FACULTY REPORT 2018/2019 CONTENTS Faculty of Engineering 2 Faculty of Food & Agriculture 8 Faculty of Humanities & Education 17 Faculty of Law 29 Faculty Of Medical Sciences 43 Faculty of Science & Technology 53 Faculty of Social Sciences 68 Faculty of Sport - St. Augustine Academy of Sport 76 Centres and Institutes 81 ANSA McAlPsychological Research Centre 81 Centre for Health Economics (HEU) 86 Centre for Language Learning (CLL) 90 Institute for Gender & Development Studies (IGDS) 92 Institute of International Relations (IIR) 99 Seismic Research Centre (SRC) 108 Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social & Economic Studies (SALISES) 113 Publications & Conferences (Online Only) 116 Website: http://sta.uwi.edu Connect with UWISTA! UWI Today: http://sta.uwi.edu/uwitoday View the 18/19 Highlights and online extras at Social Media: Follow UWI St. Augustine on https://sta.uwi.edu/annualreport For information on how your business or https://uwitv.org organisation can tap into our wealth of research and expertise, contact A PUBLICATION OF THE MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE – St. Augustine Centre for Innovation and THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES, ST. AUGUSTINE CAMPUS Entrepreneurship Design and Layout: Paria Publishing Co. Ltd. T: (868) 662-2002 ext 82483 or (868) 224-3722 Printing: The Office Authority Limited or (868) 224-3723 E: [email protected] W: https://sta.uwi.edu/stacie/ 1 FACULTY OF ENGINEERING Dean’s Summary Over the period 2018/2019, there were several major accomplishments across the Faculty of Engineering. Among them, the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering finalised a collaborative agreement with TSTT, Huawei and The UWI resulting in the construction of a new Telecommunications’ Laboratory - the bmobile- UWI Innovation Laboratory powered by Huawei. Also note, the Chemical Engineering Department launched its MSc in Petroleum Engineering Programme at the University of Guyana in January 2019. The UWI Society of Petroleum Engineering (SPE) Student Chapter received an Excellence Award in recognition of its efforts in technical knowledge dissemination, operations, outreach, and innovation. A Research Group in the Department of Geomatics Engineering received the award for Special Achievement in GIS from the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). Professor Edwin Ekwue The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department DEAN hosted an Open Day involving industry personnel and conducted symposia and other outreach activities. Similarly, the Department of Geomatics Engineering engaged external government stakeholders by offering specialised training for valuation assessors and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) professionals, and maintained collaborative arrangements with several regional and international institutions. Two staff members continued to serve on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publications. Staff in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering conducted notable research resulting in the publication of more than 60 journal articles and conference papers and two inventions were submitted to the St. Augustine Centre for Innovation and Enterprise. The Department hosted the 4th Industrial Engineering and Management Conference in December 2018, as well as an Open Day and several workshops. Public seminars 2 FACULTY OF ENGINEERING FACULTY REPORT 2018 | 2019 covered the Industry 4.0 implications, the circular Diploma and Master’s programmes. However, there was economy, chocolate processing equipment and value an upward movement in enrolment in the MPhil and PhD added processing of cocoa plants. programmes in 2018/2019. Generally, enrolment was Among the important research developments down 6%, from 2178 last year to 2048. Undergraduate undertaken by the Faculty were the negotiations for the and postgraduate enrolment were down by the same installation of the Campus’s First Electric Vehicle Supply percentage to 1148 and 900 respectively. Equipment Level II Charger, which was scheduled for completion in December 2019. TT$ 1.7 million in Research Graduation and Development Impact (RDI) funding were received for research projects on sargassum in Trinidad & Tobago, Graduation numbers at the Faculty levelled off in autonomous transmission infrastructure monitoring 2018/2019. At 286, undergraduate output remained system and the development of a travel demand model roughly the same while the number of postgraduate for Trinidad. awards rose by 4% to 185. Other major Faculty initiatives included the revision The Faculty of Engineering honoured its top performing of the Appointments and Promotion document for students for 2018/2019 at its Prizes and Awards Ceremony. academic staff and the hosting of the first Mentorship