Dr Ruel Ellis


Senior Lecturer

Department of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering

St. Augustine

Trinidad and Tobago

Telephone:
868-662-2002 Ext. 83169


Dr. Ruel L.A. Ellis is a Senior Lecturer in Industrial Engineering with over three decades of combined academic, industrial, and consultancy experience. He has been a member of the academic staff at UWI St. Augustine since 1999 and currently serves as Programme Coordinator for the MSc Project Management programme, a role in which he has grown annual student throughput by more than 50% and advanced the programme toward formal accreditation. 

Before joining academia, Dr. Ellis served as Industrial Engineer and Assistant to the General Manager of Operations at National Flour Mills Limited, where he led process reengineering initiatives, plant redesign, and the implementation of ISO 9000 and ERP systems. He has since built an extensive consultancy portfolio spanning productivity improvement, intellectual property strategy, innovation ecosystem mapping, and sustainable food systems — with engagements commissioned by organisations including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). 

A recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for Scientific Ingenuity (Creative Solutions Category, 2013/14) and a Commonwealth Scholarship (British Council, 1993), Dr. Ellis is an active contributor to regional engineering education, currently serving as Chief Examiner for CAPE Green Engineering with the Caribbean Examinations Council. 

Qualification

  • PhD, Industrial Engineering — The University of the West Indies (2009)
  • MSc, Advanced Manufacturing Systems — Brunel University of West London (1994)
  • BSc, Industrial Engineering — The University of the West Indies (1989)
  • Postgraduate Certificate, University Teaching and Learning — UWI (2012)
  • Certificate, Data Analytics for Lean Six Sigma — University of Amsterdam / Coursera (2021)
  • Certificate, Scientific Writing — Stanford University (2022)
  • PM4R Professional Training of Trainers — Inter-American Development Bank (2025)
  • Advanced Training Methodologies & IP Technology Transfer — WIPO (2022)

Research Interests

  • Productivity modelling and systems engineering in health and industrial contexts
  • Intellectual property commercialisation and technology transfer
  • Sustainable food systems and appropriate agricultural technologies for Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
  • E-learning design, computer-based training, and the optimisation of learning across diverse learner profiles
  • Project management methodologies and their application in Caribbean development contexts
  • Blue economy and circular economy research and policy

Honours and Awards

  • Prime Minister’s Award for Scientific Ingenuity — Creative Solutions Category (2013/14)
  • Commonwealth Scholarship, British Council (1993)

Professional Memberships

  • Member, Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), USA — Board of the Society of Engineering and Management Systems
  • Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA — Hon. Secretary, Technology Management Council Chapter, T&T
  • Member, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)

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