Three alumnae of the pioneer batch of BS Biology major in Environmental Biology (Class 2022) who also finished their MS Biology degrees from the UST Graduate School (Class of 2024) and an alumnus of the M.Sc. Applied Physics major in Medical Physics (Class of 2024) won research presentation awards during the September 12-13, 2024 12th Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Advanced Science and Technology Human Resources Development Program (ASTHRDP) Graduate Scholars Conference held in Dusit Thani Mactan, Cebu.
Ms. Anne Parojinog, MS won first place in the Oral Competition of the Biological and Health Sciences category (MS level) for her research entitled “Integrated Urban Ecology: A socio-ecological overview of Metropolitan Manila and bioecological study of its two urban protected forests”.
Meanwhile, Ms. Pauline Maglipon, MS won first place in the Poster Competition of the Agricultural and Environmental Science category for her poster entitled “Spatiotemporal distribution and diversity of plant communities in post fire sites of Mts. Iglit-Baco Natural Park, Occidental Mindoro, Philippines”. Both Ms. Parojinog and Ms. Maglipon were under the supervision of Biological Sciences academic researcher Nikki Heherson Dagamac, Dr.rer.nat.
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 entitled “Temporal shifts of methane production and methane oxidizing bacteria communities: A limnological assessment in a tropical lake,” which she conducted under the supervision of College of Science Dean Rey Donne S. Papa, PhD.
Lastly, Mr. Theo Victor Cavite of the MS Applied Physics major in Medical Physics program garnered second place in the Poster Competition of the Physical Sciences Category. His poster entitled “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. The University of Santo Tomas is a member of the National Science Consortium (NSC) under the ASTHRDP of the DOST–Science Education Institute, which oversees the offering of scholarships in flagship Science and Technology graduate programs. UST is represented in the NSC by Dean Papa. First offered in UST in 2010, the DOST-ASTHRDP scholarship has supported 435 Master of Science graduates and 55 doctoral degree graduates. This academic year, there are 70 Master of Science and 6 doctoral students enjoying the scholarship.