News Releases

UWI LECTURER WINS INTERNATIONAL PIONEER AWARD FOR SOLAR

For Release Upon Receipt - September 8, 2008

St. Augustine


The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine Campus lecturer Dr. Indra Haraksingh has been recently presented with the International Pioneer Award for Solar Energy. Dr. Haraksingh received this prestigious award at the Tenth World Renewable Energy Congress (WREC X) held in Glasgow, Scotland, where she delivered a lecture on Renewable Energy in the Caribbean. This award was one of six presented internationally. No stranger to accolades, In Dr. Haraksingh has also been previously honoured with the Outstanding Scientist Award - The First Oliver Headley Award in Cologne, Germany in July 2002.

Dr. Haraksingh, lecturer within the Department of Physics, has distinguished herself as one of the premier women in the Field of Renewable Energy in the Caribbean. The World Renewable Energy Congress, held every two years, is the major event within the field of Renewable Energy and attracts an international audience, from over 100 participating countries. The congress facilitated exchanges of knowledge and business initiatives between participants from developed and developing countries. In addition, it assisted with generating financial and institutional support for local and international renewable energy projects as well as the latest research on the topic; some of which were presented at the Congress.

In an effort to help develop renewable energy technologies in the Caribbean region, Dr. Haraksingh serves as a Member of the Projects Steering Committee of the Caribbean Renewable Energy Development Programme (CREDP), CARICOM. She also heads the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee of the Pilot Project on The Use of Renewable Energy Technologies in Trinidad and Tobago, an initiative of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. Dr. Haraksingh’s main focus is in Pure Physics, Solar Energy, Geophysics and Earth Sciences. She has been serving as a member of the International Steering Committee of the World Renewable Energy Network and as President of the Caribbean Solar Energy Society (CSES) for over ten years.

Dr. Haraksingh is one of the major organizers of the CSES Sustainable Applications for Tropical Island States (SATIS) series of conferences which started in 1994 in Barbados. Since then, the conference has been held bi-annually in St. Lucia, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Trinidad, Curacao and Orlando, Florida. She has co-edited the Book of Abstracts and full CDROM proceedings of some of the SATIS conferences.

As a major contributor to the development of youth and Mathematics in Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Haraksingh has also been involved with Trinidad and Tobago Mathematics Olympiad since 1994. She is the driving force behind the success of this organization, serving as Chair for over ten years. She had led Trinidad and Tobago National teams to the International Mathematics Olympiad in many countries of the world. In July this year, she led the National delegation to International Mathematics Olympics in Madrid, Spain where one of the students captured a Bronze Medal. WREC X follows successful meetings in Florence (2006), Denver (2004), and Cologne (2002). WREC XI will be held in Abu Dhabi in 2010.

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