Marl Andrew B. Valdez
Undergraduate students from the Department of Biological Sciences bagged top awards in the 22nd Annual Philippine Biodiversity Symposium of the Wildlife Conservation Society of the Philippines (WCSP) held last April 16-19, 2013 at the Central Mindanao University, Musuan, Bukidnon.

Andrew Ross T. Reintar won the Best Undergraduate Oral Presentation Award in a heavily contested field of 11 presenters from different schools in the country with his thesis entitled “Population Status and Habitat Preferences of the Camiguin Hawk Owl (Ninox leventisi).” Dexter John G. Jomoc and Rachel Ruth C. Flores also won the Best Undergraduate Poster Presentation Award with their paper entitled “The Odonata in Selected Wetland Areas of Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon” while Aniah T. Cantal won second place for her study entitled “The Diversity of Understory Birds in Mt. Timpoong, Camiguin Island.”
The researches of Reintar and Cantal had Prof. Dennis A. Warguez as thesis adviser and Philip Godfrey C. Jakosalem of the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, Inc. as external adviser while the study of Jomoc and Flores had Dr. Olga M. Nuńeza as their adviser. Other MSU-IIT biology students who qualified as finalists for the Best Undergraduate Oral Presentation Award were Marie Joy L. Requiroso, Al-ajhar M. Sumndad and Marl Andrew B. Valdez.
The said event has been the venue for conservation biologists to gather and discuss matters on biodiversity and wildlife conservation. This year’s symposium highlighted the Cultural and Biodiversity Values of Conservation Areas.
With these awards, MSU-IIT came out as the institution with the most number of awards.
Topics : biology awards competition