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By Giovanni Tapang, Ph.D.
Columnist
With close to half its student
population enrolled in science and engineering courses, the
University of the Philippines has served not only as a source of
skilled scientific manpower base, but also of high-quality research
outputs despite unfavorable conditions in our country.
The UP College of Science has the
highest density of Ph.Ds. in the natural sciences and mathematics in
the country. It has produced nearly 300 Ph.Ds., more than 1,000 MS
degree holders and five times as much BS graduates during its
quarter of a century life span. There are more than 150 Ph.Ds.
currently in the college.
Its research activities have led
to development of new techniques in various fields, ranging from art
preservation to marine ecology. Current issues, such as global
warming and landslides, are being tackled by geologists, marine
scientists and meteorologists from the college. Genetically modified
organisms or GMO detection, bioremediation and DNA vaccination are
being done by its biotechnologists and molecular biologists.
Mathematical research has also led to applications in other
disciplines like marine science, biology and chemistry.
There are also patents received
for new industrial processes in coating technologies derived from
applications of plasma physics. Optical microscopy and image
processing also led to the patenting of a microscope to detect
defects in a computer chip. Related research on defect localization
via optical feedback laser thermography was feted as one of the most
exciting researches in imaging in 2006 by the Optical Society of
America.
In 2006, the National Science
Complex was created. It is composed of the present and future
constituent units of the college. New buildings are being built
within the complex and others being finished or upgraded. The
complex would serve as the national hub for the generation and
application new scientific knowledge in the natural and applied
sciences and mathematics.
Currently, five academic units
within the college are national institutes and seven are Commission
of Higher Education centers of excellence.
These academic units are the
National Institute of Geological Sciences, the
Marine Science Institute,
National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, National
Institute of Physics, Institute of Biology, Institute of Chemistry,
Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology, Department of
Mathematics, Natural Science and Research Institute, Materials
Science and Engineering Program, and the Science and Society
Program.
Despite these gains, UP’s
contribution is still small to improve significantly the
comparatively low performance in benchmarks ratios of researchers,
scientists and engineers in the country.
The Unesco benchmark for the
number of researchers, scientists, and engineers per 10,000 of a
population is 3.4. The increasing trend in Ph.D. and MS graduates in
the college are a welcome start, but with a ratio of 0.48 per 10,000
of the population, both the Philippines and its science flagship
school, UP, still have a long way to go.
College researches are published
in international journals widely read by the international
scientific community. Overall, the college has produced nearly 18
percent (484 out of 2,666) of all publications in the country for
2000 to 2006. This might seem large, but on a per-faculty basis, the
average is still sub-par, amounting only to 0.36 paper per Ph.D.
Through the combined efforts of
some individuals and professors – such as the current dean and
noted scientist Dr. Caesar Saloma – to improve mentoring and the
quality of graduate education in the College, there have been
notable increases in both manpower and scientific productivity.
These show that world-class scientific excellence, as seen in the
university, can still be done under unfavorable socioeconomic
conditions.
With increased and continuous
support to science and technology, and with the development of local
industry, science and technology can reverse the drain of highly
competent and skilled human resources for whose development huge
investments have been expended for the desired social product, its
world-class graduates.
Consciously sustained investment
in developing science and technology should be undertaken in the
active effort to develop domestic productive capacity. Local
industries should likewise be developed in parallel to provide jobs
and placement for the skilled scientific manpower to contribute and
hone their skills. This will further encourage innovation, learning
and adaptation for these scientists and engineers and plug the brain
drain.
In any modern society, scientists
and technologists always have had an important role to perform. The
continuing relevance of science is best demonstrated by the use of
its applications by the people and how it enriches the lives of the
broad masses. When seen in this light, as well as the century that
has passed for the University of the Philippines, it is important to
realize that the improvement status of science and technology in the
country is not just a task for scientists and engineers in the
university.
Science and technological growth
is still largely determined by the agrarian and non-industrial
character of the mode of production in the country today and this
should be understood by practitioners in the field. The continuing
efforts of scientists and engineers to better their skills and
practice their craft are most welcome and would be more meaningful
if done within the context of the struggle for basic changes in our
society to bring about a vibrant domestic economy and the uplift of
the people’s daily lives.
Note: The data in this article
was culled from annual reports, articles and papers on the College
of Science in UP Diliman.
Dr. Giovanni Tapang is assistant
professor in the National Institute of Physics, College of Science
in UP Diliman. Together with other members of AGHAM, a progressive
scientists’ organization, he writes for a column entitled
Prometheus Bound in this paper every Thursday.
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