UP Diliman (UPD) excelled in the October and November 2024 Mining Engineers Licensure Examination, landing squarely on the top spot among the top-performing schools with a 100% passing rate and four examinees entering the top 10. The DMMME building. Photo by Jefferson Villacruz, UP Diliman Information Office Leading the 25 passers are Keith Jeremy Miguel, Aloysius Barbarona, Tiarra Ciayen Aguas, and Iñaki Xavier Maglipon. Miguel ranked third with an 89% rating, Barbarona ranked seventh with an 87.3% rating, Aguas ranked ninth with an 86.8% rating, and Maglipon ranked 10th with an 86.75% rating. The only institution among the three top performing schools to get a 100% passing rate, the UPD College of Engineering’s Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering celebrates its ninth consecutive year of having every mining engineering graduate successfully pass the rigorous licensure examination. To qualify as a top performing school, an institution must have five or more examinees with at least 80% passing rate. The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced that 259 out of 365 passed the examination given in the National Capital Region, Baguio, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, and Davao.

The UP Fighting Maroons Men’s Basketball Team (UPMBT) overcame the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers’ tough challenge in their final-four encounter with a 78-69 win on Nov. 30 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The win booked the Fighting Maroons into their fourth consecutive Finals appearance in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament. Harold Alarcon and Francis Lopez paced the Fighting Maroons with 16 points apiece, while Reyland Torres chipped in 13 points. Quentin Millora-Brown (QMB), who was named best player of the game, had another superb output scoring nine points, 19 rebounds, four blocks, and three assists. Alarcon (right) drives past against UST’s Leland Estacio. Photo from the UAAP Media Team It was a back-and-forth affair between the Fighting Maroons and the Growling Tigers in the first half, with UST taking the upper hand, 35-33, at the halftime break. In the third quarter, with the Fighting Maroons still trailing by six points, 34-40, Alarcon, Torres, Lopez, and Terrence Fortea teamed up for a 21-4 scoring blast to grab the lead, 55-44, with two minutes and 23 seconds remaining in the said quarter. The UPMBT eventually hung on to a seven-point advantage, 57-50, going into the payoff period. The UPMBT. Photo from the UAAP Media Team The Growling Tigers refused to gave in and fought back to came within four points, 62-58, on a series of basket conversions by Nic Cabañero. In the ensuing plays, the UPMBT, led by Alarcon, JD Cagulangan, and QMB, countered a 10-3 run to give the Fighting Maroons a comfortable 11-point lead, 72-61, with a little over three minutes left in the game. The Diliman-based dribblers then put up a tight defensive stance to frustrate the Growling Tigers’ last ditch-effort in the dying minutes of the game, sealing the Fighting Maroons return to the UAAP Finals. The Fighting Maroons will have their finals rematch against the De La Salle University Green Archers. Game one of the best-of-three championship series is on Dec. 8, 5:30 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. QMB scores against two UST defenders. Photo from the UAAP Media Team

Over 160 ongoing and completed research projects by faculty of the UP Diliman (UPD) College of Engineering (COE) were featured in the latest edition of the Professorial Chair Awards (PCA) public colloquium on Nov. 25 at the COE Institute of Civil Engineering building. Organized by the COE and the UP Engineering Research and Development Foundation, Inc (UPERDFI), in collaboration with the UP National Engineering Center (UP NEC), the colloquium continues the theme FAST TRACK (Filipino Engineers for the Advancement of Science and Technology Through Research and Collaborative Knowledge Sharing): Engineering Research Towards Achieving Philippine Sustainable Development Goals. The first FAST TRACK was held in January this year. FAST TRACK participants with Vistan. Photo by Jerald DJ Caranza, UP Diliman Information Office The research projects were grouped into eight categories among the 17 sustainable development goals set by the United Nations: good health and well-being; quality education and strong institutions; clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; industry, innovation, and infrastructure; sustainable cities and communities; responsible consumption and production; and climate action. All the presented projects were partially or fully funded by PCA from the COE and the UPERDFI. According to the 2023 UPD Faculty Manual, a professorial chair is “a form of recognition for achievement in the academe, established to advance knowledge and learning in various fields or disciplines. Chairs are positions supported by special endowments and awarded to members of the faculty at the tertiary level who have distinguished themselves in the fields they represent.” Tanchuling. Photo by Jefferson Villacruz, UP Diliman Information Office Welcoming participants and interested parties were UPD Chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II, COE Dean Maria Antonia Tanchuling, UPERDFI Vice President Patrick Vincent G. Peña, UPERDFI Chair Manuel Torres, and former UPERDFI President Rafael Nestor Mantaring. Some of the projects presented were Renewable Energy-Powered Methane Production using LCES in Luzon, Philippines: A Techno-economic Study by Rizalinda L. de Leon, PhD of the Department of Chemical Engineering; Impact of Demographic Shifts and Geographical Bailwicks in Modeling future Presidential Elections by Philip Christian Zuñiga of the Department of Computer Science; Right of Way Acquisition Using Geospatial Technologies by Florence A. Galeon of the Department of Geodetic Engineering; and CCTV on Steroids: The Design and Implementation of BantAI, a Robbery Prediction System for Edge Devices by Isabel M. Austria,PhD of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute.   Peña. Photo by Jefferson Villacruz, UP Diliman Information Office FAST TRACK concluded with a plenary panel discussion with Romeo Gilbuena Jr., consultant at the Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and World Bank and a,researcher at the Aston University (UK), and Federico Monsada, Chairman and CEO of Minercon International Inc. and President of…