News Releases

Seed Funds Awarded for Joint Projects between SUNY and The University of the West Indies

For Release Upon Receipt - June 25, 2013

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad & Tobago – The University of the West Indies (UWI) and the State University of New York (SUNY) have identified six projects to receive seed funding for collaboration in research and academic programmes. This collaboration, agreed to in a Memorandum of Understanding signed in January 2013, is viewed by both universities as a pre-requisite for deep and sustainable relationships. In support of this new system-to-system partnership between SUNY and The UWI − the world’s first multi-national university serving 16 member countries − both institutions have allocated seed funds.    

“SUNY and The University of the West Indies have a unique opportunity to develop a broad relationship that will advance our research and instruction in the areas of marine sciences, environmental sciences, health, education and other fields,” said SUNY Vice Chancellor for Global Affairs, Mitch Leventhal. “The proposals, selected from a strong pool of applications for seed funding, exemplified our purpose in bringing together our campuses for the benefit of all.  The sharing of resources and expertise in both directions will lead to new opportunities for our students, our faculty and our communities in New York and the Caribbean.” 

Coordinated by SUNY’s Office of Global Affairs, led by Vice Chancellor Leventhal, and The UWI’s Central Office for Regional and International Affairs, headed by Dr David Rampersad, the top proposals were selected based on the strength of the team and the feasibility of the proposed project in terms of expertise in the research or instructional area and potential project sponsors. 

The joint projects selected to receive seed funds are:

  • Enhancing Citizen Security in the Caribbean, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Buffalo, UWI Mona, UWI St Augustine and UWI Cave Hill (Lisa Meyer and William Lofquist, SUNY Geneseo, Project Leads)
  • Improving Cardiovascular Health in Native and Migrant Caribbean Populations, SUNY Downstate, SUNY Buffalo, UWI Mona, UWI Cave Hill and UWI Open Campus (Marshall Tulloch-Reid, UWI Mona, Project Lead)
  • SUNY/UWI Health-Related Research and Educational Collaborations in Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry, SUNY Geneseo and UWI Mona (Ruel McKnight, SUNY Geneseo, Project Lead)
  • Environmental Sciences and Climate Change, SUNY Albany, UWI Mona and UWI Cave Hill (Michael Taylor, UWI Mona, Project Lead)
  • Understanding the Effects of Land Practices and Pollution on the Health of Coral Reefs of the Caribbean, SUNY ESF, UWI Mona, UWI-Caribbean Coastal Data Centre, UWI-Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory (Mark Teece, SUNY ESF, Project Lead)
  • The Development of a New Course: Marine Invasive Alien Species in Tropical and Temperate Climates, SUNY Stony Brook, UWI Mona, UWI St Augustine (Dayne Buddo, UWI Mona, Project Lead) 

Dr Rampersad noted that “the partnership between The UWI and SUNY will facilitate not only knowledge creation and transfer in areas that are important to the countries and peoples that we serve but, by nurturing new relationships, will ensure that we build significant capacity among both academic staff and postgraduate students that will redound to the benefit of both institutions.” 

The SUNY-UWI partnership began in late 2012 and currently involves ten SUNY campuses. An initial work plan to support collaborative research and instruction has been devised by 60 administrators and faculty from both SUNY and The UWI.  

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About THE UWIOver the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with 45 physical site locations across the region, serving 16 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Food & Agriculture, and Social Sciences. 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 For the latest UWI News, click http://sta.uwi.edu/news

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