GAWLER CHALLENGE
Gwaliwa Peter Mashaka
Software Engineer and Data Scientist
Dr Athanas Macheyeki
Geologist and Commissioner at
Tanzania Commission of Minerals
Ms Gwaliwa P. Mashaka is a Software engineer and data scientist, passionate about bringing together technology and data to solve scientific challenges. Ms Gwaliwa achievements and awards include the development of software which interprets magnetic anomalies using Werner deconvolution theorem to locate ore bodies and hydrocarbons (oil and gas). She is the 2017 Global Award Winner at GIS Cloud on the use of GIS to solve health challenges.
She is also the Winner of the 2016 USAID Entrepreneur on the role and use of GIS and remote sensing for pipeline monitoring and environmental assessment. For this Gawler Challenge project, Ms Gwaliwa was responsible for GIS data analysis and visualization and has been responsible for placing the results of the project online for global visualization and sharing. Gwaliwa Mashaka has an MSc in GIS from the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom and she holds a BSc in Computer Engineering and IT at University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Athanas S. Macheyeki is a geologist, author of the book titled Applied Geochemistry: Advances in Mineral Exploration Techniques that has been published by Elsevier this year (Macheyeki et al. 2020). He is currently a Commissioner for the Mining Commission in Tanzania and the former CEO of the Tanzania Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, former Manager of Applied Geology at the Geological Survey of Tanzania, former Principal of the Mineral Resources Institute - Dodoma and former Head of Department of Geology - University of Dodoma. Prior to working for the Government of Tanzania, he served as a Senior Exploration Geologist for the Kabanga Nickel Company Ltd, Anglo American Company (Tanzania) and was one of the geologists who explored and evaluated the Buzwagi gold deposit (Tanzania) which is one of the world-class gold mines. He is the developer of lithogeochemical ratios useful for Ni-Cu sulphide exploration, particularly on concealed sulphide ore bodies (Macheyeki, 2011). He has authored/co-authored over a dozen publications, most of which are in peer reviewed journals. Athanas holds a BSc., MSc., and PhD in Geology.