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Faculty Report 2010/2011

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Faculty Report 2010/2011 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES, ST. AUGUSTINE CAMPUS FACULTY REPORT 2010/2011 FACULTY REPORT 2010/2011 02 FACULTY OF ENGINEERING 16 FACULTY OF HUMANITIES & EDUCATION 32 FACULTY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES 48 FACULTY OF SCIENCE & AGRICULTURE 70 FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES 78 CENTRES & INSTITUTES 113 PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCES 1 Faculty of Engineering PROFESSOR BRIAN Copeland DEAN, Faculty OF ENGINEERING FACULTY REPORT 2010/2011 Dean’S Message ii. MPhil & PhD in Geomatics Engineering and Urban and Regional Planning The Faculty of Engineering continued its major activities in three areas related to the UWI Strategic Plan 2007- (d) Created a Faculty Process Manual that documents 2012, i.e., Curriculum and Pedagogical Reform (CPR) at all applicable regulations, procedures, roles and the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Research and responsibilities in the Faculty of Engineering. Innovation, and Support Systems. (e) Mandated all departments to adopt a well-defined Through the Open Campus/Trinidad the Faculty Learning Outcomes (LO) approach programme successfully started a new pre-engineering programme design and delivery. in September 2010. The pre-engineering programme is unique in that it offers dual certification through the (f) Started discussion on a more logical design for inclusion of vocational training components that include the GPA system that distinguishes it strictly as a welding, electrical installation, masonry and safety in metric of knowledge attained and consequently addition to the more traditional theoretical certification. abandons its use as a trigger for progression Discussions were held with the Open Campus to expand penalties (RTWs and Warnings) in preference to the programme Caribbean-wide. using the extent and frequency of course failures for this purpose. The Faculty continued on its three pillars of activity in Curriculum and Pedagogical Reform (CPR), Research (g) Started discussion with the National Training and Innovation (R&I) and System support. Summary Agency of Trinidad and Tobago on the addition details are as follows: of a vocational training track leading to a CVQ 1. CPR at all Levels Level 3 certification at graduation and a CVQ The Faculty Level 4 post graduation certificate running in (a) Established a dual certified Pre-Engineering parallel to the formal academic programme. programme that targets academic and certifiable This initiative would directly address the lack of hands-on knowledge (St Augustine). Following preparedness of graduates for the world of work. discussions with colleagues at Mona, the Faculty has begun consideration of extending (h) Mandated the Outreach Deputy Dean and this programme to a 2-Year Associate Degree the Engineering Institute to develop plans for in Engineering. The Faculty is of the view that distance delivery in selected postgraduate and this would more easily facilitate the vocational undergraduate programmes. component of the pre-engineering programme while providing students with a more useful (i) Engaged the IDU on the development of certificate. remediation programmes, significantly in mathematics, for weaker students and for (b) Facilitated development of an Engineering bridging gaps in students’ knowledge. Programme at Mona. (j) Supported the start of CACET accreditation in (c) Implemented the following new programmes: Civil and Chemical Engineering. i. MASc in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Revised) 1 B. Copeland, R. DeFour, S. Gift and St.C. King , Sustainable development in T&T and the Caribbean, Sir Arthur Lewis Memorial Conference, UWI, St Augustine, September 25-27 2008 3 FACULTY OF ENGINEERING 2. Research & Innovation iv Following are specific projects of note: Systemic Aspect a) The m-Fisheries Project targeting the use The Faculty moved to disseminate its template for of mobile phone technology to provide real a National Innovation System (NIS) to link top time market data to fisher folk was started level research to commercialisation. This took place by Dr. Kim Mallalieu in collaboration with through engagement of University Management and MIT. in “Panchayats” organised by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. Further efforts will involve: b) Edulink project in Urban Planning led by i Building as many of the components of the Dr. Asad Mohammed. NIS as possible, including academic (chaotic) research, developing a strategy for identification c) Canadian Government project with and protection of potentially lucrative IP SALISES to research the impact of Global (foresighting) and the creation of UWI Climate Change on coastal communities startups. (Dr. Michael Sutherland). ii Transformation of the Engineering