Modern jargons like ‘robotics,’ ‘drones,’ ‘bioinformatics,’ or ‘computational research’ are normally associated with floor-to-ceiling computers, advanced optical wirings, boards of complicated mathematical equations, and vast containers of servers. When hearing these, the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) hardly comes to mind.
Conducting research requires time, resources, and perseverance. But in the end, the search for grant or funding opportunities, laboratory experiments, literature reviews, and writing reports and journal article off-shoots, the meetings in between may all be worth it since your output would have public use. You find rest and peace of mind knowing that you have a meaningful contribution to knowledge and social action.
That is, if no one passes off your work as theirs.
We live in an interesting era wherein we are on the cusp of the third and fourth industrial revolution. This revolution, dubbed as Industry 4.0, is characterized by the confluence of physical systems and information systems through sensors and actuators that enable the creation of smart products, and smart machines that can learn and improve their processes on their own. Also, current developments are influencing the shift of industrial economies to knowledge economies driven by technologies that are based on the production and dissemination of information and knowledge (Powell and Snellman, 2004)1.
It has been five years since the concept of UPLB Interdisciplinary Studies Centers (IdSCs) were presented during ExSciTe, UPLB’s S&T Forum and Exhibit, at the SMX Convention Center.
When we were kids, we all learned about the scientific method. Our grade school science teachers did not rest until we have memorized the steps in order: make an observation, ask a question, formulate a hypothesis, conduct an experiment, analyze the results, and finally, accept or reject the hypothesis.
In a rapidly changing world, new data will always come in handy. Such is an important matter for a country like the Philippines which has overwhelmingly rich natural resources but is often troubled with overpopulation, wrong urban planning, and natural hazards that disrupt the environment and leave the people vulnerable.
Resilience. It is the ability to recover quickly from difficulties or challenges. It’s another moniker for toughness, and Filipinos are known all over the world for that trait.
To build resilient Filipino communities against the risks of unpredictable weather and natural hazards is what the DREAM stands for.
Scientists and researchers are always on the hunt for novel ways to improve our way of living that even the smallest of things like atoms and molecules matter. Just recently, interests are rising on materials the size of one billionth of a meter or 500 to 100,000 times thinner than a hair strand.
Farmers struggle with a myriad of problems in their farms. Their struggles can span from new pests, lack of water supply, lack of information about the soil they’re planting on, to running out of available laborers to help them with planting and harvesting. Other external factors like typhoons and prolonged droughts aren’t even included in the equation yet. When push comes to shove, a number of events can happen all at the same time.
Aftermaths from natural disasters are common in the Philippines. Everywhere there are debris from structures and foliage. Evacuation sites pop up like mushrooms. Relief goods pour in. You would think an aftermath from a war would just be the same.
All our bags were packed and we were definitely ready to go!
This trip was not like our usual fieldwork. Led by some of the youngest in our pool of researchers, the team bravely travelled the deep seas between Batangas and Romblon to reach an island called Sibuyan.
