TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte — Entries from the University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban College (UPVTC) and the Leyte Normal University (LNU) bagged major awards during the 6th UPVTC Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS 2019) held last May 8, 2019 at the UPVTC, Tacloban City.
Over 130 participants coming from different SCUs in Eastern Visayas, namely the Eastern Samar State University (ESSU), LNU, University of Eastern Philippines (UEP)- Main Campus, UEP- Pedro Rebadulla Memorial Campus and UPVTC, participated in the URS 2019.
Envisioned to become an important research hub in Eastern Visayas, the Leyte-Samar Heritage Center (LSHC) revived UPVTC’s annual Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) last year [2018] after five years of hiatus. The symposium aims to provide a venue for undergraduate students and researchers from both public and private colleges and universities from all over Eastern Visayas to share the highlights and other important accomplishments of their research projects. This year, URS 2019 was guided by the theme “Promoting and Mentoring Research Towards Sustainable Development” envisioned to promote and sustain a culture of research in the region.
The Screening committee accepted 29 research papers for oral presentation and 28 studies for poster presentation falling under the four disciplinal clusters. These clusters include Life Sciences Cluster, Physical Sciences and Engineering Cluster, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Education Cluster, and the Management and Accounting Cluster.
In the Oral Presentations category, the Life Sciences Cluster evaluators adjudged the paper entitled, “Antibacterial activity of endophytic fungi isolated from the leaf of Camptostemon philippinense mangrove collected from Brgy. Mahinlo, Maasin City, Southern Leyte”, which was presented by Mr. Christopher Jonh Gozales, as the Best Paper for the said cluster. Meanwhile, the judges declared the research project entitled “An automatic plagiarism detection scheme using external and intrinsic methods” by Mr. Allan Fritz Gerald Amistoso as the Best Paper for the Physical Sciences and Engineering Cluster. For the Management and Accounting Cluster, the study entitled “Modeling the accessibility and connectivity of the Public Transportation System design of Tacloban City” by Ms. Sheena Burce and Ms. Leonise Serevilla was awarded the Best Paper. Winners from the said clusters are students from the UPVTC. Meanwhile, the study entitled “Dynamics and barriers to electoral participation of Indigenous Peoples: The case of the Mamanwas in Samar, Philippines” by Ms. Kay Ann Torre, Ms. Ave Maria Elizabeth Nacman, Ms. Shahanna Rie Malate, and Ms. Agnes Buyser under the advisorship of Mr. Ginbert Cuaton from the LNU won the Best Paper Award for the Social Sciences, Humanities and Education Cluster.
At the end of the poster presentations, the study entitled “SAGA: Socially-aware and Geographically-aware Microblogging System with Direct Messaging over Opportunistic Networks” by Ms. Cyril Kaye Pol of UPVTC won the Best Poster Award for the Physical Sciences and Engineering Cluster. Another entry from UPVTC called “A study on the pottery industry in Tanauan, Leyte” by Ms. Frances Dale Quintero, Ms. Janne May Villero and Ms. Jenamae Lugatiman bagged the Best Poster Award for the Management and Accounting Cluster. For the Social Sciences, Humanities and Education Cluster, an undergraduate research project entitled “Matrix of strategies in teaching biology: Input to pre-Service teachers by Mr. Ronnie Daganasol, Mr. Damme Van Macasadog, Ms. Christine Joy Pilande, Prof. Joyce Magtolis and Dr. Maria Lourdes Tan from the LNU was declared the Best Poster for the said cluster. There was no official entry for the poster presentations category in the Life Sciences Cluster.
Reputable researchers and academicians from various public and private academic institutions and government agencies from all over the region served as judges for this year’s URS. Prof. Ma. Theresa P. Loreto and Prof. Jayzon Bitacura, both from the College of Biological Sciences of the Visayas State Univesity (VSU), and Mr. Jay Torrefiel faculty from the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of UPVTC served as judges for the Life Sciences Cluster. For the Physical Sciences and Engineering Cluster, Prof. Magdalene Unajan and Prof. Michael Anthony Jay B. Regis, computer science experts from VSU, and Prof. Noel Elizaga, an IT expert from UPVTC, evaluated the entries in the said disciplinal cluster. Meanwhile, Prof. Ferdinand Abocejo from Eastern Visayas State University, Dr. Generoso N. Mazo from LNU, and Prof. Patricia Arinto of UP Open University assessed the papers and performances of the participants in the Social Sciences, Humanities and Education Cluster. EnP. Roselyn P. Segura, Research Officer from the Office of the President, Prof. Jenelyn V. Garcia, Dean of ABE International Business College, and Prof. Miah Maye Pormon faculty member of UPVTC who specializes in economics served as evaluators for the Management and Accounting Cluster entries.
Prof. Pratricia B. Arinto, UP System Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs (Curriculum and Instruction)and faculty member of UP Open University served as Keynote speaker for URS 2019.
“Research integrity goes beyond procedures and protocols to include research ethics and standards. Thus, research integrity is a key aspect of an excellent research culture — that is, the kind of research culture that the UPVTC Undergraduate Research Symposium seeks to promote especially in a context where achieving sustainable development is critical, ” Prof. Arinto said in her Keynote address.
She concluded her message by encouraging the participants to take URS 2019 as an opportunity to reflect deeply upon the purposes and processes of their respective research projects and programs.
The 6th UPVTC Undergraduate Research Symposium was made possible by the support of the UP Visayas through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE) and the Leyte-Samar Heritage Center in partnership with the UPVTC Teaching and Learning Resource Center (TLRC), UPVTC Regional Environmental Information Systems (REIS) Office, UP Lente, and UP Scientifico. (Photos from https://www.facebook.com/pg/UPTaclobanURS/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2699399093468544)