Institute as d) Collaboration with CARIBSAT to conduct an effective Centre of Excellence (CoE) as per regionally relevant research using remote the NIS template. sensing methodologies (Professor Jacob Opadeyi). iii Formation of Faculty Research Clusters to support NIS development. v. Critical focus areas for clustering include natural disaster mitigation (floods, landslides, Highlights hurricanes, earthquakes) and renewable i The Steelpan Initiatives Project (SIP) energy. signaled the readiness of its R&D output for commercialisation. The Government of 3. Support Systems Trinidad and Tobago and the UWI were written i The Faculty engaged the broader campus in the in February 2011 on the issue of shareholding. task of documenting guidelines and standards for instructional spaces. ii UWI-recognised was an NVIDIA Computer Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) Centre ii The Classroom Technology Support Unit (for high speed parallel graphics processor unit (CTSU) was created and operationalised. The programming). posts in the CTSU are yet to be regularised. iii The Faculty was informed that two of its iii The Faculty facilitated the formation of CACET graduates, Messrs. Emile Ackbarali and Che (Caribbean Accreditation Council for Engineers Gibbon, were lead developers of a GPS navigation and Technologists) in conjunction with the and tracking application, MNAV, for Trinidad Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and Tobago. This shows that our attempts at (IEEE). inculcating a more innovative culture have started to bear fruit. 4 FACULTY REPORT 2010/2011 iv Work on the development of a metric-based During the review period the Petroleum Geoscience and assessment and promotions procedure for the the Petroleum Engineering Programmes were merged Faculty of Engineering slowed somewhat due to into the Petroleum Studies Unit (PSU). The PSU also the reduced availability of Dr. Bheshem Ramlal had an accreditation visit from the Institute of Materials, during the year. This was further impacted by Minerals and Mining (IOM3) from March 16–18, 2011 his appointment as Department Head as of which resulted in the re-accreditation of the MSc in September 2011. A new, more direct strategy Petroleum Engineering Programme for a 5-year period, has been devised to treat with this challenge. from student intake 2010. For the review period the Faculty enrolled 371 Research continued in the different disciplines within undergraduates, inclusive of twenty-four (24) in the the department – Chemical and Process Engineering, Electronics Engineering programme at Mona, and 272 Food Science and Technology and Petroleum Studies - postgraduates. Twenty-five (25) members of staff attended resulting in numerous publications from staff members. training provided by the Instructional Development The Department also continued to collaborate with local, Unit (IDU). The Faculty offered over 150 courses with an regional and international institutions and agencies. e-learning component. During the period under review, the department Work continued through the Engineering Institute in graduated fifty-three (53) students from its undergraduate the offering of Continuing Professional Development programmes as follows: First Class Honours (19%), courses. Second Class Honours Upper Division (40%), Second Class Honours Lower Division (36%) and Pass (5%). Departmental EXecutiVE Summaries These results were somewhat disappointing when Department of Chemical Engineering compared with previous years. A new Head of Department was installed for a three- year period with effect from August 1, 2010 and the On a brighter note, for the second consecutive year, a Department continued to maintain its quality delivery Chemical Engineering Student, Mr. Reginald Pantin, despite its many challenges. During the first quarter of emerged the faculty’s top performer academically, while the period under review, the Department undertook another student Ms. Meera Rampersad was selected as a strategic review of its operations facilitated by Valedictorian. Consultants, GBest Trading Company Limited. A team of assessors from the Institution of Chemical Engineers Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (IChemE) visited the department from April 18-19, 2011. In the 2010/2011 Academic Year, the Department of Civil Resulting from this visit was the re-accreditation of the and Environmental Engineering continued to perform BSc and MSc Programmes in Chemical and Process creditably. Undergraduate enrollment was near capacity Engineering for a 5-year period, from student intake and this is expected to continue for the next few years. 2010 to 2015. During the same period a team of assessors The postgraduate enrollment expanded significantly from Caribbean Accreditation Council for Engineering due to restructuring efforts designed to take advantage and Technology (CACET) was allowed to observe the
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