THOMASIAN scientist and College of Science professor Edward Quinto won the gold medal at the Far Eastern Economic Review’s (FEER) and Hewlett-Packard (HP) Asia-Pacific’s Second Young Inventors Award last Jan. 10.
His research on a new method of testing water toxicity with the use of paper discs and bioluminescent bacteria found in seafood bested other researches from different Asian universities like Temasek Polytechnic, the National University of Singapore, National Cheng Kung University and Hong Kong Universityof Science and Technology. (see related story on page 17).
According to the results published in the Jan. 17 issue of the FEER magazine, there were 217 entries from the Asia-Pacific region, which were narrowed down to 14 entries in the finals.
Department of Biological Sciences chairperson Milagros del Callar said Quinto deserved the award for all his years of hard work and perseverance in the microbiological area of study.
Quinto will receive an HP computer system worth $6,000 and a Via Video Desktop-video-conferencing set from Polycom, while UST will receive a video-conferencing set and a research fund worth $7,500 in the awarding ceremonies at the FEER publications office in Hong Kong on Feb. 28.
The other winners in the competition were Bini Thumbarathy Balakrishnan from the National University of Singapore and Yu Chen-Chi from Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University.
Together with the other honorees, Quinto will go on an all-expense paid trip to Palo Alto, California to tour the Hewlett-Packard Laboratories this summer.
