 staff of the month march staff of the month march born in 1981 at the wakenaam hospital on the small island in the mighty essequibo river dr troy thomas spent his childhood traversing between wakenaam and the essequibo coast where he was he garnered his secondary education at the wakenaam secondary school he was birthed by mr harold thomas who was a farmer and ms pamela thomas who was a teacher at the secondary school in the area actually he came as companionment to an older brother and a young sister during his childhood dr thomas shared with happiness bursting through his voice that even though electricity and electronic devices were not prevalent in his home he chose to engage in other meaningful mindboggling activities which helped to steer him onto the path he is on now he and his siblings would often enjoy the great outdoors of the countryside despite the disagreements that came with craftit moreover after this period the entire family relocated to georgetown guyana as his childhood progressed and young adulthood graced him dr thomas offered that he never had any aspirations rooted in any definitive career path although his secondary level grades were excellent and should have prompted him to become career oriented in a single specific field he shared that growing up in contemporary guyana like many people living in these areas has now made me realize the thought of university rarely crossed my mind simply because it seemed so far off he continued further that focusing on the broader picture of an unfortunate reality in many communities where the thought of higher education seems somewhat distant or not there at all however throughout his youthful days there were a number of people he admired and gained inspiration from to grow and become prosperous in life these people were his church pastors elders in the village and a particular teacher at his school named dennis nichols mr nichols a current columnist for kaieteur news was a newly recruited teacher at dr thomas secondary school who had piqued his interest and motivated him to do poetry an art he was quite fond of back in the day according to dr thomas he would describe himself as diligent introverted and a good listener he explained that he is generally a person who works given whether it requires him to be the last one leaving the workroom also he is an introvert who does not share the abundance of attention given to an extrovert certainly when someone who is boisterous outgoing and freespirited enters a room they command all of the attention dr thomas shared he is someone who would usually not enter a room crowded with chattering people and blatantly silence them while commanding their utmost attention what he might do is converse with a particular group in that room an excellent listening ability is a trait of introversion dr thomas also possesses he mentioned that he always pays keen attention to what other people are saying even if it interrupts his gratification to something else he would let them speak and intently analyze what they have to say whether the spoken content is of substance or not furthermore after graduating from secondary school and spending a considerable amount of time in georgetown he returned to wakenaam where he gave his teaching skills to the secondary school later dr thomas went on to enhance his academic qualifications in secondary mathematics at the cyril potter college of education and abroad in addition a former principal named ms savatri balbahadur who had always held him in her best of interests played a role in his program of study at the university of guyana as a result he chose the mathematics program which he later graduated from with a bachelor of science degree bsc while copping the best graduating mathematics student award currently dr thomas is the director of the undergraduate research program at the university of guyana he relayed that this entails crafting a vision not individually but holistically with the vice chancellor and other members of his department to come up with a strategy of how they are going to function and implement an effective undergraduate program dr thomas added that since all the university s faculties and programs are inclusive in this program the collective involvement constitutes to some amount of complexity for it aims to include a variety of aspects according to dr thomas the complexity arises when we have to come up with a plan that seamlessly integrates different aspects of various programs which includes shaping themes departments can incorporate in the curriculums additionally he noted that while the multifaceted nature of the program and its complexity is inevitable at the same time it affords the crafters an opportunity to achieve new goals and objectives not existent and to help to improve undergraduate program results from over the years also dr thomas is the current president of the transparency institute guyana incorporated which he noted looks at transparency accountability and corruption in the guyanese society and keeping track of what is going on in the government and private sector to be able to initiate appropriate change in that regard consequently dr thomas has academic experiences spanning across various fields of study such as his involvement in the newly crafted public health program in the health sciences faculty on the university s campus and he has also cooperated with the computer science and biology departments at the university serving in the capacity of a supervisor for graduate research he has supervised other research at the commonwealth mba program apart from being academically oriented dr thomas spoke about what he deems as enjoyment he is married and has a son who is approximately two and half years old whom he aims to be a great father to in respect to what he does for relaxation hobbies are sort of a faroff thought for him in the past dr thomas shared with elation he enjoyed playing cricket writing poetry singing and going to gym however presently all of his enjoyable moments revolve around doing work and reading that work in his spared time to perfect it at this moment in his life dr thomas stated he gains some level of enjoyment in the academic work that he does and the motivating drive that in the near future it would make him relevant any part of the world he explained that his aim of all his research work is not be recognized on a national and regional aspect only but rather to recognized in a reputable manner any part of the world he journeys to in addition he immerses himself in his work to produce his best with hopes that one day when his son is old enough to understand the world and its intricate patterns he will appreciate all of his father s researches and academic papers according to dr thomas the work i do now is carried out so that my son can benefit from it in a number of ways intellectually and instinctually in the long run without a doubt dr troy thomas has paved an academic path for many young guyanese to pursue a career in mathematics he is the epitome of an individual who realized what he wanted to achieve in his life though not in his younger days but nonetheless he assiduously worked toward what he wanted to accomplish choosing not to stop at no hindrance in life s path many of his past and present students he shared can attest to the fact that he has significantly impacted their lives with the mathematical and other educational knowledge he has imparted onto them as he continues onward in his academic adventure the thought of what follows plagues one s mind as assurance runs deep he will definitely deliver an exceptional work to give him the international distinctiveness that can be engrained in the history encyclopedias webmaster mon 2272017 547 dr troy thomas the work i do now is carried out so that my son can benefit from it in a number of ways intellectually and instinctually in the long run staff director of undergraduate research  