 “One man’s magic is another man’s engineering,” Robert Heinlein, the famed science fiction author once said. Driving along the highway at night and seeing the smoking towers of the Point-a-Pierre refinery, or spying the monolithic platforms off Trinidad’s east coast, it is easy to believe in the magic of engineering. But more than its impressive spectacles, the alchemy of engineering has made an enormous contribution to the prosperity of the entire region.
Since its formal opening on February 1, 1963, the Faculty of Engineering of The UWI, St Augustine Campus, has educated many within the profession – nation builders in the most literal sense. There is no better example of this than Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector, which not only depends on a cadre of UWI graduates, but is also very much the creation of UWI innovation and technical expertise. The energy model has been so successful that developing nations interested in establishing sectors of their own seek the assistance of Trinidad and Tobago over much larger and more developed players.
It’s an important equation to remember: oil and gas plus innovation – particularly because the oil and gas are finite. The date of their expiration is already on the horizon. But the third variable is not only renewable; it has endless potential for expansion. Seems like a good time to start drilling for innovation.
In fact, planners and policymakers have been grappling with the challenge of energising the society’s creative potential for invention and entrepreneurship for some time. Most recently, the Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development set up its Council for Competitiveness and Innovation in 2011 to encourage local innovators.
For decades now the Faculty of Engineering has used technical innovation to solve problems. From the 2014-2015 academic year, the Faculty will be working to make Caribbean societies more innovative and entrepreneurial.
“If you listen to the conversation now, everyone is talking about innovation,” says Professor Brian Copeland, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. “It has to happen. Oil and gas are not going to last forever. It takes a generation to change mindsets so the best time to start changing mindsets is now.”
What this means for the Faculty is that across its five departments of engineering – Civil and Environmental, Chemical Engineering, Electrical and Computer, Mechanical and Manufacturing, and Geomatics and Land Management – not only will students receive an education in their respective disciplines, they will also, should they desire, be supported in developing their inclinations for creative ventures. From the development of innovative projects to the creation of start-up companies, the Faculty of Engineering has ambitions of becoming a regional innovation hub that fosters a culture of inventive entrepreneurship and facilitates its success.
The new age of invention
Around two years ago, the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the St Augustine Campus acquired its first 3D printer. The purchase was the most recent of several moves over almost a decade to use advances in technology to accelerate regional manufacturing. It represents UWIs determination to use its resources for the material benefit of society. It’s a determination that Professor Copeland says was born in the Faculty of Engineering.
“The whole concept of innovation and entrepreneurship that is led by innovation originated here,” he says. “I remember well when the discussion started in the mid 1980s. There was a ‘publish or perish’ paradigm at the time and a lot of us were frustrated with it. We said that the University needed to understand the big picture and although publishing is very important, what completes the picture is innovative activity.”
Indeed, there are many examples worldwide of universities acting as engine rooms for game-changing technologies and processes. In the US, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has earned a reputation as a cathedral of human ingenuity on a perpetual quest for new and improved solutions to a host of real-world challenges – including economic challenges. Silicon Valley, the technology hub of the United States, operates in a near symbiotic relationship with Stanford University, relying on them for research, manpower and budding tech entrepreneurs.
It is through these academic/industry collaborations that phenomena like web giant Google, Samsung Electronics’ smartphone empire (using Android technology) and the aforementioned 3D printing, were spawned. Professor Copeland and his colleagues envisioned the same type of relationship between UWI and the private sector.
With this in mind, his colleague Professor Emeritus St Clair King spearheaded the formation of the Real Time Systems Group (RTSG) within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering during the 1980s. RTSG has worked with industries within Trinidad and Tobago on several notable projects, among them the first electronic scoreboard in the Queen’s Park Oval, an offshore data movement system for Trinmar, as well as work for the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT).
However, RTSG has not received the kind of engagement from business that would have established an innovation-generating relationship.
“The kind of engagement we saw with universities involved in other countries, pushing boundaries in research and using that research to push their products and processes on a total operational basis, we didn’t see it happening here,” Professor Copeland said.
He went on, “we came to the conclusion that our society was not designed that way, maybe because of its size or its history. We came up with the notion that the Faculty of Engineering needs to be the body that pushes the concept of innovation and ties it to entrepreneurship.”
