Ms. Anne Parojinog, MS won first place in the Oral Competition of the Biological and Health Sciences category (MS level) for her research entitled 鈥淚ntegrated Urban Ecology: A socio-ecological overview of Metropolitan Manila and bioecological study of its two urban protected forests鈥�.

Meanwhile, Ms. Pauline Maglipon, MS won first place in the Poster Competition of the Agricultural and Environmental Science category for her poster entitled 鈥淪patiotemporal distribution and diversity of plant communities in post fire sites of Mts. Iglit-Baco Natural Park, Occidental Mindoro, Philippines鈥�. 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 鈥淭emporal shifts of methane production and methane oxidizing bacteria communities: A limnological assessment in a tropical lake,鈥� 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 鈥淣eutron spectrometry via in-115 activation foil at the Philippines鈥� sole research reactor鈥� 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 探花精选 is a member of the National Science Consortium (NSC) under the ASTHRDP of the DOST鈥揝cience 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.

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Winning the Third Prize is Inst. John Andrew C. Albay, PhD of the Department of Mathematics and Physics for his work聽 “Colloidal Heat Engine Driven by Engineered Active Noise.” Albay becomes the first NAST TSYS awardee of the Department.

Receiving citations are Inst. Katherine Yasmin M. Garcia, MS of the Department of Chemistry and Asst. Prof. Jame Monren T. Mercado, MA of the Department of Tourism Management.

Garcia was recognized for her work entitled 鈥淎ntiproliferative and Cytotoxic Cytochalasins from 饾槡饾槺饾槩饾槼饾樀饾槳饾槫饾槹饾槶饾槩 饾樀饾槼饾槳饾槾饾槮饾槺饾樀饾槩饾樀饾槩 Inhibit Action Polymerization and Aggregation.”

Meanwhile, Mercado, who is an academic researcher of the Research Center for Social Sciences and Education, was recognized for his work entitled 鈥淵sla de Panciteria: A Preliminary Study on the Culinary Heritage Significance of Pancit Using the Heritage Documentation Approach 鈥� the Case of Luzon Island, Philippines.鈥� Mercado co-authored the work with Dr. Avi Ben Andalecio, also of the College of Tourism and Hospitality Management.

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College of Science鈥檚 physics coordinator, Inst. Kristan Bryan C. Simbulan, Ph.D. gave the opening remarks, which highlighted the three-year collaboration of UST and MUM. Dr. Tan Chee Pin, head of the Electrical & Robotics Engineering Department of MUM School of Engineering, gave the closing remarks to appreciate the collaborative efforts between the two universities.

The next day, Drs. Simbulan, Albay, Caballar, and Villegas held informal discussions on potential collaborations with Dr. Liang Shuan-Ni of the MUM School of Engineering and Drs. Yeong Wai Chung, Ashish Dutt, and MD Zobaer Hassan of the MUM School of Science. Avenues of collaboration discussed included possible joint research projects on physics, mathematics, and data science and analytics.

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The UNESCO sub-regional meeting supports the call of the UN Secretary General in its Transforming Education System (TES) Summit in New York in September 2022. It recognizes that education is a foundation for peace, tolerance, human rights, and sustainable development.  As the world emerges from the Covid-19 crisis, the Summit has provided an opportunity to mobilize greater commitment, and action to reverse the slide on SDG 4, reimagine education, and accelerate progress on education and the 2030 Agenda more broadly for the remainder of the Decade of Action.

UNESCO Jakarta, the sub-regional main office that includes Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Philippines, and Brunei, as a response to the call, organized a Sub-Regional Meeting on Education Recovery and Transmission.  The sub-regional meeting  was a follow up to the action tracks commitment on TES, aiming to discuss on sub-regional鈥檚 education trends and key issues.  Discussions generated recommendations for the subregion to going forward in terms of priority actions and implementation strategies from the perspective system transformation and building resilience and improving learning for accelerating progress towards SDG4.

With the UNESCO Invitation to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to the Sub-Regional Meeting, the CHED Commission en Banc nominated Assoc. Prof. Ninia Calaca as the country representative for Higher Education. Calaca is a Member of the CHED Technical Working Group for Flexible Learning, the TWG in-charge of the policies and directions during and post-pandemic, and a CHED Technical Panel on Transnational Education and Distance Education since 2015. She is instrumental to several researches of the Commission during the pandemic, and in determining future directions of the higher education. Initially, Calaca presented 鈥楾he Challenges and Opportunities of the Philippine Higher Education: Initial Results of Rapid Appraisal of Learning Gains, Loss, and Well-being in Higher Education鈥� in the Philippine Social Development Council 鈥� Technical Board Meeting last September 2, 2022 as CHED Technical Expert.  Her exposure on SDGs started when she studied in New Zealand, for her second Masteral in Development Studies. Her contributions to SDGs were reinforced by her industry experience, working with the company CEO who chairs four (4) UN Committees, and who introduced the 17^th SDG on Partnerships for the GOALS.

