Dr. Derek Gay received his BSc. in Civil Engineering from the University of the West Indies in 1975, MSc. in Soil Mechanics and Engineering Seismology from Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, University of London in 1977 and PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from Texas A&M University, USA in 1994. In December 1978, he began his academic/professional career as lecturer in geotechnical engineering and engineering seismology in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of the West Indies St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago – a post he held until his retirement in September 2018. In addition to his lecturing and mentorships in Civil Engineering, Dr Gay’s interest in music and engineering was also largely responsible for his academic pursuits in the Acoustics of the Steelpan, leading him to develop and teach courses in Musical Acoustics and the Steelpan in the Faculty of Engineering, UWI. He can also be credited with being one of the pioneers in developing and applying numerical methods and models (finite element analysis) to the vibration of steelpans shells.