3 Senior Students Receive BPI-DOST Science Award

Three senior students from Silliman University have been named recipients of the Bank of the Philippine Islands-Department of Science and Technology (BPI-DOST) Science Award.

Charlene Caduhada (Biology), Raymart Jay Canoy (Physics), and Lorraine Allie Solitario (Computer Science) will each be presented a plaque, a research grant and a cash prize in a special ceremony to be attended by executives of BPI and BPI Foundation and DOST in March. 

They are among only 29 recipients from around the country named this year’s BPI-DOST Science Awardees, in recognition of their high academic performance and the innovativeness of their research projects. 

Charlene’s research was on the “Effects of Audible Sound Waves on the Larval Condition and Cocoon Development of Mulberry Silkworm (Bombyxmori L.).” It revealed the impact of noise and music on shell weight, thickness and single-strand diameter of the silkworm cocoon.

Raymart’s paper dealt with “An Analysis on the Gamma Radiation Spectra of Soil Samples from Dumaguete City Dumpsite and Ecological Park.” He sought to measure potential radiation exposure caused by improper solid waste management, and assess the specific activity of 40K, the most abundant naturally occurring radioisotope in the earth’s crust.

Lorraine, on the other hand, focused on “Niche Modeling of Endangered Philippine Birds: A Comparative Study between GARP and MaxEnt.” She explored the impact of human activity on the habitat status of birds, specifically on six endangered Philippine bird specifies in Negros. She undertook this by testing the accuracy of the bird niche models produced by Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Production (GARP) and Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt).

Established in 1989, the BPI-DOST Science Awards aims to recognize and provide incentives to budding scientists and researchers from BPI’s ten partner universities in the Philippines. Recipients are offered employment at BPI as junior officers.