degree in these fields at Stellenbosch University. Iain also has a deep passion for teaching and sharing his love of the sciences with others. Outside of studies, Iain is a great fan of the outdoors and would never turn down a good board game.

Ashrene Rathilal
Psychological Society of South Africa
Ashrene Rathilal is a Ph.D. candidate, writer, and social media manager. She is an aspiring sport psychologist and is currently investigating exercise dependence in relation to dark personality, motivation, and mood states in her Ph.D. Ashrene is an executive portfolio holder of the Psychological Society of South Africa: Student Division (PsySSA SD) and the Media and Marketing Subcommittee chairperson. She began her writing career in 2020, writing for various organizations on mental health and well-being, chronic illnesses, and health promotion. In her spare time, she is a budding gamer and gym fanatic.
Karin-Therese Howell is a mathematician who works in abstract algebra and graph theory. She is a Senior Lecturer at Stellenbosch University. She is the convenor of the African Women in Mathematics Conferences and Seminars (AWiM) and is passionate about supporting women in mathematics and encouraging more female learners to consider studying mathematical sciences. In her free time she likes to kitesurf and paint.

Dr. Leandro Boonzaaier
Data Science Group,
Rain (Pty) Ltd,
South Africa
Leandro holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from Stellenbosch University. He was a faculty member in the Department of Physics at Stellenbosch from 2006 to 2014. Since then, he has pursued several business ventures, and done some consulting work, mostly involving mathematical modelling across different industries. He has continued his involvement with the Physics Department at Stellenbosch through regular teaching in the department over the past few years. He is currently employed in the telecommunications industry as a researcher.
Leandro enjoys learning, from new Mathematics to foreign languages, and most interesting things in between. When not learning new things, he spends his time with his wife and children.