(Mar. 8)— The UP Board of Regents (BOR), at its 1314th meeting on Jan. 29, appointed three UP Diliman (UPD) College of Science (CS) faculty members as professors emeriti.
They are Dr. Rhodora V. Azanza of The Marine Science Institute (MSI), Dr. Rene P. Felix of the Institute of Mathematics (IM) and Dr. Henry J. Ramos of the National Institute of Physics (NIP).
Professor Emeritus, a title for life, is conferred upon retired faculty members in recognition of their exceptional achievement and exemplary service to the University.
Azanza. Fondly called “The Red Tide Lady,” Azanza is internationally recognized for her pioneering research on seaweeds and harmful microalgal biology, coastal environment management and seafood safety. At the MSI, she led in conceptualizing and implementing multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary programs that aim to understand red tide/harmful algal blooms outbreaks and to identify factors that affect the occurrence of algal blooms, and design proactive strategies to mitigate their harmful effects. In the last five years alone, she has published more than 20 scientific papers in ISI covered journals and other international publications.
For her significant contributions in the study of the red tide phenomenon in the country, Azanza was elected Academician in the Biological Sciences Division of the Philippine National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) in July 2009. In 2013, the University of the Philippines Alumni Association bestowed on her the Lifetime Distinguished Achievements Award, and in 2015, she was conferred the Pantas Award as Outstanding Researcher/Scientist by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD)-DOST.
Azanza has served the University in various academic and administrative positions and extended her expertise to various national government agencies and international organizations. She has the distinction of being the first woman dean of the CS (1999 to 2006). She has been Vice chair of UNESCO-Inter-governmental-Oceanographic Panel and concurrent leader of the ASEAN Red Tide Network and part of a UNESCO E-learning for Harmful Algal Blooms. She is currently the Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and director of the Office of the International Linkages of the UP System on an extension of service basis.
Felix. Felix, whose specialization is in mathematical crystallography and group theory, has the distinction of being the first graduate of PhD in Mathematics from UPD in 1980. He served as Chairman of the Department of Mathematics from 1986 to 1990. He also served as president of the Mathematical Society of the Philippines, editor of Matimyas Matematika and president of the UPD Mathematics Foundation, Inc. He is a member of the International Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Symmetry, the International Union of Crystallography and the Southeast Asian Mathematical Society.
For his numerous researches in mathematics, which include researches on “sublattices of orthogonal lattices; rectangular, square and hexagonal lattices on the plane; the subgroups of finite index of a free Abelian group of rank n; and the ideals of the rings of endomorphisms of a finite Abelian p-group,” Felix received the Outstanding Young Scientist Award in Mathematics from the NAST in 1987.
In 1999, the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) conferred on him the Achievement Award in the Mathematical Sciences. Felix is also the recipient of numerous academic awards, among them: the UPD Gawad Tsanselor para sa Pinakamahusay na Guro in 1992, 1996 and 2004; the Prof. Ernesto Santos and Prof. Remedios David-Santos Meritorious Service Award in 2009; and the UP Scientific Productivity Award in 2011 and 2014.
Ramos. Completing the triumvirate is Ramos, a noted physicist who pioneered the development of Plasma Physics research in the country. Ramos is the first UPD scientist whose patented invention under the Technology Transfer Program of the UPD Office of the Vice for Research and Development (OVCRD) to have been “officially deployed to the market.” In April 2014, his work on coating technology entitled “Titanium Nitride Thin Film Formation on Metal Substrate by Chemical Vapor Deposition in a Magnetized Sheet Plasma Source” was put to commercial use through a “lease of patent” with the Asian Semiconductor and Electronics Technology Corporation.
Ramos also received numerous awards and citations such as the 50 Men and Women of Science Award from the Department of Science and Technology in 2008; the UP Scientific Productivity Award in 2007 and 2013; and the NRCP Achievement Award in Physics in 1992.
He served UPD in various capacities. He was the NIP director from January 1993 to May 2000, when the Commission on Higher Education named the Institute as Center of Excellence in Physics. He was the director of OVCRD’s Project Management and Resource Generation Office from 2006 until his mandatory retirement on Jul. 15, 2015.
Professors emeriti remain in the faculty roster of the University, thus giving the current students, junior faculty members and researchers the chance to be mentored by the esteemed teachers and scholars. As described by the Social Sciences and Law Cluster, “they embody what the University stands for and its contributions to the life and mind of the Filipino nation and humanity as a whole.”
Professors emeriti receive one-time monetary award of P150,000. Honorees who conduct researches and creative works are granted P250,000 per annum, net of tax, in recognition of outstanding scholarship and achievements in their respective field. The honorees are also accorded lifetime library privileges, UP Health Service privileges and free admission to cultural shows in UP, among others.