Young scientists

PINOY KASI

Young scientists
By Michael Tan

Inquirer
Last updated 02:46am (Mla time) 05/25/२००७

MANILA, Philippines -- Rightly so, six young Filipinos made it to the Inquirer’s front page yesterday with good, very good, news that provide welcome relief from the depressing news about electoral fraud.

The six won awards at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) held in the States last week. The ISEF is billed the largest pre-college science fair in the world, this year’s event bringing in 1,500 young students (the winners’ age range was from 15 to 18) from 40 countries to compete for several awards and prizes provided by private corporations as well as the US government and the European Union.

I’ll shortly get to the names of the awardees and the titles of their research presentations, but I wanted first to tackle the significance of these science fairs and Filipinos making it to the finals.

First, the winners were all from public schools, which tells us the government educational system can still be centers of excellence. The winners came from the Philippine Science High School system as well as from two national high schools, both in the Visayas. The inclusion of national high schools is especially encouraging, but not surprising. Teaching at the University of the Philippines, I can vouch that some of our best students, and faculty members, are products of these national high schools.

Second, this ISEF reminds us of the importance of science fairs. I know that we have local fairs as well but rarely get to read about them, and the presentations. I can imagine the excitement of our scholars when they make it to the fairs. These fairs are the equivalent of international science conferences, but I suspect they’re more exciting because the adult scientists often end up reading the most boring papers while the science fairs reflect the innovation and imagination that young student scientists have. I visited the ISEF website and was fascinated by the titles of the papers presented, from a Thai student’s investigation of the mechanism of the Mimosa leaf’s closure (that’s the makahiya plant) to a Saudi Arabian student’s “Smart Shoe for Blind People” and a Mexican’s presentation with this kilometric title: “Psycho-social effects caused by parental absence on children 7 to 11 years old with solution by means of exercises that stimulate dialogue.” The Filipinos’ presentations were just as intriguing, as I will explain in a while.

Intel, idol

Third point, the science fairs are an excellent opportunity for corporations to channel some of their philanthropy to young people. I know that Intel has been a major sponsor for some years now, both for our local scholars as well as for the international event and I appreciate how they’ve been doing this low-profile, but I hope too they can challenge other corporations to follow suit. The US corporations know very well that the science fairs allow them to identify budding scientists, people who might even become part of their staff later on.

The sponsors of ISEF were quite diverse, with various US government agencies getting into the act. Even the Department of Homeland Security offered awards for research that would “prevent and deter terrorist attacks.” The European Union offered travel grants to another science fair in Spain. The most innovative prizes were from the Lincoln laboratory of MIT: naming minor planets after the grand prize winners! Maybe the Philippine government can offer to name islands after our young winners.

Which takes me to my fourth point, more than having islands named after them, our scholars deserve more coverage by our mass media. We need more of these role models for young people, a counterpoint to the silly American Idol-genre of “heroes.” I’ve nothing, certainly, against singing and dancing; in fact, I’ve proudly written about how UP and Xavier (my high school alma mater) won in national streetdance competitions. But we do need to be much more appreciative of our young scientists. It’s important for young Filipinos to see them, and to hear them talk not just about their science achievements but also about their families, their day-to-day interests. I saw a photograph of this year’s Filipino winners in another daily newspaper and I can say they look like your teenager next door.

Filipino winners

I’m going to get to the Filipino winners but before that, congratulations are also in order for the other Filipino students who did qualify to go to ISEF, but didn’t win awards. The fact that they made it to the fair is itself an honor.

Now to the winners. Note that I’m going to be paraphrasing some of the very long titles. I have not seen their presentations so I’m basing my comments on the titles of the papers alone, which intrigued me because they reflect the interests of our young scientists, and what we might see in the future if we don’t lose them to brain drain.

Most striking was how three of the presentations focused on disease control or management, one for plants and two for humans. Luiji Suarez won an award from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance-Lemelson Foundation for his research on the potential of marine bioluminescent bacteria to fight two major rice diseases. Suarez is from the Doña Hortencia Salas Benedicto National High School in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental.

A team from the Philippine Science High School in Quezon City -- Ivy Ventura, Janine Santiago and Mara Villaverde -- won a team project award for their research into fluorescent proteins from sea slugs. These proteins have potential for the detection of tumors.

Melvyn Barroa of the Capiz National High School won in the microbiology division, looking into how fish mucus, which protects the fish, might be used for human health as well, both as an antimicrobial and for immune mechanisms. Barroa was said to have turned down an offer from a German institute that wanted to buy his research. He didn’t want to sell the research since he wasn’t sure if the Philippines would benefit. This young nationalist scientist will be taking up political science at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Finally, we get to Hester Mana Umayam from the Philippine Science High School-Cagayan Valley, who won an award in the Behavioral and Social Sciences division for looking into “ethnomathematics in the geometric patterns” of Kalinga weaving. Being an anthropologist, I was most thrilled by this paper’s title. Ethnomathematics, put simply, looks at indigenous math systems. Weaving provides one such example -- a good weaver has to be able to figure out weaving designs in her head and knowing which types and colors of fibers to use next. That requires algebra and geometry of a different sort. Umayam apparently also looked at how the weaving reflected class and Kalinga culture.

From luminescent tumor markers to the geometry of weaving, our young Filipino scientists did us proud. Here’s to hoping that in the years ahead, we do see and hear more of their achievements, as well as those of other young scientists who still have the curiosity and the drive to explore the world around us.