Professor Rey Donne S. Papa, PhD, limnologist and incumbent Dean of the College of Science, was confirmed as the new Chairperson of the Research Council of the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) for Taal Volcano Protected Landscape.
The PAMB resolution, signed by Director Nilo B. Tamoria, CESO III, Regional Executive Director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – CALABARZON Region and Chairperson of the PAMB-TVPL, confirmed Dean Papa’s appointment, which comes after Dr. Macrina Zafaralla ended her service as chairperson.
Dean Papa, one of the country’s leading limnologists, has Taal Lake as his field site. He established the Zooplankton, Systematics, and Limnology (ZESL) research group at the Research Center for Natural and Applied Sciences in 2011. He is the first Filipino to be named national representative to the International Society of Limnology.
Dean Papa is an expert in tropical freshwater microcrustacean zooplankton ecology and systematics, as well as lake ecology. The research undertakings he and Thomasians have been engaged in with regard to Lake Taal have led to, among other scientific endeavors, the creation of the UST Zooplankton Reference Collection, the first organized repository of freshwater zooplankton in the Philippines.