postgraduate prospectus - The University of the West Indies, St ...

T h e f a C u l T Y o f
Science & Agriculture
page 52 > t h e u n i v e r s i t y o f t h e w e s t i n d i e s – s t . a u g u s t i n e c a m p u s
DeParTmenT of ChemiSTrY
The Department of Chemistry offers graduate
programmes leading to the M.Phil. and Ph.D.
degrees in the areas of Natural Products,
Inorganic and Materials Chemistry, Environmental
Chemistry and Waste Management, Bioanalytical
Chemistry, Nuclear Magnetic and
Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Spectroscopy,
Supramolecular Chemistry, Organic Synthesis,
Solution Thermodynamics and studies on
Emulsion Systems.
Students may register on a part-time or full-time
basis, but the Department has found the former
to be the more difficult route to a higher degree
in Chemistry. Scholarships are available through
the Board for Graduate Studies and Research
to students of the highest academic standing.
Some departmental funding in the form of
demonstratorship is also available for registered
postgraduate students not on scholarship.
State of the art facilities for research in a variety
of areas exist. Topics which are currently being
actively investigated by staff, in conjunction
with postgraduate students, include:
• Isolation and structure elucidation of
Natural Products from terrestrial plants and
marine organisms including synthesis and
bioactivity testing;
• Optical, electronic, magnetic and catalytic
properties of organometallic complexes;
• Rational design and construction of
supramolecular assemblies;
• Environmental monitoring and hazardous
waste management and disposal;
• Biosensors for environmental, clinical and
forensic applications
• Applications of immobilised enzymes and
biomolecules; bioseparation processes;
• Magnetic and quadrupole resonance studies
of dynamic equilibria;
• Calorimetric studies of emulsion
systems, e.g., in petroleum and cosmetic
industries;
• The preparation of carbohydrates and
novel boron-based catalysts for organic
synthesis;
• Synthesis of plasticisers for use in cement
admixtures
• Investigation of aggregate structure in
biological membrane models;
• Polymer cracking using fluidisation
techniques;
• Molecular modeling of synthetic membranes
and assemblies;
• Synthesis of chiral ligands based on the [2.2]
paracyclophane framework for use in chiral
sythesis;
• Microbial degradation and fate of xenobiotics in
environmental systems. Air quality monitoring;
Endocrine disruptors in fresh watersystems.
• Corrosion chemistry; electroanalytical
methods;
• Carbohydrate synthesis;
• Oxidation of methane;
• Enzymes in ionic liquids.
m.Sc. in occupational and environmental Safety
and health (oeSh)
Recent developments in areas such as legislation,
global trade and rapidly changing technology, have
placed new expectations and demands of occupational
and environmental safety and health on governments,
environmental management, business enterprises,
educational institutions, trade unions, workers and
the public. Within this scenario, there is an urgent
and growing need for the development of a cadre of
professionals with competencies in Occupational and
Environmental Safety and Health (OESH).
Developed in 2005 in Mona, Jamaica, UWI’s OESH
Programme addresses the growing requirement for all
employers, managers, supervisors, policy makers and
public leaders to have a functional awareness of the
key issues related to environmental and occupational
safety and health.
The Masters Programme would prepare persons to
develop, design, implement and manage complex OESH
programmes and systems and to provide consultancy
services and to educate others.
The Master of Science in Occupational and
Environmental Safety and Health commenced at the
St. Augustine campus in September 2009.
The programme can be done on a full-time or parttime
basis.
Dr. l. Grierson (head)
mrs. r. ali-hassan
(administrative assistant)
Tel: 1 (868)- 662-2002
Exts. 2091, 3785, 3570
Fax: 1 (868)-645-3771
E-mail: lebert.grierson@sta.uwi.edu or
chemistrydepartment@sta.uwi.edu
www.sta.uwi.edu