8 Filipinos honored in Asian Scientist 100 for 2018

Eight Filipinos have made it to the Asian Scientist 100, an annual listing of the Asia-Pacific region’s award-winning researchers, academicians, innovators and business leaders.

The list, which is now on its third year, is published in Singapore-based Asian Scientist Magazine. To qualify, individuals must have received a national or international prize for scientific research or leadership in 2017.

In a statement, Asian Scientist Magazine founder and editor-in-chief Dr. Juliana Chan said they hope to inspire the next generation of scientists towards excellence in science by raising the profile of these thinkers and inventors.

Six of the honorees are University of the Philippines (UP) faculty members and alumni, the UP Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs said.

The UP faculty member honorees are: Dr. Aletta T. Yñiguez (assistant professor, Marine Science Institute, UP Diliman); Dr. Phillip A. Alviola (associate professor, Institute of Biological Sciences, UP Los Baños and curator, UP Los Baños Museum of Natural History); and Dr. Nathaniel P. Hermosa II (associate professor, National Institute of Physics, UP Diliman) are among the eight Filipinos featured in the latest list.

Yñiguez, Alviola, and Hermosa were recognized last year by the National Academy of Science and Technology Philippines with the Outstanding Young Scientist Award for marine biology and fisheries, wildlife studies, and physics, respectively. Hermosa was also chosen for the 2017 Third World Academy of Science Prize (Physics) and the 2017 Outstanding Research and Development Award for Basic Research (Eduardo A. Quisumbing Medal).

Also included are UP alumni Dr. Rogel Mari D. Sese (BS Applied Physics, UP Los Baños); Dr. Mario Antonio L. Jiz II (BS Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, UP Diliman); and Mr. Jeffrey S. Perez (BS Geology, UP Diliman).

Sese is the program leader of the National Space Development Program of the Department of Science and Technology, Jiz is the head of the Immunology Department of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and Perez is the Supervising Science Research Specialist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Jiz and Perez were recipients of the 2017 Outstanding Young Scientist Award for medical sciences, and civil and environmental engineering, respectively.

The other Filipinos in the list are Dr. Lanndon A. Ocampo (University of San Carlos), who was also named an Outstanding Young Scientist in 2017, and Dr. Lucille V. Abad (Philippine Nuclear Research Institute), who won the 2017 Outstanding Research and Development Award for Applied Research (Julian A. Banzon Medal).

The Asian Scientist 100 began in 2016 to “showcase the exciting science taking place in Asia.”

This is the third year that UP researchers figured in the compilation.

‘A catalyst for PH research development’ 

Alviola, whose researches focused on ecology, taxonomy, conservation biology, virology and cave research, told INQUIRER.net that this recognition should be a catalyst in improving scientific research in the country.

“I’d like to think that this should be a catalyst somehow to improve more ‘yung scientific research sa Pilipinas. It would add a little bit of fuel sa ginagawa ng mga scientist,” Alviola said.

“Prospects for the coming year in the Philippine research scene is very hopeful,” he added.

Alviola, who has been teaching full time for six years in UP Los Baños, also urged the government to incentivize doing research across all state universities and colleges.

“They should incentivize ‘yung mga researchers which are published in journals para gaganahan din sila… Assuming the government can do that across the board, in different state universities, then that would be very, very nice,” he said, noting that budget for research support should also increase. /je