Scientia Online

Editors: Denise Villanueva and Jann Sy

Photo Credits: Joseph Cheng

Annually, the College of Science (CS) holds its General Assembly to inform students about the updates and changes in the college. This year’s assembly, entitled ANYARE?, was held last August 8, from 1 to 4pm, in the CS Auditorium. Aside from the annual reports about the College’s performance, the program incorporated the yearly recognition of the different organizations in CS, and the recent issue on the government budget cuts to the State University and Colleges of the Philippines, including UP Diliman.

The program began with the Philippine National Anthem, led by the CS chorale. After which, Dr. Jose Maria P. Balmaceda, Dean of the College of Science, delivered his opening remarks, which focused on the generous allocation of the 1.7 B funding of the development National Science Complex in the previous year and years to follow. Following this, the directors and representatives of the different CS institutes gave their updates.

Dr. Balmaceda delivering his opening remarks.

INSTITUTE UPDATES

Dr. Cynthia Hedreyda, director of the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (NIMBB) spoke about the minor changes in the undergraduate programs. She mentioned that eight additional units would be added to the undergraduate curriculum for incoming freshmen next year, and that classes during two summers would be required of the students. Classes to be added include scientific writing, bioenterprise and structural biology courses. She also gave updates on the new three-storey building of the NIMBB, which would include lecture rooms, teaching labs and research labs – intended to become the model molecular biology labs in the country.

Dr. Carina Ramos then gave updates in behalf of Dr. Florian del Mundo, the director of Institute of Chemistry (IC). She briefly commended the quick transition of the Institute of Chemistry after the fire that incinerated Pavilion 2, last year. She also mentioned IC’s accolades and achievements—mainly that the institute’s undergraduates have received two BPI-DOST Science awards in the past years and that their Analytical Services Laboratory is ISO accredited. She also mentioned a student who graduated from the institute who is now a Ph.D. graduate and is doing research in the University of Houston and that the IC now has relations with the said university. Besides this, she gave updates on the new buildings of IC – as of June 2011, the research building was 96% complete and that as of July 2011, the teaching building was 71% complete.

Dr. Carina Ramos delivering IC updates.

There was a question raised by an audience member if the IC would soon be tagged as NICS or National Institute of Chemical Sciences. Dr. Ramos replied that although it was not yet approved, it would make a tremendous difference, specifically in the budget allocated to the institute. She also mentioned that IC is in the process of acquiring a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance instrument.

Dr. Mario Aurelio then spoke in behalf of Dr. Carlo Arcilla, the National Institute of Geological Sciences’ (NIGS) director, regarding the history of the NIGS building and the construction of the NIGS Building South Wing Extension, which would house nine additional rooms, the addition of ramp access to all floors for the physically disabled, and the possible construction of a student center for NIGS students. He also flashed a video presentation from his laboratory, the Structural Geology and Tectonics Laboratory. Aside from these updates, he also boasted that the Geologist Board Exam top-notchers have consistently been from UP NIGS since 1985. Dr. Aurelio also lauded the approach of NIGS in immersing their students in research, even early in the undergraduate years such as the first or second years.

Following Dr. Aurelio was Dr. Ian Fontanilla, speaking in behalf of Dr. Perry Ong, the director of the Institute of Biology (IB). He gave a very short talk on the construction updates of their new building which he estimates to be usable by next school year, and the recent vehicles that they acquired – a Tamaraw FX, two bicycles and one motorcycle. When a question was raised a regarding what would happen to the Tambayan of many IB-based organizations, Dr. Fontanilla was quick to respond that the issue of the Tambayans is still to be decided upon – whether students would get full-fledged rooms or simply outdoor kiosks. Another question was raised about the current situation of the IB Animal House. Dr. Fonanilla mentioned it is currently under renovation, and is temporarily at Pavilion 3, Llamas Hall.

Dr. Marian Roque then gave updates for the Institute of Mathematics (IM). The directress said that offices of the administration would be temporarily housed at the new Math Annex for one year. She also said that the annex currently houses 2 auditoriums and these auditoriums will soon, if approved, be the testing ground for new large classes of Math 17 and the Math 50s series, handled by the senior professors. There will also be discussion classes that would be handled by the younger professors for seatwork and exercises. She also said that if the K-12 educational system would push through, Math 17 could be removed completely from the courses offered by IM. Dr. Roque also announced the availability of Wi-Fi for 4^th year students currently doing their theses. If the bandwidth does not exceed limits, Dr. Roque hopes to make the Wi-Fi available to all IM students. (Currently, registration of laptops is required for Wi-Fi use.) Dr. Roque also shared that five textbooks for Math majors are currently being authored by IM. Finally, Dr. Roque encouraged Math majors to collaborate with other institutes for more fruitful thesis projects.

Dr. Marian Roque delivering IM updates.

For the National Institute of Physics, Dr. Giovanni Tapang spoke in behalf of their director, Dr. Arnel Salvador. He mentioned that NIP has been and should be collaborating with other institutes and promoted the research culture, similar to that of NIGS. Dr. Tapang also mentioned the new building’s facilities such as their new auditorium and providing air conditioners for the remaining rooms in NIP.

CSSC ANNOUNCEMENTS

After the institute-specific updates, Noel Bernardo, the College of Science Student Council (CSSC) Chairperson addressed the assembly. He commented on the success the projects so far such as the Freshmen Orientation and FreCShie week, and the attendance rate displayed by the freshmen and CS students. Also, speaking in behalf of Agham, the CS Yearbook Committee, Noel notified the assembly that the tentative date of first pictorials would fall on the first week of September. He encouraged the assembly to approach Agham Institute Representatives for further inquiries regarding themes, packages and other concerns. Noel also discussed the possibility of having a hotline for announcements instead of the standard text brigade.

Following this, Janella Salamania, Celina Yap and Paolo Joven made formal announcements regarding KaCSiyahan – the guidelines of which may be found here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/36945655/kasciyahan2011_guidelines%20final_latest.pdf

UP BUDGET CUT

After announcements from the CSSC, the University Student Council chairperson, Gem Garcia took the floor, along with Montana Dominguez, the Deputy Secretary General of KASAMA sa UP to speak about the newly proposed budget cut by the Aquino administration for 2012.

ORGANIZATION RECOGNITION

Finally, Noel Bernardo and Dr. Giovanni Tapang, the Associate Dean for Student and Public Affairs officiated the organization recognition by handing out the certificates to the respective organization officers. In a short message, Dr. Tapang encouraged organizations to sit down with the various institute directors and administrators to talk about their concerns regarding their Tambayans and their future in the National Science Complex.

The various officers of the CS organizations and students of the various CS institutes attended the College of Science General Assembly.

Anne Angeles and Kevin Garas of the CSSC hosted the General Assembly.