Three alumni of the pioneer batch of B.Sc. Biology major in Environmental Biology belonging to the class of 2022 who also finished their postgrad studies at the UST Graduate School won during the recently concluded 12th DOST Accelerated Science and Technology Human Resource Development Program Graduate Scholars Conference held in Dusit Thani Mactan, Cebu from September 12 to 13, 2024.
Ms. Anne Parojinog, M.Sc. won first place in the Oral Competition of the Biological and Health Sciences category (M.Sc. level) for her research titled “Integrated Urban Ecology: A socio-ecological overview of Metropolitan Manila and bioecological study of its two urban protected forests”. Meanwhile, Ms. Pauline Maglipon, M.Sc. won first place in the Poster Competition of the Agricultural and Environmental Science category for her poster titled “Spatiotemporal distribution and diversity of plant communities in post fire sites of Mts. Iglit-Baco Natural Park, Occidental Mindoro, Philippines”. Both Parojinog and Maglipon were under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Nikki Heherson Dagamac, Dr.rer.nat. for their M.Sc. theses. Another Environmental Biology alumna, Ms. Kamille Poblete, M.Sc. won third place in the Poster Competition of the Biological and Health Sciences category for her research titled “Temporal shifts of methane production and methane oxidizing bacteria communities: A limnological assessment in a tropical lake” which she conducted under the supervision of Prof. Rey Donne S. Papa, Ph.D.
Lastly, Mr. Theo Victor Cavite of the M.Sc. Applied Physics major in Medical Physics program took second place in the Poster Competition of the Physical Sciences Category. His poster, titled “Neutron spectrometry via in-115 activation foil at the Philippines’ sole research reactor” was co-authored with his supervisors Dr. Alvie J. Asuncion-Astronomo of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute and Asst. Prof. Roland Cristopher F. Caballar, Ph.D. of the UST Department of Mathematics and Physics.
These award-winning student researchers are part of the UST delegation composed of 13 DOST scholars, four Graduate School academic staff and two UST DOST-ASTHRDP office project staff who actively participated in the conference. The University of Santo Tomas is a member of the National Science Consortium under the Advanced Science and Technology Human Resources Development Program of the Department of Science and Technology – Science Education Institute which oversees the offering of scholarships in flagship Science and Technology graduate programs. UST is represented in the NSC by Prof. Rey Donne S. Papa, Ph.D., who is also concurrently Dean of the UST College of Science.