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The certificates were the result of the accreditation visits done in November 2021 for the six programs, namely, BS Applied Mathematics, major in Actuarial Science, BS Applied Physics, major in Instrumentation, BS Biology (now with specializations in Environmental Biology, Industrial Biology, and Medical Biology), BS Chemistry, BS Microbiology, and BS Psychology.

Actuarial Science, Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology, and Psychology maintained the Level IV Re-accredited Status. These five programs were the first programs of the University to attain the coveted top status. Meanwhile, the Applied Physics program received the Level II Re-accredited Status.

The re-accredited status is valid until November 2026.

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Asst. Prof. Patungan dealt with the topic Machine Learning in Education: Improving Student Outcomes and Accelerating Research. In his talk, he defined Data Analytics and looked into the current state of data science analytics and artificial intelligence in the Philippines. He concluded with the application of data mining and machine learning in education.

His talk enlightens educators with the changes in our educational paradigm due to the advancement of technology, as machination learning poses both positive and negative effects on teaching and learning. Worldwide, there is a race to establish a stable and accurate technological system to support students鈥� learning. These quests, though helpful in improving learning, should not detriment students鈥� creativity. Thus, data analytics, systems, and programs, according to Mr. Patungan, are some of the salient domains that educators should consider. To promote a better understanding of these advancements and changes in our educational paradigm, teachers should equip themselves with the foundation as well as the application of these concepts.  

Mr. Patungan has been actively involved in several projects at the University that involve the use of data analytics in decision-making. He also headed the team that proposed the offering of a bachelor鈥檚 degree new program, the BS Data Science and Analytics, which will commence this August. The program, housed in the College of Science, is a joint offering of the College of Science and the College of Information and Computing Sciences. 

The conference gathered researchers from teacher education institutions, as well as education professionals, from both local and national industries. It served as an avenue for participants to share relevant research findings and messages to local and regional audiences.The entire proceedings is available on the 4^th Teacher Education Research Conference Facebook Page.

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On behalf of the University, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Prof. Cheryl R. Peralta, DrPH will deliver her keynote lecture entitled “Data-informed Decisions in Academics in Support of Quality Assurance: The Experience of 探花精选”. Professor Dr. Naomie Salim of the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia will share her insights in her keynote lecture entitled “Surfing the Big Data Waves: Challenges, Deep Learning Approaches and Implementation Process Framework. Lastly, Prof. Dr. Anton Abdulbasah Kamil of Istanbul Gelisim University – Turkey will lecture on “A Generalized Reduced Gradian Approach for Solving A Class of Two Stage Stochastic Nonlinear Programs”.

The moderator of this international conference will be Prof. Dr. Haim Hilman Abdullah, Acting Vice Chancellor of University Utara Malaysia.

A biennial conference that aims to broaden the learning opportunities and engagement, IACE 2021 will likewise be available for livestream on .

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The deadline of abstract and-paper submissions will be on June 15, 2021. The IACE2021 committee will notify the authors of accepted papers on July 31, 2021.

Here is the list of the topics:

Moreover, the accepted papers will be published in the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Conference Proceedings (Indexed in Scopus & ISI).

Jointly organized by the UST Department of Mathematics and Physics and the Universiti Utara Malaysia 鈥� School of Quantitative Sciences, IACE2021 aims to host a vibrant and impactful conference that will serve as a niche for researchers in the areas of quantitative sciences, applied mathematics, and analytic.

Click on the link for the submission guidelines:

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In their July 14, 2020 report that covered the latter half of June 2020 until July 12, Austriaco and Egwolf disclosed that the surge in NCR cases is happening in this 鈥渦nknown city鈥� category, and 鈥渟tatistically, this cannot be explained by random clerical or encoding errors.鈥� The scientists warn that 鈥渨ithout proper geographical identification of positive cases, it will be difficult for public health authorities to properly understand the extent of the surge and to control the pandemic through contact tracing, tracking, and isolation.鈥�

The report noted that with increased cases came increased positivity rate, at 10-12%, way above the World Health Organization-prescribed 5% to indicate successful containment of the virus鈥� spread. Hospitalization rate also spiked, but the disparity in the rate of use of ventilators points to the rise in mild cases and the contraction of the disease in the younger and less-vulnerable demographic. 

