News Releases

UWI Staff and Alumni among 2016 National Awardees

For Release Upon Receipt - September 21, 2016

St. Augustine


St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago.  21 September 2016 - Two staff members from The UWI St Augustine Campus were named among the 2016 National Awards presented on the occasion of Trinidad and Tobago’s 54th Independence.  As is customary of the nation’s Independence celebrations, on August 31, national awards were given to recognise the contributions of citizens and non-nationals to the twin-island republic. Among this year’s awardees were Professor Andrew Jupiter and the late Professor Dave Chadee (awarded posthumously) from The UWI St Augustine Campus. Both received the Chaconia Medal (Gold) for long and meritorious service to Trinidad and Tobago. 

Energy Consultant, Professor Andrew Jupiter was conferred the honorary title of ‘Distinguished Fellow’ of the Petroleum Studies Unit in the Faculty of Engineering by the University in 2013. He is currently attached to the Department of Chemical Engineering.  

Known to many as “the mosquito man”, Professor Dave Chadee was a renowned Entomologist and Parasitologist, and an expert in vector-borne diseases, whose work has positively affected the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the world. He led research into mosquito-spread diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever, and malaria and most recently, the Zika virus.  He passed away on June 21, 2016.  

This year’s national awardees also included a number of UWI alumni. These include: Mr Angelo Bissessarsingh and Ms Cornelius Lewis who were both awarded the Humming Bird Medal (Gold), Mr Anstey Lumen Payne who was awarded the Humming Bird Medal (Silver), Ms Angella Jack and Mrs Jacqueline Wilson who were both awarded the Public Service Medal of Merit (Gold), Mr Iverne Ebenezer Yearwood who was posthumously awarded the Public Service Medal of Merit (Silver), and Ms Monica Rosalind Williams who was awarded the Medal For The Development Of Women (Gold). 

Campus Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor of The UWI St Augustine, Professor Brian Copeland, extends heartfelt congratulations to all the national award recipients. He added that it is particularly rewarding to see the work of Professor Jupiter and Professor Chadee and other UWI alumni lauded at a national level. 

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About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: http://www.uwi.edu/

 

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

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