UG receives $8M in lab equipment from ExxonMobil

The Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Mathematics, Physics and Statistics (MPS), at the University of Guyana (UG) has received laboratory equipment valued at about US $40,000 ($8M GYD) to bolster the delivery of educational services.

The donation, received from American multinational oil and gas corporation Exxon Mobil, was made following a request from the University’s Philanthropy, Alumni & Civic Engagement (PACE) Office, after a fire devastated a section of the Natural Sciences building in 2015.

Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Calvin Bernard shared emotionally, “After the fire, the physics programme was crippled by the inability to deliver the quality learning experiences necessary for the success of the students due to the lack of equipment for practical work.”

That fire had destroyed all of the equipment in the physics laboratory, equipment from the Computer Science department, specimen collections and equipment from the Biology department and other valuable items.

Exacerbating the situation, Bernard said, was the unavailability of a teaching space. Resultantly, there was a significant reduction in the delivery of teaching services and he highlighted: “Lecturers struggled to improvise and compensate.”

ExxonMobil’s country manager, Rod Henson noted that the company was all too happy to render some assistance to the university since the promotion of education is important to the company. He also said that this donation is part of a “strategic investment” for the future generations.

“STEM skills, in particular, are critical in ensuring today’s students are going to be prepared for the future opportunities both in Guyana and the broader world,” Henson related.

Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Ivelaw Griffith, on the other hand highlighted that when struck with disaster, the university did not cower but rose bravely to reinvent itself.

“[The investment] recognises the vital importance of rebuilding physics in a significant way–not only quad physics but physics because of its importance to the other enterprises of the university,” Griffith said.

He also shared that the university is in the process of bolstering the physics programme, and will be hiring a new physicist to offer teaching services. As such, he urged the students to make the best of the resources offered to them. Bernard too, shared that this particular investment is particularly impactful in what it will do in terms of transforming the physics education offered at the campus, particularly in wake of Guyana’s oil and gas industry and developing local skills.

Among the highly specialised equipment purchased were: one Baader Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector, one Bsc Optics Diode Laser; Wireless Temperature Sensor; Demo Mirror Concave; one Meade Series 5000 HD-60 Eyepiece Kit; one Orion XX 16G GO-TO Truss Dobson Ian Telescope; ZWO ASI 071 Pro Cooled Color CMOS Telescope and others. The equipment were purchased from two companies (PASCO and OPT) at a cost of US$37,071 and arrived in Guyana in September 2018.

Source:http://guyanachronicle.com