To be awarded and recognized for your extraordinary work is one thing. It is also another thing when you bagged those accolades, both national and international, in just a span of five months! Such achievement speaks not only of your industriousness and diligence but also of the calibre and quality of what you are producing. Such is the achievement of Mr. Joshua B. Zoleta, currently working as an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of the Materials Engineering and Technology, who was awarded BEST POSTER PRESENTER at 15th ERDT Congress, Red Planet Hotel, Manila City on June 2018; BEST PAPER at the 11th AUNSEED-NET Conference for Energy at Manila Hotel, on August 2018; BEST PAPER PRESENTER at International Conference on Advance Functional Materials and Nanotechnology at Inland Hotel, Butuan City, on October 2018; BEST PAPER PRESENTER at the 1ST International Conference on Materials Science Engineering in the Philippines at Lake Hotel, Tagaytay City still on October 2018; and BEST PAPER PRESENTER at 5th ASEAN Regional Symposium of Chemical Engineers, Diamond Residences at Makati City on November 2018.
As an alumnus Zoleta, who received his Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical Engineering (BSMetE) at MSU-IIT in 2014, started as a Project Development Assistant and later as the Senior Research Assistant in the two projects headed by Prof. Ephraim E. Ibarra and Prof. Gevelyn B. Itao. These two researchers are namely: “The Development of Alternative Technologies for Small-Scale Gold Mining in CARAGA and South Cotabato Region” and the “Establishment of Common Service Facilities for Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining in Northern Mindanao”.
Two years after the projects he started his Master’s Degree in MSU-IIT and was granted the Sandwich Program at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan last July 2018, specializing in the development of intumescent coating in steel substrate using inorganic fillers as fire retardant additives. Upon the financial entitlement of his scholarship from DOST- Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT), he was given the privileges to join several international research conferences and which won him the awards.
His Master’s research entitled “CeO2-Dolomite as Fire Retardant Additives on the Conventional Intumescent Coating in I-Beam Steel Substrate” which is co-authored by Professor’s Gevelyn B. Itao, Vannie Joy T. Resabal, Ryan D. Corpuz, Lyn Marie D. Corpuz, Arnold A. Lubguban, Carlito B. Tabelin, Mayumi Ito, and Naoki Hiroyoshi, had been published in two (2) international journals and is currently receiving approvals from five (5) different international Scopus and ISI index publications. He, together with his advisers, Prof. Gevelyn B. Itao and Prof. Vannie Joy T. Resabal, is aiming to patent his work this coming December 2018 and hoping that this research will have industry collaborations for DOST-PCIEERD research funding by 2019.
Today Mr. Zoleta is specializing in the study of gold extraction from low-grade pyritic ores of Mindanao and on the development of Mathematical Modeling and optimization parameters of the Micron Mill Wave Table (MMWT) for the extraction of gold from alluvial deposits in Digkilaan, Iligan City.
Zoleta is among the young faculty in MSU-IIT who has a lot to contribute to the Institute and to the country. It is with hopes that he, alongside future engineers, be given greater research opportunities in the near future to further strengthen the Metallurgical Engineering program of the College of Engineering.
In the past two years MSUIIT topped the Metallurgical Engineering board exams, thus expectations are high for Silao and his classmates. Rightly so, Silao who graduated Summa Cum Laude and honored as Class Valedictorian of batch 2017-2018, did not fail his mentors and the whole Institute.
Silao, whose rating is 88.60%, bested the other 67 examinees as per Professional Regulatory Board (PRC) announcement. Five other COET of MSUIIT graduates belong in the top ten, namely: Top 4 – Angelica B. Alvizo (83.55%); Top 5 – Glide M. Espina (83.40%); Top 7 – Jerald Mark M. Gestupa (83.15%); Top 9 – Aljon Rey A. Lagayada (82.30%) and Top 10 – Yanno-Ray M. Cahiles ( 81.60%).
MSUIIT is now on its three-peat in topping the Metallurgical Engineering Examination.
Graduate School of Engineering’s faculty members and ERDT scholars attended the 7th Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) Congress held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Pasay City last July 13, 2018.
