A JAMAICAN-BORN scientist, Dr. John Ewen, is slated to be awarded the National Medal of Technology by the Government of the United States. Dr. Ewen, a Kingstonian and a graduate of the UWI who emigrated to the United states in 1973, has distinguished himself as a chemist and researcher in the field of plastics production.
He will be conferred with the medal by President George W. Bush for his basic discoveries and inventions in the field of metalocene catalysis which has transformed the industrial processes for the production of familiar plastics, polyethelene widely used as packaging material and polypropylene used in the manufacture of bottles such as those replacing glass in the soft drinks industry. Dr. Ewen's work is said to have enhanced American leadership in the field and stimulated the growth of the entire plastics industry.
The National Medal of Technology is the highest award given by the US Government for technological innovation and achievement. It is widely acknowledged that American economic growth and leadership has been sustained by large investments in research and development, from both public and private sources, with recognition and rewards for innovations. John Ewen is himself not only a scientist; he is also an entrepreneur as president of Catalyst Research Corporation in Houston, Texas.
While he gives credit for his early interest in science to his education in Jamaica at Munro College and the UWI, it is not likely that John Ewen's work and success in catalysis and industrial chemistry could have been achieved here in Jamaica. Environment and scale matter a lot in Science and Technology. Not only in S&T, but in many other fields, some of our most outstanding sons and daughters, educated here, have found it necessary to make their contributions elsewhere.
The majority of these accomplished Jamaicans are still attached to 'home' and are willing and ready to make contributions to yard from their foreign bases. Dr. Ewen maintains a property here and visits.
For years there has been talk of harnessing the considerable talents of overseas Jamaicans for development at home. Financial remittances are a mainstay of the Jamaican economy. The idea is to create channels for the systematic remittance of knowledge and skills as well. The contributors need not become returnees and are, in fact, more valuable to their country of origin from their foreign bases. The recognition of the work of John Ewen, our catalytic chemist, by the United States Government could be a catalyst to renew efforts to get knowledge and skills like his to come to our aid.