Eighty-three percent of the graduating class attained Seminar for academic staff in September 2018. Eleven honours degrees with 10% achieving First Class honours Faculty Committees were re-constituted, including the degrees. The most outstanding graduating student for Faculty Entrepreneurial Committee (EI). Meanwhile, The 2018/2019 was Ms. Venessa Bhagwat who graduated UWI Engineering Institute is being fully developed as with First Class Honours from the BSc Chemical & Process a preferred hub for consulting services, solutions and Engineering programme. capacity building for stakeholders in Industry. The Faculty graduated 149 MSc and MASc students with The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 34 students earning distinctions. Four candidates were revised its undergraduate curricula reducing total credits awarded MPhil degrees while a record 13 candidates from 97 to 94 in order to lessen students’ work-load obtained their PhDs. Five of the PhDs were awarded consistent with the recommendations of its accreditors with high commendations. All our five departments and presentations to the Joint Select Committee of the graduated PhD students this year. The PhD recipients in Trinidad & Tobago Parliament. The two Faculty courses the Faculty were Mohammed Irfaan Ali (PhD Urban and in Engineering Entrepreneurship and Engineering Regional Planning), Marcia Indira Nathai-Balkissoon Internship established in the last academic year were (PhD Industrial Engineering), Robert Anderson Birch revitalised and continued this year. (PhD Mechanical Engineering), Charmaine O’brien- Delpesh (PhD Civil Engineering), O’neil Calvin Fallon (PhD Food Science and Technology), Marcus Lloyde Enrolment George (PhD Electrical and Computer Engineering), The total enrolment of students in the undergraduate Legena Albertha Henry (PhD Mechanical Engineering), and certificate programmes in the Faculty of Engineering Lee P. Leon (PhD Civil Engineering), Davatee Maharaj declined in the 2018/2019 Academic Year. This correlated (PhD Civil Engineering), Annalize Querida MsLean with a decline in the number of students admitted during (PhD Geoscience), Cassandra Nanlal (PhD Surveying the year under review. The downward trend was seen in and Land Information), Tamitha Nika Ramcharan (PhD all departments except for the Departments of Electrical & Petroleum Engineering), and Ricardo Joel Rodriguez Computer Engineering, and Mechanical & Manufacturing (PhD Mechanical Engineering). Engineering. The Faculty experienced a slight decrease in new student enrolment for its taught Postgraduate 3 FACULTY OF ENGINEERING Research in international conferences. Research was conducted in Research continued in different disciplines within the image processing, biomedical engineering applications, Departments throughout the Faculty. mobile applications for small scale fisheries, multi- processor systems, linear circuit applications, control systems, communication systems, energy efficiency, and Department of Chemical Engineering renewable energy. Some of the major areas of focus within the Department were identified and worked on. In Chemical and Process Department of Geomatics Engineering and Land Engineering, projects were undertaken on wastewater Management treatment, PET recycling, biofuels and supercritical CO2 extractions. In Food Science, the focus was on value The Department’s areas of research included generating added products from cassava, sweet potato, cocoa, lessons learnt on agricultural land banks in Grenada, Saint breadfruit, ackee and jamun. In Petroleum Studies, Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, funded by the work on oil recovery from Trinidad tar sands, natural gas Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) (Dr Charisse hydrates, and carbon dioxide capture and transmission of Griffith-Charles), and SUNRISE: Situated Understanding EOR and sequestration was done. of Resilience in Island Societies and Environments. The research has the potential to improve the means of capturing the socio-economic and political dynamics Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering that drive climate change impacts, adaptation and The areas of research focus within the Department resilience in island societies. It could also assist in the included, but were not limited to, Earthquake and development of culturally grounded approaches to Hurricane-Resistant High Energy Composite Housing utilising climate and environmental data across spatial System (Dr Richard Clarke), the CARIB-COAST project scales, and the translation of research into practice which – Caribbean network for coastal risks prevention related would enable more effective synthesis of evidence in with climate change (Dr Deborah Villarroel-Lamb); and local, national and global decision-making (Professor evaluation of the cliff failure