Thembani Ngwenya’ 26 is a design enthusiast, so it is not surprising she thrived in this community that is focused on creative problem-solving. She thrived in the classroom, laboratories, workshops, and dormitories.

She is graduating today with top honors, having excelled in her coursework. But evidence of her brilliant intellect is in what she created across campus. She was on the Ashesi University iGEM team that—over two years—explored a biocement pentacone to address coastal erosion. She developed, with two others, a technology for sorting boxes by size, simulating important automation use. She built an educational technology product that helps deliver lessons in sign language for students who are hard of hearing.

Her iGEM team, in particular, was twice honored during the international gathering in Paris—gold in 2024 and bronze in 2025. Earning an internship at Tullow, she was an able performer on its subsea engineering team as an analyst. She would provide support for operations on more than a dozen subsea wells, analyzing important data for critical safety activities. As a Melton Foundation Fellow, she continued the tradition of impactful community projects that promoted the idea of global citizenship.

She has worked closely with our communications department to engage with our stakeholders. Whether as an attendant at the Bookshop selling university merchandise or representing in videos showing our campus development, she has demonstrated that she is diligent, detailed, and dexterous in multiple ways.

For excellently representing the Ashesi values of Scholarship, Leadership, and Citizenship, we present this award to THEMBANI NGWENYA.