Austriaco and Egwolf, acknowledging the presence of a 鈥渞eal surge in the pandemic鈥� in the NCR, said that this is best appreciated in the fact that several component cities are exceeding the 70% 鈥淒anger鈥� occupancy limit that DOH set. This limit, measured by the occupancy of COVID-19 beds, is now exceeded by 11 cities and municipalities of NCR, namely Makati, Las Pi帽as, Quezon City, Valenzuela, Pateros, Manila, Mandaluyong, Malabon, Navotas, Taguig, and Muntinlupa.

Underscoring the need for contact tracing, tracking, and isolation, Austriaco and Egwolf recommended the stricter enforcement by the DOH of public health reporting policies to 鈥渓ower the number of 鈥榰nknown鈥� positive cases that lack a geographical identifier.鈥� For areas that have reported cases, the timely enactment of lockdowns is crucial, an effort that 鈥渢he national government [must] properly supervise.鈥� If targeted lockdowns are not enforce properly, a return to ECQ or MECQ is not unlikely for NCR, the scientists warned.

Balancing the concerns of public health safety and economics, Austriaco and Egwolf reiterated their call for zoned and targeted lockdowns, especially with the rise in cases among younger working adults. Such targeted lockdowns must last for a minimum of two weeks 鈥渢o allow asymptomatic carriers to become non-infectious.鈥�

Finally, given the acceleration of cases in NCR, Austriaco and Egwolf warned against the movement of locally stranded individuals and returning OFWs from NCR to the provinces 鈥渦ntil the current surge in the pandemic has been brought under control.鈥� For provinces accepting LSIs and returning OFWs, the scientists recommended a non-negotiable 14-day quarantine regardless of the individual鈥檚 testing results from NCR. These are recommended to avoid overwhelming the health care systems in provinces.

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Adapting the DELPHI model from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Egwolf and Austriaco studied available data on the National Capital Region from the Department of Health鈥檚 issuances and offered the following observations:

ECQ helped cushion COVID-19 impact on NCR

The Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) 鈥渁ppears to have limited the impact of the pandemic in Metro Manila by significantly lowering the total number of COVID-19 cases and the total number of deaths.鈥� Comparing Metro Manila and New York City, which implemented lockdowns five days apart, the Metro Manila lockdown can be considered more effective in terms of saving thousands of lives, with 621 total deaths in NCR compared to the 16,232 deaths in New York City.

Flattening the first curve?

While the curve seems to be flattening with the gradual decline of cases from the peak in early May, the ECQ is still 鈥渟truggling to suppress the pandemic, i.e., to drive the number of infected cases down to zero. At this rate, the model predicts that the total number of cases in Metro Manila will continue to increase gradually and will not plateau for many months, though the forecasted number of active cases will also be decreasing.鈥� Should ECQ be maintained, Egwolf and Austriaco predicted, the number of active COVID-19 cases 鈥渨ill not fall below 1,000 cases until early September 2020.鈥�

Comparing NCR cities

The study also found that Makati, Mandaluyong, and Para帽aque have been more successful in suppressing the community spread of COVID-19 than Manila and Quezon City. 鈥淚t is not clear why the ECQ has not been as effective in both the City of Manila and Quezon City as it has been in their neighboring municipalities.鈥� The two researchers suggested increased efforts in these two cities by public health authorities.

What happens if we shift to GCQ?

Should GCQ be implemented on June 1, the forecasted numbers of infected cases and deaths in NCR may increase, but this can be 鈥渙ffset with a rigorous tracking, testing, and tracing program that seeks to limit community spread by breaking chains of viral transmission.鈥� Egwolf and Austriaco recommend that 鈥渢hat tracking, testing, and tracing programs in Metro Manila focus their efforts on limiting the impact of superspreading events (SSEs) which are associated with both explosive growth early in an outbreak and sustained transmission in later stages.鈥�

How much do we test and trace?

On the issues of testing and tracing, Egwolf and Austriaco cited the work of Harvard University scholars in proposing the ratio of tests and contact tracing per COVID-19 death per day. With the May 22, 2020 seven-day running average of six COVID-19 deaths in NCR per day, the NCR will need a testing capacity of 15,000 tests per day, complemented by 1,800 contact tracers working in call centers. These combined efforts will help curb the pandemic, and the capacities must respond to the severity of the pandemic in each area.

On the issue of testing, the researchers propose the adoption of mobile COVID-19 testing facilities, such as the one being developed by the UST College of Science and Faculty of Engineering, which may help increase the number of tests conducted in the different LGUs.

The figures and explanations of the study can be accessed via this . Meanwhile, the full paper, entitled 鈥淢obility-Guided Modeling of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Metro Manila,鈥� is currently under review for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Egwolf is a researcher of the Research Center for Natural and Applied Sciences and teaches Physics in the College of Science. Meanwhile, Austriaco is a fellow of the Center for Religious Studies and Ethics. He is also a Professor of Biology and of Theology at Providence College, Rhode Island.

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