Dr. Camille Wardrop Alleyne was born in Trinidad & Tobago and is the only woman of Caribbean descent in a top position at NASA.

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. June 8, 2017: Caribbean immigrants are making an indelible mark in every sector of the US including in science. Here are five top Caribbean born scientists in the US you should know:

1: Dr. Camille Wardrop Alleyne

Dr. Camille Wardrop Alleyne currently serves as an assistant program scientist for the International Space Station, based at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas. Her roles as assistant program scientist include communicating the ISS’s scientific accomplishments with the general public, the leaders at NASA, the U.S. Congress, and scientific and educational communities. She is the only woman of Caribbean descent in a top position at NASA.

Alleyne was born in the twin-island Republic of Trinidad & Tobago and left the island in 1983 at the age of 17 to study at Howard University in Washington, D.C. There, she earned her Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering with an aerospace option. She went on to pursue a Masters from Florida A&M University in mechanical engineering with a specialization in composite materials and became one of two persons in her program recruited by NASA to work at the Kennedy Space Center as a flight systems engineer. She worked there for two years before she attended the University of Maryland to pursue another Masters in aerospace engineering with a specialization in hypersonic aerodynamics and propulsion. After graduating with her second Masters, she was recruited to work with the Missile Defense Agency under the U.S. Department of Defense on several ballistic missile defense projects as an aerospace systems engineer. After her projects with the Department of Defense, Alleyne applied to NASA’s Astronaut Program in 2003. Out of the 4,000 applicants in the elite program, Alleyne made it to the final twelve but did not make the final round.

Shortly after the experience, Alleyne was hired by NASA. Her return to NASA coincided with their Constellation and Orion programs, where she worked as a lead system engineer, crew module systems engineer, and test manager.

Alleyne has earned several accolades for her work. Awards from NASA include a NASA Group Achievement Award for the ISS Benefits for Humanity Task Team in 2013. As the founder of the Brightest Stars Foundation — an organization she established in 2007 to benefit girls in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America by directing them to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields — she envisions her brainchild as a motivator that will empower girls in the sub-region to achieve against all odds. To that end she has partnered with the OECS Commission to achieve her goal. Along with her team of experts, they plan to visit 10 Caribbean islands by the end of the year. The aim is to host 1,500 girls in each island.

2: Prof. John Paul Clarke

Prof. John Paul Clarke was born in Jamaica.

Professor John-Paul Clarke is a College of Engineering Dean’s Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), where he has appointments in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and serves as director of the Air Transportation Laboratory.

Dr. Clarke was born in Jamaica. He is a leading expert in aircraft trajectory prediction and optimization, especially as it pertains to the development of flight procedures that reduce the environmental impact of aviation. His research has been instrumental in changing both the theory and the practice of flight procedure design, and has spurred the global effort to reduce the environmental impact of aviation via changes in operational procedures. He is also an expert in the development and use of stochastic models and optimization algorithms to improve the efficiency and robustness of airline, airport, and air traffic operations. His many prior honors include the 1999 AIAA/AAAE/ACC Jay Hollingsworth Speas Airport Award, the 2003 FAA Excellence in Aviation Award, the 2006 National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Lectureship, and the 2012 AIAA/SAE William Littlewood Lectureship.

3: Prof. Cardinal Warde

Prof. Cardinal Warde was born in Barbados.

Barbadian-born Caribbean scientist, Professor Cardinal Warde, is President of the Caribbean Diaspora for Science, Technology and Innovation (CADSTI), Interim Executive Director of the Caribbean Science Foundation, and a professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Faculty Advisor.

His research focuses on the development of optoelectronic neural co-processors for brain-like computing, multi-spectral-polarimetric imaging sensors, infrared projection displays and holographic displays. Professor Warde is an inventor on twelve patents, and has published three book chapters in addition to over one-hundred-fifty technical papers on optical materials, devices and systems. Since 1997, Professor Warde has served as the Faculty Director of the MITES program at MIT (a six-week intensive program in science and engineering for gifted underrepresented minority high-school seniors). He received the Companion of Honour Award (the second highest honour awarded by the Government of Barbados) in 2003 and serves as a scientific advisor to the Governments of Barbados and Belize.

4: Dr. Patrick Allen

Dr. Patrick Allen was born in Jamaica.

Jamaican-born Dr. Patrick Allen has made history by becoming the only black scientist at the time to be awarded a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to define the structure of the AIDS virus.

Dr. Allen is also the founder of the Black Biomedical Research Movement, (BBRM), which aims to ameliorate the disproportionate incidence of poor health in the black community, as well as to increase involvement of blacks in biomedical research.

In addition, he also served as a consultant to Nexstar Pharmaceuticals, the pharmaceutical company known for its research on anti-HIV therapeutics and is currently founder of Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Melagen Inc. and former co-founder of Annai Systems Inc., which is focused on embracing a genomics approach to the study of diseases.

5: Dr. Deborah Persaud

Dr. Deborah Persaud was born in Guyana

Dr. Deborah Persaud is a virologist who primarily works on HIV/AIDS at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Persaud was born in Guyana and moved to the US at age 16. She attended the New York University School of Medicine and received her undergraduate degree and went on to earn a master’s degree at the New York University School of Medicine. She started Residency at the Babies Hospital of New York, and finished her Chief Residency at the same hospital. Persaud later was a fellow at the New York University School of Medicine. She began her academic career as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1997 to 2004.

