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"All who met him were quick to
appreciate his courtesy, his unwavering principles, his sense of
duty, his wit and above all, his integrity"
President
George Maxwell Richards
Professor Emeritus Winston Mellowes led the
Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of the West
Indies (UWI), St. Augustine with wisdom and efficiency, during a
career that spanned over 30 years. He is acknowledged as
an expert on fluid dynamics and the technology of sugar cane
processing.
Winston Mellowes was born on 28th June, 1941
and grew up in St. Michael, Barbados without the amenities of
electricity, telephone or television. He spent his days
studying and playing outdoor games. At school, his
teachers described him as "bright" and he was also an excellent
athlete who represented his school in cricket and track and
field.
Hi performance at school earned him a
scholarship in 1962 to the newly founded University of the West
Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad. There, he continued to
excel in sports and participated in cricket matches. He
was one of the first graduates from the campus, and among the
second batch of graduates from the Faculty of Engineering.
Mellowes started his career as a lecturer at
UWI, St. Augustine in 1971. Over the years, he gained the
respect of students and faculty for his skill in both the
teaching and practice of engineering. He served as the
Faculty's Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Student Affairs and
Deputy Dean for Postgraduate and Research Matters. He also
served as President of the Association of Professional Engineers
of Trinidad and Tobago, President of the Caribbean Academy of
Sciences, and a member of the Board of Directors of the UWI
Credit Union for several years. In 1996, he was made
Professor of Chemical Engineering, after serving as Head of
Department in 1986 and 1992. He is currently the Editor of
The West Indies Journal of Engineering.
Professor Mellowes' research focused on the
sugar industry, its by-products and waste products, and their
impact on the environment. He improved the treatment of
wastes from the sugar refineries of Caroni (1975) Ltd and
promoted the use of modern technologies in the sugar industry
regionally. His other research included the impact of air
pollution on the environment, isolating
 dextran
from various juices, and the use of biomass from coconuts, sugar
cane, sweet potatoes and other crops to produce
activated charcoal and biofuels. He
received several awards from the Inter-American Cane Sugar
Seminar for his organisation of the seminar. At the 2004
West Indies Sugar Technologists' Conference hosted in Barbados
by the Sugar Association of the Caribbean, he received the Best
Paper award for his work on Xanthan gum, which identified a new,
efficient process for producing the gum from sugar cane
by-products. In April 2008, he was granted a US patent
for this process.
In 2007, Professor Winston Mellowes retired
from UWI and was conferred with the title of Professor Emeritus.
He advises budding scientists to, "Be curious
about things around [you]. If [you do] not know, seek
answers from those who ought to know."
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