The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Students

Jason Renwick

2015 Ames Honour Award for outstanding technical contributions to electronics prognostics and for unprecedented support to NASA's education mission.  Awarded by NASA's Ames Research Center.

The UWI IEEE Student Branch

2014 IEEE Darrel Chong Student Activity Award.

Staff

Dr. S. Bahadoorsingh:

Recipient of 2014 IEEE Outstanding Branch Counselor Award (1 of 10 globally, 1 of 2 in Region 9).

Prof. C. Sharma:

Recipient of 2014 IEEE EAB Meritorious Achievement Award in Accreditation Activities.

Telios Code Jam 2018

Groups comprised of our students won the following:

• Best in Presentation
• Best in Code
• Teleios Code Jam Challenge #3
• Overall (2 out of the 3 winning groups were from our Department)

UWI Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence 2016

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, St Augustine Campus won the Departmental Award for Excellence (outstanding departments and units in the area of quality assurance excellence).

Patents

Patents in Motors

Dr Ronald De Four is the author and inventor of “Self Starting Method and an Apparatus for Sensorless Commutation of Brushless DC Motors” a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Patent Application. This PCT Patent Application having been previously prosecuted before the Austrian Patent Office and granted a positive International Preliminary Examination Report (IPER) by this International Examining Authority under the PCT, was published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on July 13, 2006.

Other publications of this invention have occurred at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on  March 26, 2009 and at the European Patent Office (EPO) on September 19, 2007. A Grant of Letters Patent has been issued by the Intellectual Property Office of Trinidad and Tobago and this application is in the Patent Pending Stage via an Ex parte Quayle Action at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The invention is currently being prosecuted in several other jurisdictions.

Patent and National Awards in Music Technology

The Department has been a global industry leader in steelpan research, with patents granted, and national awards conferred, in recognition of the value of the work conducted in the Department’s Steelpan Research Laboratory. The most notable of the many recent awards received by staff in the Department is the 2008 Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the nation’s highest award, for ‘Distinguished and Outstanding Service to Trinidad and Tobago in the Steelpan conferred to Prof. Brian Copeland and two colleagues. The year before, the Chaconia Gold Medal had been conferred to the Genesis Steelband Project Team, led by Professor Brian Copeland, as testimony to the Department’s continued leadership in local research and innovation in the area of the steel pan.

Professor Brian Copeland is the inventor of the “G-Pan Musical Instrument”.  Patent applications have been filed in his name with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago as assignee. This PCT patent application has been published by WIPO on January 22, 2009, the European Patent Office on January 14, 2009 and the United States Patent and Trademark Office on January 15, 2009.  A Grant of Letters Patent has been issued by the Intellectual Property Office of Trinidad and Tobago and this application is in the Patent Pending Stage at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The invention is currently being prosecuted in sixty-one (61) jurisdictions. The G-Pan trademark was granted by the IPO of Trinidad and Tobago and prosecution of the said mark is progressing in eighty-one (81) jurisdictions. Prof. Copeland is commercialising this invention in Panadigm Innovations Limited.

Percussive Harmonic Instrument ("PHI") is the second invention coming out of the Steelpan Research Laboratory of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of the West Indies.  It follows the G-Pan and is a sub-project under the Steelpan Initiatives Project funded by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.  P.H.I. merges the powerful facility of MIDI with a physical form inspired by the traditional steelpan.  The PCT patent application, "An Apparatus for Percussive Harmonic Musical Synthesis Utilizing Midi Technology (APHAMS)" of Prof. Brian Copeland and other staff members received a clean and positive IPER from the Austrian Patent Office on April 30, 2009.  A Grant of Letters Patent has been issued by the Intellectual Property Office of Trinidad and Tobago and this invention is currently being prosecuted in thirty five (35) jurisdictions and has been published at the Indian Patent Office on May 15, 2009.  The PHI trademark was granted by the IPO of Trinidad and Tobago and prosecution of the said mark is progressing in thirty-five (35) jurisdictions. Attempts are also being made to commercialize this instrument.