SUNDAY 3 JUNE, 2018 – UWI TODAY
13
ENGINEERING
TheUniversity of theWest Indies (UWI)
St Augustine
Campus launched an integrated community project
for the Farm Road, St. Joseph community on May 7
which which aims to collaborate with the community
in order to improve the education, health and social
well-being of residents.
The UWI-Farm Road Collaborative Project
comes out of the Office of the Deputy Principal
through the Careers, Co-curricular and Community
Engagement department of the Division of Student
Services and Development (DSSD), in collaboration
with the UWI’s Social Work Unit, Department of
Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences.
The project provides an innovative model for
community engagement, in-service learning and cross
collaboration, already partnering with the School
of Education in many of its activities. The project
creates a space for partnership and involvement of
all members of the University community as well as
stakeholders in the public and private sectors.
Amajor outcome of this five-year project will be a
designed and tested interventionmodel for university,
community and civil society partnership which can
be replicated in communities with similar needs
across Trinidad and Tobago. The project, aimed at
encouraging positive change, hopes to develop a strong
partnership between the University and communities.
Deputy Principal Professor Indar Ramnarine
spoke on the project, stating “Within the higher
education sector, community engagement and service
learning programmes are increasingly being valued as
a means for transforming students into more civic-
minded, engaged citizens with a keen sense of social
responsibility. This project has many wins. In-house,
UWI launches Social InnovationProject for FarmRoad, St. JosephCommunity
we are pleased to facilitate cross-faculty collaborations
that have direct positive impacts on the community.
On the research front, the project will also give us
insight into the best ways to equip communities to
drive their own development and also allow our social
workers to develop and test strategies for interventions
in low-income, often under-represented communities.
This is us living our mission of transforming the region
through innovative thinking.”
The project has been in progress since last year
under the guidance and vision of former Deputy
Principal, Professor Rhoda Reddock. Some of the
initiatives already rolled out (with the support of Social
Work and School of Education students) include:
Members of UWI’s Division of Student Services and Development (DSSD), Social work Unit, Dept. of Behavioural Sciences and members of
the Farm Road Community.
PHOTO: KEYON MITCHELL
On a regular Friday afternoon,
the Marketing
and Communications Office posted a video of the
Department of Mechanical andManufacturing’s 2018
Exhibition themed Engineering for the Future on its
UWI St Augustine Facebook page. In less than two
days, the video earned over 5,000 views and 100 shares
by people praising the work of final year students who
exhibited, including the top three students who won
prizes for the Final-Year Capstone Project Contest.
Students’ work was judged according to four
main areas: Poster and Methodology; Exhibits or
Prototype; Presentation and Interview and Overall
Accomplishments and Commercial Viability.
When this socialmedia correspondent interviewed
First Prize winner Dillon Chong, he was overwhelmed
by the sudden attention, saying: “I didn’t expect all
this.” Nonetheless upon subtle prompting, he explained
that he built his prize-winning 3D printer to educate
Trinidadians about its endless possibilities: “Anything
you can think about making, you can print a plastic
3D model for.” His advice for aspiring engineers was
to “Try to challenge yourselves, do something outside
the box so you could actually become better by doing
something you didn’t think you could do.”
Creating a Cadet class electric go-cart was a no-
brainer for secondplacewinner JoshuaDeonarinesingh
who spoke about his love for racing, cars and anything
to do with motor sports in general. Deonarinesingh
knew by creating a cadet class of go-cart, he would
enter his creation into a popular class of vehicles used
• Drapery and Home Linens skills training course
• ‘The White Tent’ project which provides a weekly
homework and life-skills training centre in the
community
• Movie night
• Vacation Camp
• Conflict resolution training sessions
This yearThe University of theWest Indies (UWI)
celebrates its 70th Anniversary under the theme 70
Years of Service, 70 Years of Leadership. Across the
institution special campus events and projects such as
the UWI-Farm Road Collaborative Project will mark
the milestone.
‘If YouCanDreamIt,
YouCanAchieve It’
B Y J E A N E T T E G . A W A I
by professionals and motorsport enthusiasts alike.
Similarly, Ispahani Hosein alongside one of his
supervising technicians, Marlon Dolloway, Senior
Laboratory Assistant, exhibited a bamboo canoe
because of his love of kayaking. Hosein did not
compete in the contest, but was one of the main
attractions because of his canoe’s sleek bamboo frame
and outer waterproof polyvinyl canvas. Hosein came
up with this idea as a cheaper, more lightweight
alternative to the existing plastic kayak design. “The
bamboo canoe is 47 lbs. and can hold up to 250 lbs. I
tested it myself in the deep waters of Chaguaramas.”
The third place winner was Lynessa Leonard. Her
modifications to an existing design put her invention,
a rotating soil compactor, in a class of its own. Literally.
The initial model was done by another student, Anika
Taylor, three years ago and Leonard’s updated design
includes a rotating and balance effect to induce
vibration resulting in the first ever soil compactor to do
this on an international scale. The machine is used to
measure the density of soil by means of measuring the
soil compaction in order to determine the maximum
density and load that can be applied to the soil. The
ramifications of this are integral to the construction
and agricultural industries. Leonard was quick to add
that “We had a lot of help, from the department and
supervisors to the chief technicians. If it wasn’t for
them, we would never be able to finish these projects.”
When asked what she would tell other women
interested in creating solution-based machines, she
humbly stated, “If you can dream it, you can achieve
it. Just try hard with whatever you do.”
The video featuring all of these students is available
at The UWI St. Augustine YouTube channel:
.
Jeanette G. Awai is a freelance writer and a Marketing
and Communications Assistant at The UWI St.
Augustine Marketing and Communications Office
