FOUR successful scientists and alumni of the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Philippine Science High School (PSHS) will give career-related talks in celebration of the weeklong National Science and Technology Week late this month.
Dr. Ma. Corazon A. de Ungria, of PSHS Main Campus Batch 1985 and who now heads the DNA Analysis Laboratory of University of the Philippines Diliman’s National Sciences Research Institute, is set to give a talk on July 27 at the Outcome 7 Exhibit Area, SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia, Pasay City, at 10 a.m.
Also set to speak are Dr. Reinabelle Reyes, PSHS Main Campus Batch 2001, an astrophysicist who led a team that proved Einstein’s Theory of Relativity on a cosmic level and another team that discovered 900 quasars, the largest number of supermassive black holes found.
Balik-Scientist Dr. Mary Ann Go, PSHS Eastern Visayas Campus Batch 2000, will share her knowledge on neuroscience. Ma. Antonia Arroyo, PSHS Main Campus Batch 1995 and the CEO and founder of Hybridigm Consulting, the premier and pioneering biotechnology consulting and commercialization firm in the Philippines, will give inspirational talks.
Chosen for their outstanding scientific contributions, these Filipina scientists are among the DOST scholars who will be featured in an exhibit during the NSTW. Entitled “She for We: Highlighting the Role, Life and Achievement of Filipina Scientists in the Local and International Scientific Community,” the exhibit is a celebration of the contributions of Filipina science scholars and scientists in the country and the world.
The exhibit proponents, DOST agencies, namely, Science Education Institute (SEI), PSHS System and the National Academy of Science and Technology, said that the science community has been regarded as a male-dominated body with women relegated to the sidelines.
Despite the vast contributions that the female scientists and engineers have given, they are overshadowed by gender bias that favors their male counterparts.
In the Philippines the ratio between male and female scientists slightly favors the male group. The latest Human Resource in Science and Technology in the Philippines study by SEI revealed that engineering, architecture and related professions remain male-dominated, while medical professions, like midwifery and nursing, remain female-dominated.
Initiatives to create greater awareness is important to bring about a change in culture in the scientific community and show the need to make opportunities that will provide equal access to Filipinas in the scientific community here and abroad, the agency proponents added.
Besides the aforementioned scientists, the other DOST scholars and Filipina scientists who will be featured in the exhibit are Drs. Gay Perez, Rowena Cristina Guevara, Rosalia Mercado-Simmen, Cymbeline T. Culiat, Maria Victoria Espaldon, Jacq Romero, Maria Antonia Romero, Lourdes Cruz, Dr. Milagros Ibe, Ester Ogena, Aura Matias, May Lim, Dolores Ramirez, Josette Biyo, Carmencita Padilla and Filipinas Natividad
The exhibit will highlight the role of these DOST Filipina scholars and scientists as pioneers, movers, risk takers, builders, innovators, dreamers, wall breakers, technopreneurs, icons and torchbearers.
For more info, visit http://nstw.dost.gov.ph/. Free admission.
