Emeritus Associate Professor Department of Computer Science Rhodes University

My main research interests are computer architecture, especially understanding industry trends and how to exploit change (e.g., when new form factors become viable), and bioinformatics.

See more about Raspberry Pi on my research pages.

I’ve self-published two novels at Amazon, each with a different take on climate change, and third that’s a SciFi parody of recent US politics (for more recent work, see Lulu above):

• No Tomorrow
• The Day it Rained Forever
• The Superpower

In November 2021, I stood for Makana Council for Makana Citizens Front in Ward 4 and won the highest number of votes in any ward and was elected as a proportional representative candidate.

Projects and Student Opportunities

I have a project called Crayon? What’s that about? Check it out. I am also starting to investigate use of architecture simulation ideas to make it easier to learn about and develop operating systems. Watch this space for more detail. A textbook is in progress based on these ideas; initial draft here. The simulation part is in the pracs at this stage – more will go into the next version of the book.

I am also working on improved models of transcription factor binding specificity, and am interested generally in sites of interest in the genome, such as those associated with long non-coding RNAs. My latest project: population regulomics – exploring differences in gene regulation within and between human populations (in collaboration with researchers in H3Africa).

I also dabbled in epidemiology in the wake of Covid-19. Since everyone is an epidemiologist these days, I thought I might as well do some actual research in the field.

I have some hints for potential graduate students, especially those from outside Rhodes.

Publications

See a list of outputs here.

Courses (historical)

• CSc201
  • Computer architecture (originally included a C programming course; last taught 2022)
• CSc202
  • Computer Theory of Computation (last taught 2022)
  • Operating Systems (last taught 2017)
• Honours
  • Advanced architecture (last taught 2022)
  • Project management
• MSc Bioinformatics (last taught 2017)
  • Bioinformatics Algorithms

Past lives

• Editor-in-Chief of South African Computer Journal: June 2012 – July 2022
• Research Officer, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland
• Senior Lecturer and IT Programmes director, School of IT and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland
• Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of the Witwatersrand
• sabbaticals: University of Michigan, Stanford University

• member of my university’ sexual violence task team (one of many authors of it’s 2016 report)
• promoting active citizenship in the post-apartheid era including chairing our local residents’ association
• candidate for Agang SA in 2014 (number 18 on the national list, number 2 on the Eastern Cape provincial list)
• Greens candidate in a city (Brisbane) and state (Queensland) election while I lived in Australia; I also managed to campaigns that dramatically increased the Greens vote, a precursor for wins after I left
• taking on climate change denial
• taking on AIDS denial
• supporting press freedom and freedom of protest in the apartheid era
• reducing the space where smokers can annoy others and put their health at risk