Professor Clement Sankat
Pro Vice Chancellor and Principal, St. Augustine Campus 

Visit my campus - click here
Visit my campus magazines, UWI Today and STAN

Professor Sankat, an expert in Mechanical Engineering and former Pro Vice Chancellor of Graduate Studies, is married to Dr. Rohanie Maharaj and is the father of five children. 


In recognition of his contribution to the University of the West Indies , in 2001, he was awarded the Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence - for Public Service, University Service and Research. He is the first Engineering Faculty in the University so be so honoured

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree (First Class Honours) and Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from UWI, and a Doctorate from the University of Guelph’s School of Engineering (Canada). He is a Chartered Engineer (CEng), a Fellow of the Institute of Agricultural Engineers (FIAgrE) of the UK and Fellow of the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago (FAPETT).

A graduate of Queen’s College in Georgetown, Guyana, he was the recipient of a Government Scholarship to pursue his undergraduate engineering education at the UWI. He was the winner of the Sir Solomon Hochoy Award for Best Mechanical Engineering student at UWI in 1972.

He received a UWI postgraduate scholarship to pursue a Research Master’s degree, then a CIDA scholarship for PhD studies at the University of Guelph, Canada. Subsequently, he was awarded a NSERC Research Associateship in Food Engineering at Laval University in Quebec, Canada.

For nearly thirty years, Professor Sankat has been engaged in Departmental, Faculty, Campus and University academic and administrative activities at the UWI St. Augustine. He is a former Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He has also served as Assistant Dean, and was recently Dean of the Faculty of Engineering (2000 to 2007), and Campus Coordinator for Graduate Studies and Research at St. Augustine. Since August 2007, he has been PVC for Graduate Studies for the Regional University.

His teaching, research and development, and professional interests are in the areas of Processing/Storage of Tropical Crops and Food Engineering, Engineering Graphics and Machine Design, and the Management of Innovation. He has published more than a hundred papers, many related to technological innovation in food and agricultural production and processing in the Caribbean. He was a 2001 winner of the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence for achievements in Research, University and Public Service.

Professor Sankat has for many years been actively involved in the application and promotion of science and technology in Trinidad and Tobago and in the Region.

He has previously served as Chairman of the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI), and Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS). He was Chairperson of the Vision 20/20 Sub-committee on Science, Technology and Innovation for Trinidad and Tobago and lead author of the Committee’s final report.

In addition to Board membership of CARIRI, he is serving or has served on the Boards of Directors of the National Institute of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (NIHERST), the Metal Industries Company Limited (MIC), the National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO) and the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business.