Two Fresh Grads Receive BPI-DOST Science Award

Two fresh graduates are among the recipients of the prestigious Bank of the Philippine Islands-Department of Science and Technology (BPI-DOST) Science Awards.

Wilfredo T. Mata, Jr. (Physics) and Josue T. Santos (Mechanical Engineering) joined 28 other outstanding young scientists from other universities around the country in an awarding ceremony last April 5 at the Mind Museum in Taguig where they each received a plaque, a cash prize and a career offer as a BPI junior officer.

Wilfredo’s research delved on “Surface Runoff Coefficient and Soil Erosion Measurements of Residential Soil Samples with Variations in Land Surface Feature Taken alongside Banica River, Dumaguete City”. It aimed to determine the effects of land surface features in different slope gradients to the surface runoff coefficients and soil erosion of different soil samples from two areas of Barangay Taclobo under both natural and simulated rainfall.

Josue’s focused on the promotion of renewable energy solutions through his research, “Lamp and Phone Charger Powered by Used Cooking Oil” His project made use of used cooking oil as an efficient heat source in a thermoelectric generator that can directly convert heat into electricity. This innovation can effectively serve as battery chargers for electronic devices, such as cellphones, and can even recharge lamps.

Running for 27 years now, the BPI-DOST Science Awards recognizes and supports young promising scientists from the different partner universities of BPI. This prestigious search is anchored on the rationale that scientific and applied science innovations carry great potential in improving the country’s economy and ultimately alleviating poverty in the country.