Resilient Citizens
For decades now, this realisation has influenced Professor Copeland and contributed to his approach as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. Today he sees a Faculty-driven innovation agenda as urgent. Not only because Trinidad and Tobago’s need for economic diversification has become pressing but also because 2014-2015 will be his seventh and final year at the head of the Faculty.
“I want this year to be special because there are things that need to happen,” he says.
The Professor has a fairly comprehensive agenda for 2014-2015 and beyond, which, apart from strengthening how the Faculty and its departments deliver education and promote research, will also create more space for innovation and enterprise for students and faculty. \
“We want to bolster our capability to help them become innovators if they so desire. The majority of students will still go out and join the workforce as professional engineers, but the one or two who are interested in innovation (and that number is increasing) in addition to their studies, we want to be able to give them more support.”
Professor Copeland himself is an innovator. “I’ve always been a thinker. I’ve always been pulling devices apart. Looking for the ‘man in the radio’ is where it started,” he laughs.
He has invented both the G-Pan (an advancement in steel pan design) and the PHI (an electronic instrument using the steel pan design), and is working along with a University team to eventually bring the PHI to the market through a start-up company with input from UWI.
“We need a process in this university that carries us through the whole value chain, right through to commercial reality,” he explains. “Somebody comes up with a brand new idea and within the next two to three years it is a saleable product through a company that UWI has some kind of interest in. You build your students by exposing them to that whole cycle. You encourage staff. You have an alternate income stream. And you are adding to the country and region’s economic landscape.”
The Faculty also plans on increasing the size and scope of its Academic Development and Research Activity (ADARA) programme, which provides employment opportunities for students during the vacation period. ADARA is currently a Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering programme, but Professor Copeland wants to expand it to the entire Faculty in a new programme called the Summer Research Opportunity Programme (SROP), a name coined by fellow steelpan researcher Dr April Bryan who proposed the SROP. But even outside of the ADARA the Faculty has been employing students for about 15 years now, increasing from an initial number of five up to about 50. With these plans the number can increase dramatically.
“Innovation comes from experience, Says Professor Copeland, explaining the effect of student employment at the Faculty. “If you look at most of the innovation in the world it arose from people engaged in an activity and finding a need within that activity. You don’t get that experience by just reading a book. You have to be engaged, see the problem and then create the solution.”
Students who work at UWI within the Faculty are engaged in research and publication, as well as bringing projects to commercialised states.
“Last year we had four undergraduate students working on pan research. We got a paper out of it. This year we have four more students and we hope to get two or three papers,” he said.
“The Faculty is actually having a closing ceremony to celebrate the work of these students. The goal is to recognise their work and encourage them in the process of research and development. I have seen students grow enormously within the first month of a programme like this because they are getting experience and building confidence. I have seen confidence take off. And that, I think, is an enormous benefit.”
Professor Copeland will also encourage the engineering departments in creating an environment that promotes and supports innovation, including working to ensure that intellectual property rights are protected.
And these initiatives that are specific to fostering innovation within the Faculty of Engineering are only part of the Dean’s agenda for improving the teaching of the engineering discipline within UWI at the St Augustine Campus. It is an enormous task for his final year and Professor Copeland is realistic about his chances of completing it all within the timeframe. His goal is to ensure that the essentials are in place so that they can be continued, completed and expanded going forward.
Yet tapping into the nation’s potential for innovation is one of his greatest priorities:
“To me innovation is about more than making money,” he says. “Yes, money is important because we have to survive, but that’s only the first step. Take a look at people who are quick on their feet, can come up with new ideas and solve problems. If you have that kind of citizen your society has a much more resilient core. You are building a very capable people.”
And wouldn’t that be the ultimate feat of engineering?
Faculty of Engineering 2014-2015 initiatives at a glance
The Faculty of Engineering is looking at several ways for improving the educational experience as well as the overall development of students. Some of these initiatives will be embarked upon in 2014-2015, others are in the proposal phase.
- Student engagement – Improvement in course quality and systems to better maintain course quality so as to provide students with a better learning experience.
- Research and Development – Establishing UWI’s first start-up company.
- Student Employment – Expansion and formalisation of the ADARA programme to employ engineering students for research and development activities during the summer. The new programme will be called the Summer Research Activity Programme (SROP).
- Infrastructural Improvements – Introduce new technology into the classroom to further stimulate students’ interest and learning.
|
