Former UP Diliman Information Office (UPDIO) director Prof. Sir Anril P. Tiatco, PhD and Prof. Allan Gil S. Fernando, PhD of the National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS) are among the eight recipients of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) 2021 Achievement Award.
Tiatco will be honored for his contributions to the field of humanities, while Fernando will be honored for his contributions to the field of earth and space sciences.
The NRCP Achievement Award is given annually in recognition of the members’ outstanding contribution to the fields of natural sciences, health sciences, engineering, industry, social sciences, humanities, or other human endeavors.
Tiatco is the chair of the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA) of the College of Arts and Letters (CAL) and the lead proponent of DSCTA’s PhD in performance studies, the first of its kind in the country. Tiatco was UPDIO director from April 2014 to July 2021 and was among those given the 2021 UPD Gawad Tsanselor para sa Natatanging Guro.
Meanwhile, Fernando is the co-head of the NIGS Nannoworks Laboratory and was the former NIGS deputy director of academic affairs. Fernando is editor-in-chief of the “Journal of the Geological Society of the Philippines,” and a member of the Paleontological Society of the Philippines, which he once served as its officer.
Member Emeritus. Also to be honored are Professor Emeritus Apolonio B. Chua of the CAL Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature and Sec. Fortunato T. De La Peña of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Both are set to be conferred the title, member emeritus — Chua for Division IX – Humanities, and De La Peña for Division VII – engineering and industrial research.
Chua is the 2015 UPD Gawad Tsanselor para sa Natatanging Mananaliksik sa Filipino, while De La Peña, who was a faculty member of the College of Engineering was among UP’s 100 Outstanding Alumni Engineers.
The four, along with the other awardees, will be formally awarded at the NRCP virtual Annual Scientific Conference and 89th General Membership Assembly (GMA), which bears the theme, “Digital Transformation in Research: Powers and Perils,” on March 15, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. A book launch and technical poster exhibit and competition will also be held during the 89th GMA.
