2013 Rhodes Scholar and winner of the Minister’s Innovator of the Year Award (2012) for the category Resource/Knowledge Valorization, Vincent Taylor,  as well as winner of the Innovation Award for the Category Health and Wellness (2012) Denise Daley-Beckford, were  presented with the inaugural Graduate Researchers’ Awards Trophy for Academic and Research Excellence at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus’ annual Scholars’ Breakfast held Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge and Conference Centre.
 
Taylor, who is pursuing the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in Computer Science, received the award for his involvement in RTMAS, the Real Time Monitoring and Alert System, which is used for monitoring industrial waste. RTMAS was jointly developed by a team from The UWI, Mona and J. Wray and Nephew Ltd., and is capable of monitoring several environmental parameters and pollutants. It alerts stakeholders via email or SMS in the event that any of the monitored parameters or pollutants are outside of the thresholds mandated by the environmental permits of the company in question.
 
Denise Daley-Beckford, a PhD Biochemistry candidate, is involved in a project aimed at validating the use of a local Eucalyptus plant in the treatment of diabetes and hypertension. This work was presented at the Scientific Research Council’s Awards Competition for 2012 with the title “Novel treatment for Hyperglycaemia and Hypertension” where it won the Sectional Prize for Health and Wellness and the Overall Prize for the Innovation of the Year for Science and Technology for 2012.
 
The annual Scholars’ Breakfast is spearheaded by the Office of Graduate Studies and Research. It seeks to create a community of scholars as well as to create an environment in which graduate students can interact and share their experiences and information about their work.   
 
Some 47 scholarship holders and six departmental fellows were recognised at the Breakfast: Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Scholars Tameka Claudius, Anna Tucker and Thalia Balkaran: the G. Arthur Brown Memorial Scholars Junius Olivier, Troy Taylor, Alex Williams and Kemar Whyte; Jamaica 50 PetroCaribe UWI-Postgraduate Scholars Donya Brown, Damion Gordon, Erica Lawrence, Shereda Mitchell, Hamlet Nation, Shanti Persaud, Olivia Rose, Tarek Simpson and Jordan Whitby; Organization of American States Scholar Rose-Ann Smith; Thomas De La Rue Scholars Rochelle Samuels and Nicholas Wright; UWI Graduate Scholars Sheldon Barnes, Andre Bernard, Roxann Brown, Tiffany Butterfield, Braham Diop, Cavell-Francis-Rhiney, Nasheika Guyah, Soyanni Holness, Jhordanne Jones, Kimani Kitson-Walters, Alyssa Morgan, Marcus Mullings, Peter Nelson, Kurt Prospere, Dale Rankine, Kevin Tankoo, Karen Thwaites, Joleen Tomlinson, Tina Whyte, Garfield Williams, Runako Williams and Abigail Haye; ParCA Scholars Jayaka Campbell, Anuradha Majaraj, Kimberley Stephenson and Rochelle Walters and American Foundation for The UWI Scholar JeAnn Murray.Guest speaker at the Scholars Breakfast was Principal of The UWI, Mona Professor Gordon Shirley, who congratulated the scholarship holders on their achievements, but also urged them to embrace change and to be innovative in their research as they sought to achieve excellence in a challenging economic environment.Other speakers were Prof-Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies, Professor Yvette Jackson, and Campus Registrar, Dr. Camille Bell-Hutchinson. Special presentations were made to Professor Jackson, who had served previously as Campus Coordinator for Graduate Studies & Research; as well as to Head of the Department of Physics, Dr. Michael Taylor, and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry, Dr. Lisa Lindo, for their outstanding work as graduate research supervisors.