In 2005, Persaud became an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  In 2013, Dr. Persaud worked as part of a team who showed that a baby had been cured of HIV by giving it anti-HIV drug. She won the Elizabeth Glaser Scientist Award for her research and was featured in Time magazine’s Top 100 most influential people in 2013 for her work In 2014 Persaud’s work contributed to a second baby being cured of HIV.

By NAN Staff Writer

Jedidiah Francis, or “Jed,” as he is affectionately called, was born in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. (Linked In Image)

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY: The love of her Caribbean man – Jedidiah Francis  is worth more than the US $407 million she was set to inherit as the daughter of one of Malaysia’s richest men.

So who is the man that 34-year-old Angeline Francis Khoo is giving up all that money for while cutting ties with her father, Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng, chairman of fashion and lifestyle company, Laura Ashley?

News Americas Now has found he was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and is the holder of a DPhil degree in Statistics from Oxford University.

Jedidiah Francis, or “Jed,” as he is affectionately called, attended the St Mary’s RC School in Kingstown, and completed his secondary education at the St Vincent Grammar School.

Francis back in 2006. (Search Light ad/image)

According to a 2006 ad in the Searchlight by his family, he graduated from the St Vincent Community College as one of two ‘Students of the Year’ in 2000, receiving awards for being the best Biology and Mathematics student.”

In his search for opportunities for higher education, he joined the British army in February 2001 and was trained as a soldier and then as an Electronic Engineer. In July 2002 he received an honorable discharge from the army to pursue his personal academic goals.

Having received acceptance from Queen Mary University of London, Francis was granted a NCB scholarship to read for a BSc degree in Biology with Business Management in 2003, and graduated with first class honors in July 2006.

His interest in mathematics and biology converged in his BSc dissertation, where he developed a statistical model to describe the proliferation of transposons or “jumping genes” in mosquito populations.

His work on modeling jumping genes gained him entry into Oxford University where he worked alongside leading researchers to develop statistical models of HIV genetic evolution.

Asked about his motivation and drive in 2006, Francis ascribed all his success to the faithfulness of God, and highlighted the input of his parents, Mr & Mrs Eli and Vienna Francis and family.

Jedidiah Francis, 3rd from r, as part of a tech panel in April 2017. (Twitter image)

At the time, his family also acknowledged the financial support of the Marriaqua Friendly Society (Bun Pan) during his Secondary School and A-level years, the National Commercial Bank for providing the finances to complete his BSc degree, and Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for their sterling support.

Francis reportedly met Khoo at Oxford. After her father expressed disapproval of the man she wanted to marry, she severed ties with him and married him anyway.

“I believed Dad’s stance was wrong, so there was no question about what was right,” she told the Daily Mail.

The couple now live in London. Francis, according to his Linked In profile is head of data science at online fashion retailer, ASOS.com. He lists his specialties as: Statistical Modelling, Probabilistic modelling, Computational Statistics, Data Analysis, Machine learning algorithms and data mining among others.

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. August 26, 2024: The body of Caribbean roots chef Ricardo Thomas is among those recovered after the sinking of the £30 million superyacht Bayesian, owned by British billionaire Mike Lynch.

Caribbean roots Chef Ricardo Thomas has died on the Bayesian superyacht. (facebook image)

Chef Ricardo Thomas, born in Canada to Antiguan parents, had been living in Antigua for the past 20 years at his family’s home in Clare Hall. He is being fondly remembered by loved ones following the tragic accident that claimed his life near the coast of Sicily on August 19th.

Caribbean roots Chef Ricardo Thomas was born in Antigua to Antiguan parents.

The Bayesian was struck by a powerful storm on Monday, August 19th, causing it to sink around 5 a.m. local time near Porticello, Italy, according to a statement from the Italian coast guard. At the time of the incident, 22 people were aboard the yacht, including 12 passengers and 10 crew members. While 15 people were rescued, Thomas was among those who perished.

Thomas was celebrated by friends as a beloved figure in his community and a cherished friend. “He was a one-of-a-kind, special human being,” a close friend shared with The Independent, noting that they spoke to him “nearly every day.” Another longtime friend, Eli Fuller, emphasized how important Thomas was as a role model for young Antiguans. “He was sought after in his line of work, and for kids in Antigua to see one of their own traveling the world on yachts was inspiring.”

Gareth Williams, who had known Thomas for 30 years, revealed that the chef had been working to help his family. “He told me just the other day that he needed to work two more seasons to fix up his late parents’ house. He loved yachting, but he was tired.”

The search for missing bodies continues, with those recovered so far including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah, along with Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, and New York lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda.

Investigations are now focused on how the Bayesian, considered “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, the Italian Sea Group, could have gone down so quickly. CEO Giovanni Costantino has pointed to potential crew errors as the cause of the tragedy, stating in an interview with the Financial Times that the yacht sank in 16 minutes, a timeframe that should have allowed for a safe evacuation.

The ill-fated voyage was reportedly hosted by Lynch to celebrate his recent acquittal on fraud charges in the U.S.