FATHER Rector Tamerlane Lana, O.P. called for more rigid criteria in judging researches and challenged Thomasian researchers to surpass average expectations during the UST Research Recognition Awards last Feb. 27 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex auditorium.
“I believe that for designated researchers, excellence can only be gauged beyond the research outputs they are expected to produce,” Fr. Lana said.
The Rector stressed that the University needs researchers.
“Our academic life would eventually atrophy, if not continually nourished by new knowledge, given the fact that the teacher and the student are now faced with the continuous explosion of knowledge,” he said.
He said he hopes that this year’s winners would inspire budding researchers and faculty members to join the University’s research force.
Four-time award winner College of Science Dean Dr. Fortunato Sevilla III agreed.
“Some say that it’s just the same awardees every year, but I think this only proves their continuous productivity as researchers,” he said.
Sevilla proposed “discipleship”—in which a research aspirant undergoes training by an expert—included among the “more rigid criteria” next year.
Sevilla has won four Gold Series awards and two International Publication awards.
The UST Research Recognition Awards which started in 1997, is held bi-annually and has three categories: the Gold Series Award, given to tenured full-time faculty members with doctorate or master’s degrees who have on-going research projects and have authored at least three research papers in refereed journals during the last five years; the Silver Series Award, given to both tenured and non-tenured faculty members with at least master’s degrees who have on-going research projects and have authored at least one research paper in refereed journals in the last two years; and the UST International Publication Award, given to faculty members who had their research papers published in international refereed journals recognized by The International Citation Index of the Institute of Scientific Information.
The 18 Gold Series Award recipients this year are Emily Tan (Education), Mafel Ysrael (Pharmacy), Fortunato Sevilla III, Gloria Bernas, Alicia Aguinaldo, Roberto Andres, Christina Binag, and Maribel Nonato (Science), Leilani Mercado-Asis, Minerva Patawaran-Calimag, Remedios Coronel, Honolina Gomez, Reynaldo Javate, Sandra Victorio-Navarra, Alejandro Pineda, Jr., Raymond Rosales, Jose Sollano, Jr., and Tito Torralba (Medicine).
The 37 Silver Series Award recipients this year are Norma Alarcon (Architecture), Praxedes dela Rosa (Nursing), Arlen Ancheta, Alvin Ang, Clarence Batan, Reynaldo Candido, Eloisa Parco-de Castro, Crecencio Doma, Ernesto Gonzales, Ferdinand Lopez, and Erlita Mendoza (Arts and Letters), Grecebio Alejandro, Lucila Bance, Jose Bergantin, Thomas Edison dela Cruz, Erlinda Espeso, Rosie Madulid, Edward Quinto, and Cristina Ramos (Science), Jovencio Apostol, Imelda Garcia, Teresita Meer, Jasmin Santiago-Mendoza, and Albert Quentela (Pharmacy), Aristea Bayquen, and Natalia Dimaano (Engineering), Marieta Baysa, Clarita de Leon-Carillo, Belinda de Castro, Allan de Guzman, Elizabeth Hashim, and Camilla Vizconde (Education), Bernardo Briones, and Mary Chua (Medicine), Jeanette Loanzon, and Esmeralda Sanchez (Commerce).
The eight UST International Publication Award recipients are Rosales (Medicine), Sevilla, Bernas, Andres, Binag, Nonato, Quinto, and Ramos (Science).
Bernas, assistant to the Rector for research and development and another recipient of this year’s Gold Series and the UST International Publication award, said she is elated by the University’s recognition of researchers.
“Research is part and parcel of the University. To be continually given such recognition for something that is really supposed to be part of our job is humbling. It also pleases us to know that we help build up the prestige and honor of UST,” she said.
