Trinidad and Tobago: PM Keith Rowley attends 70th Anniversary of UWI Seismic Research Centre

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago: Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Sharon Rowley attended an event to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the UWI Seismic Research Centre at The UWI St Augustine on June 21, 2023, according to the update by the Office of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

As per the update, Dr Rowley was celebrated as the First Caribbean-born, UWI-trained scientist to be appointed Head of the Seismic Research Centre.

In his feature address under the theme ‘Honouring Legacies and Fostering the Future’, Prime Minister Rowley said, “The history of the agency is rooted in applied science, with the function being to provide a seismological and volcanological service to the English-speaking Eastern Caribbean, by keeping the governments advised about all matters relating to seismic and volcanic hazards. In that regard, for decades, the SRC has practised operational volcano and earthquake forecasting using both conventional strategies and techniques developed in-house.”

He furthermore congratulated the UWI’s Seismic Research Centre on the milestone achieved. In this regard, Dr Rowley said, “This is a legacy not only to be cherished by those directly involved but to be nourished by every student who enters and claims UWI as alma mater.”

He added, “It also should be a beacon and an imprimatur for every lecturer and researcher in every single Department, with a motto that says Oriens Occidente, that light shining in the west. We are all rays in that great beam. Let us all endeavour to keep shining.”

President of the Senate, Senator Nigel de Freitas, Minister of Education, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Minister in the Ministry of Education, Lisa Morris-Julian, Minister of National Security, Fitzgerald Hinds, Minister of Social Development and Family Services, Senator Donna Cox, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal for the St Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies, Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine and Chancellor, The University of the West Indies, Robert Bermudez were among the specially invited guests in attendance.