The College of Science organized the 3rd International Symposium on Molecular Science (ISMS) which was held on December 1 and 2, 2016 at the Benavides Auditorium, with ten local and ten foreign experts as speakers. The two-day symposium had four sessions in the areas of: Biophysics and Analytical Sciences, Biodiversity and Environment, Materials Science and Nanotechnology, and Health and Biomedicine.
The 3rd ISMS, which coincided with the celebration of the 90th year of foundation of the college, served as a platform for research dissemination and academic discourse, provided a venue for research collaboration, fostered international cooperation through academic and research partnership, and promoted the Sciences to young Filipinos. Notably, the importance of interdisciplinary and collaborative research was epitomized as non-Thomasians were invited to interact with the presenters and to look for possible future research collaborations. High school students were invited to promote the sciences as a possible future career option. To emphasize, Dean John Donnie A. Ramos, Ph.D., invited the participants and guests to “listen, interact, and forge collaborations with the speakers.” Nagoya City University Vice President Prof. Yuji Imaizumi, Ph.D., was guest.
Moreover, the strive for excellence by the College of Science resonated in this year’s theme, “Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Research towards Intellectualization” as stated by Office of International Relations and Program Director Prof. Lillian J. Sison, Ph.D., in her opening remarks. This symposium gave opportunity to researchers to share one’s techniques and ideas in solving scientific problems – providing an environment that allows different researchers to collaborate. Furthermore, this provided research opportunities for students to contribute in the solution of regional and global concerns. Beyond this, however, the symposium provided means to deepen relationship and appreciation of one another’s culture.
Lecturers were from the partner universities abroad, along with the researchers of the different departments of the UST College of Science. The speakers from the Chung-Yuan Christian University, Taiwan were: Prof. Danny Wen-Yaw Chung, Ph.D., Department of Electronics Engineering; Prof. Hsi-Ya Huang, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry; and Dr. Fang Sheng Tsai, M.D., Ph.D. Director, Urology Department and Vice Superintendent of Academic Affairs, Ten-Chan Hospital; Biomedical Engineering Department.
From the National Dong-Hwa University, Taiwan the speakers were: Prof. Yuan-Ron Ma, Ph.D. Head, Department of Physics and Prof. Yen-Peng Ho, Ph.D. Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Engineering.
Lecturers from partner universities in Japan were (Nagoya City University) Prof. Hidehiko Nakagawa, Ph.D., from the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Prof. Kazunobu Sawamoto, Ph.D., of the Graduate School of Medical Sciences. From the University of Shiga Prefecture, the lecturers were Prof. Shuhei Ban, Ph.D., of the Department of Ecosystem Studies, School of Environmental Science, while from Hiroshima University, the speakers were Prof. Tsunehiro Aki, Ph.D., and Prof. Yoshiko Okamura, Ph.D., from the Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter.
Experts from the four different departments of the UST College of Science who shared their research studies along the line of identified categories were Assoc. Prof. Cecilia I. Banag, Ph.D., Asst. Prof. Richard Thomas B. Pavia, Jr., Ph.D., Assoc. Prof. Pia Marie S.P. Albano, Ph.D., and Asst. Prof. Loida Medina of the Department of Biological Sciences; Asst. Prof. Glenda D.L.R. Delos Reyes, Ph.D. and Ms. Michelle Inciong, M.S., of the Department of Mathematics and Physics; Assoc. Prof. Karen S. Santiago, Ph.D., Associate Director, Office of International Relations and Programs, Asst. Prof. Oliver Villaflores, Ph.D. , and Asst. Prof. Dharmatov Rahula B. Albano, Ph.D., of the Department of Chemistry; and Engr. Angelito A. Silverio, Ph.D., of the Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering, Faculty of Engineering.
The symposium, which was chaired by Prof. Ma. Carlota B. Decena, Ph.D., was attended by more than 200 participants composed of researchers, faculty members, and students from UST and from other schools.
