8
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 7TH JUNE, 2015
CAMPUS life
Here is what
the UWI IBM
interns had to say
Jevon Beckles
IBM Project 2008:
Design of a pin array
controller for sensory perception and virtual
reality
My greatest fear of doing a PhD, especially in the
context of a small-island state, was that I would be
bound to university teaching for the rest of my life.
The internship experience threw those thoughts out
quite quickly. It showed me that research could be
exciting, but more so, relevant to everyday life.
Yohan Seepersad
IBM PROJECT 2009:
Reducing parasitic series
resistance in silicon solar cells
The IBM experience is priceless. Words will barely
describe the manner in which those few months
can drastically change one’s perspectives. Research
is the heart and soul of everything technology
is built on. We have smarter phones, faster
computers, smaller robots, better medicine, where
does it all come from? Who does it? Who can do
it? For me the answer to the last question was most
significant: I can do it.
Barrington Brown
IBM PROJECT 2010:
Voltage stress dielectric
characterization for CMOS interconnects
My ideal career after my next phase of education
would be something that allows me the exposure
in either Research and Development or Design.
Eventually I hope to become an entrepreneur.
IBM allowed me to get a taste of research and it
has given me a hunger for something outside the
typical role of an engineer in the Caribbean.
Brad Ali
IBM PROJECT 2012:
Financial control and
organizational governance in Cloud
Prior to IBM, I had my eye set on working in
the oil and gas industry or in the generation/
distribution side of the energy sector, but
throughout the internship programme, I came to
realize there were many more applications for my
experience even within the energy sector. Learning
about IBM’s Smarter Energy and Smart Grid
projects while working there, inspired to explore
those avenues within the energy sector.
Hannah Abdool
IBM PROJECT 2014:
Design and
Implementation of App to Aesthetically
Critique Dishes on Google Glass
I had considered changing my degree, at times even
quitting my studies altogether. I was not happy
with my projected path. I love the Arts, and to me,
my STEM degree suffocated that part of me. It is
no understatement that my experience at IBM
changed the way I perceived my education and
my life altogether. My internship project combined
aspects of Engineering and Culinary Arts, and
proved to me that there is Art underlying every
Science.
Dr. Nicholas Fuller explains the internship to students.
The relationship began back in 2008
when Jevon Beckles
was chosen as the intern to join the IBM TJ Watson
Research Headquarters in Yorktown Heights, New York.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
(DECE) at UWI St. Augustine had been approached not
long before by IBM Master Inventor, Dr. Nicholas Fuller,
Research Staff Member and Manager at the research
facility. IBM Research wanted to offer an annual 10-12
week internship to level-two students, hoping to expose
undergraduates to their sophisticated industrial research
in the hope that it would persuade them to continue along
the engineering research trajectory.
At the time, Dr. Kim Mallalieu was the Head of the
DECE, seen as the top performing STEM Department at
The UWI. The DECE was also well known for the rigour
of the undergraduate degree that prepared students well as
regional industry leaders and had attained accreditation
from the IET. So when Dr. Fuller selected Jevon Beckles, it
was no surprise that he performed exceptionally well in the
IBM environment. It paved the way for all the others who
have since followed. The internship was offered again for
another year, and has been available since.
Dr. AkashPooransingh, a Lecturer inComputer Systems
at the DECE, has been the main coordinator between IBM
Research and The UWI. In January 2015, a Joint Study
Agreement was signed between the IBM Corporation and
The UWI for one year, naming Dr Pooransingh and Ying
Li of IBM as its Technical Coordinators.
One of the terms of the JSA is that, “IBM grants to
the University an irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide
and fully paid-up license to use, execute, reproduce and
distribute internally, the IBM Software, and any other
copyrightable materials furnished or developed by IBM
under this agreement.”
The immediate effect has been to allow the 2014
intern, Hannah Abdool, “access to cutting edge research
components developed and patented at IBM Research to
be incorporated as an element of her own research project
at UWI,” says Dr. Pooransingh. “This is significant as it was
never done previously and UWI benefits from having IBM
Research as a research collaborator. Before this, the interns
were not able to share or even continue to work on the
research done at IBM with UWI.”
His enthusiasm is shared by Dr Mallalieu.
“The Department treasures the relationship it has built
with IBM Research over the past seven years,” she said.
“At the host in Yorktown Heights, our interns have made
The UWI, their country and the region proud through
exemplary conduct and contributions. At home, their shared
experience has heightened the interest of other students in
intellectual leadership and careers in research. Staff linkages
have also triggered thriving lines of research.”
IBMResearch Interns Reprogrammed
Students say their lives have been changed
From left, Hannah Abdool, Dr Nicholas Fuller, Dr Akash Pooransingh and Jevon Beckles at the
IBM Research Facility in New York.
