Rate My Professor Bruce Bassett

Distinguished Professor Bruce Bassett is a faculty member in the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand, within the Faculty of Science. He joined Wits University as a Distinguished Professor in the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics in the Faculty of Science. Bassett holds a BScHons, MSc, and PhD from the University of Trieste. He completed his undergraduate studies in applied mathematics, physics, and mathematics, along with honours and master’s degrees in applied mathematics, at the University of Cape Town. He earned his PhD in astrophysics at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, and conducted postdoctoral research at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. He maintains a position as Full Professor in mathematics and applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town, dividing his time between the two institutions.

Bassett’s academic interests encompass cosmology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Bayesian methods. His career has included work in the United Kingdom and Japan, contributions to the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), and leadership in establishing the data science team for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project starting in 2017. At Wits, he serves as Chair in Science at the Wits Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery (MIND) Institute, collaborating across faculties including Health Sciences on AI applications such as identifying microbes linked to cancers and accelerating diagnosis of antimicrobial-resistant superbugs. His research integrates techniques from cosmology with AI to address challenges in health and medicine. Bassett is also recognized for his work as a data scientist and his creative pursuits in ceramics.