SUNDAY 14 OCTOBER, 2018 – UWI TODAY
23
PROFILE
PROFESSOR EDWIN EKWUE:
Engineering will rise to the challenge
By
Joel Henry
Joel Henry
is a freelance writer, journalist and corporate communications specialist
On August 1, 2018,
Professor Edwin
Ekwue was appointed Dean of the
Faculty of Engineering at UWI, St
Augustine. It’s a critical appointment at
a critical time. Since its establishment
in 1961, the St Augustine Campus’
Engineering Faculty has produced
generations of engineers, research and
policy ideas that have helped shape the
destiny of the Caribbean.
Today the Faculty is needed
more than ever. Persistent economic
challenges, crime, climate change,
food security – the list of challenges
facing the region is daunting. And
as the premier Caribbean institution
for tertiary education, UWI is one of
the best resources for dealing with
them. The Faculty of Engineering is an
important tool in its arsenal.
“Engineering is very versatile,”
says Professor Ekwue. “You can create
enduring structures like skyscrapers.
If there is an erosion problem, you can
solve it. If there is a food problem, you
can develop systems to produce more
food.”
When asked if he is deterred by
the challenges of his new position, the
Dean smiles confidently and says: “I
know the job has a lot of challenges,
but having a lot of experience within
the system, I know that I am prepared
for the challenges.”
Ekwue, a professor of biosystems
(agricultural) engineering, certainly
has the experience. He has worked
at St Augustine for more than 26
years, starting in 1992 as a lecturer in
the Department of Mechanical and
Manufacturing Engineering. As a
researcher in the area of soil and water
resources engineering, he has made
major contribution in scientific inquiry
and knowledge. He has written or
contributed tomore than 100 academic
papers. As a teacher he has educated
thousands of students and supervised
more than 150 undergraduate projects.
And as an administrator he has been
representing the Faculty in various
senior positions for over 15 years.
“My personal maxim is: ‘Anything
I want to do, I do it and do it very well’,”
Ekwue says.
It is an outlook he attributes to
his parents and teachers in his home
country of Nigeria. Ekwue is the fourth
of eight children, four boys and four
girls. Most of them are academics.
Four of them have PhDs. All of them
are high achievers. Growing up in the
agricultural region of eastern Nigeria,
he had the strengthening influence of
life on a farm and parents who were
both teachers, at a time when the
Nigerian government was making
major investments in the education of
its youth.
“From age two or three we were
taken to the farm,” he recalls. “I was
also very good at mathematics. So I
said I would become an engineer. The
question was what kind of engineering
I should do.”
Agricultural engineering was
the obvious choice. So he embarked
on his academic career. And it was
while pursuing his graduate studies in
England in the 80s that he learned of
Trinidad and Tobago.
“There was a graduate student
from Trinidad,” Ekwue says. “He told
us all about BWIA (the predecessor of
Caribbean Airlines) and said a lot of
nice things about the country. I said
to myself this is a place I have to visit.”
He did more than visit. After
returning to Nigeria and working as a
lecturer for some years at the University
of Maiduguri, he applied for a lecturer
post at UWI, St Augustine and was
hired. That was in 1992. Ekwue has
lived and worked here ever since.
He smiles and says: “In Eastern
Nigeria the weather is almost the same
as Trinidad. The kind of food, the
people, almost everything is similar to
what we have. So by the time I came
here, despite some very minor cultural
differences, I was at home.”
Ekwue certainly doesn’t fit the
stereotype of the introverted academic.
He smiles warmly, he laughs. In his
very limited free time he chooses
outgoing activities. He has served as
both president and secretary of the
Nigerian Community in Trinidad and
Tobago, positions that involve a host
of social activities. He loves music
– Fela Kuti and Oriental Brothers
International.
“You also have very good music in
Trinidad – calypso. I like a lot of that,”
he says.
That capacity for interaction and
organisation are vital for his new
Professor Edwin Ekwue, Dean of Engineering
post. The first item on his agenda is
addressing the staff of the Faculty at
all levels.
“I’ve already started meeting with
staff to find out their concerns and to
explain to them what the University
expects of them,” he says. “They should
be happy in their jobs because once they
are, they will be able to deliver the best
possible service.”
Ap a r t f rom t ha t , t he new
Dean also has major objectives for
promoting impactful research and
commercialization, and improving
teaching and career opportunities for
students.
Most importantly, he wants to
inculcate the kind of positive and
productive energy that has powered
his own life:
“We know that the Government
has a lot of financial challenges,” he
says, “but all the Faculties have to
work together, raise themselves and do
all they can to improve and generate
more value for the University and the
country. UWI has done good work and
made a good impact. It is now for us to
build on that work.”
