Eighteen female students of the Department of Physics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), have been awarded for academic excellence in physics under the Dr. K.C Whittaker Endowment Fund.

The 16 undergraduate and two postgraduate students benefited from the Ghc54,000 financial reward, with each receiving Gh₵ 3,000 from the Fund initiated in 1998 by Mrs. Rose Whittaker to award exceptional female students in physics.

Provost of the College of Science, Prof Leonard Amekudzi, was full of praise for the Whittaker Foundation for coming up with this scheme which has contributed immensely to the increase in female physics students.

“When I joined this department there was no female lecturer but as a result of the awards we now have female lecturers in the physics department. Not only that, some award beneficiaries are doing marvellously well at places like Ghana Atomic Energy and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR),” he said.

Mrs Irene Schandorf, a board member of the Whittaker Foundation presented cheques on behalf of the board chairman Mr Eric Inkumsah to the beneficiaries.

Present at the presentation ceremony were other members of the Fund including Solomon Quanzie (Esq), Mr Ernest Prah and Mr Owusu.

The Fund annually supports female students pursuing Physics at KNUST. Presently, that small fund which started with one female student per year is now supporting up to twenty students from BSc, MPhil and PhD levels.

The K.C Whittaker Foundation has so far supported over 300 exceptional Physics female students at the KNUST and they promise to continue in the years ahead.