The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is the global professional membership organisation for people who have an interest in, and relevant experience in, chemical engineering. IChemE is the only organisation that awards ‘Chartered Chemical Engineer’ status.
UTT’s own Executive President of the Student Guild, Ms. Laura Lewis, has been recognised, and will be honoured, by this prestigious Institution as she receives IChemE’s ‘Ambassador Prize’. Laura was IChemE’s unanimous choice as she worked assiduously to promote IChemE and to increase the Institution’s membership among local students.
For her outreach, involvement and for her efforts in starting a student branch of IChemE at UTT, Laura reigned supreme as this year’s overwhelming choice. According to Dr. David Brown, Chief Executive at IChemE, “The ‘Ambassador Prize’ is awarded to an individual who has made a key contribution to a short/medium term IChemE project”. Usually, the Institution presents the ‘Ambassador Prize’ exclusively to someone who has submitted a worthy project. According to the IChemE, however, “on this occasion [2012], two separate awards will be made.”
Laura will accept her award in the United Kingdom in June, 2012 where she will also present a poster at IChemE’s ESCAPE Conference. She has been a role model in her efforts to promote the development, understanding and use of chemical engineering and the appreciation of its importance within UTT. Laura’s achievements with IChemE should bode well for UTT as we seek out programme accreditation with IChemE.
Laura is presently pursuing the Master of Engineering in Process Engineering at UTT and is the Founder and Marketing and Communications Officer of IChemE at UTT. She also sits as the UTT representative on the National Students’ Union of Trinidad and Tobago. According to her, “My primary aim as Student Guild President is to encourage all of the students of UTT to be more proactive in their involvement in extra-curricular activities. It is my dream that the ideal UTT Graduate will excel not only academically, but also incubate all of the soft skills which will serve well in either the workplace or in entrepreneurship”.
Our UTT family salutes Laura and congratulates her in her efforts to promote the University both at home and abroad!