Out of five (5) categories, MSU-IIT bagged three (3) Best Poster Awards. The winners were the following:
Information and Communications Technology – Daryl Pongcol and Cenie V. Malabanan “Cloud II – A Raspberry Pi Server for Multiple MiDi Sources”
Semiconductors, Materials and Electronics – Joshua B. Zoleta, Vannie Joy T. Resabal, Arnold A. Lubguban, Carlito B. Tabelin, Ryan Corpuz, Mayumi Ito, Naoki Hiroyoshi and Gevelyn B. Itao “CeO2 – Dolomite as Fire Retardant Fillers on the Conventional Intumescent Coating in Steel Substrate”
Manufacturing and Machinery – Liezl M. Jabile, Reynaldo M. Vequizo, Romnick B. Unabia, Jun Rey S. Lincuna, Majvell Kay G. Odarve-Vequizo and Shigenobu R. Miñoza “Structural, crystallographic and morphological properties of microwave-assisted growth of nano-apatite powders”
The ERDT Congress is a yearly event where researchers, ERDT scholars, visiting professors, industry, government, and other experts gather and get inspired by plenary lectures of highly distinguished professors and experts all over the world. It is also a venue for the ERDT scholars to publish their academic works through poster competition.
The ERDT is a highly funded development project by the Philippine government through the Department of Science and Technology. It aims to attain a critical mass of master’s and doctoral graduates in various fields of engineering. ERDT is implemented through a consortium of eight universities in the Philippines with mature engineering graduate programs. These universities are the UP-Diliman, UP-Los Banos, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Mapua Institute of Technology, Central Luzon State University, the University of San Carlos and the MSU- Iligan Institute of Technology.
The ECE of MSU-IIT landed Top 2 Performing School with a passing rate of 89.47% in the recently concluded April 2018 Electronics Engineering Board Exams given by the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC).
34 out of 38 examinees passed the licensure exam given on April 4-5, 2018 at PRC Testing Centers in Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Davao. Out of the 2,663 examinees, only 1,208 passed the exam making the national passing rate at 45.36%.
John Xavier P. Toledo grabs the second spot of the Electronics Technician (ECT) licensure exam. He graduated Cum Laude of his batch.
A year earlier, the ECE program was the only Top Performing School in the April 2017 ECE/ECT Licensure Exam with a passing rate of 88.89%.
This recent feat is again a remarkable one for the Electronics Engineering. IIT’s ECE is the lone CHED’s Center of Excellence in ECE in the Visayas and Mindanao region.
Bangkok, Thailand — Engr. Arcel Salem, an MS Electrical Engineering – Microelectronics student clinched the Best Presenter award at the 2018 International Conference on Power and Electrical Engineering (ICPEE) held at Chateau de Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand on April 6-8, 2018.
Engr. Salem presented her master thesis entitled “A Fabric IP Netlist Generator for a Compiler – Approach to Fabric Integration”. She will obtain her MSEE degree this June 2018. As an ERDT (Engineering Research and Development for Technology) scholar, her expenses for attending the said international conference were shouldered by ERDT – Research Dissemination Grant.
In line with the thrust of the government to make the Philippines a powerhouse in integrated circuits (IC) design industry, the Electronics Engineering program thru its MicroLab and in partnership with Institute of Electronics Engineers of the Philippines – Iligan Bay Chapter (IECEP – IBC) conducted a 5-day training on Introduction to HDL with ASIC Flow and FPGA which was held at the Microelectronics Laboratory, College of Engineering and Technology last November 6-10, 2017. This is the fourth installment of the analog and digital integrated circuits design trainings. The first three trainings held for the past two years were: (1) Introduction to Analog Integrated Circuit Design; (2) Operational Amplifier Design; and (3) Integrated Circuits Design Layout
Participants were the faculty members of Electronics Engineering and Computer Engineering programs from the various universities and colleges throughout Mindanao namely: Ateneo de Davao University; Holy Cross of Davao College; Notre Dame of Marbel University; Notre Dame of Midsayap College; Notre Dame of Kidapawan College; Notre Dame University –Cotabato; University of Mindanao – Davao; University of Mindanao – Tagum; Jose Rizal Memorial State University; Camiguin Polytechnic State College; Bukidnon State University; Lyceum of Iligan Foundation.
Prof. Jefferson A. Hora and Prof. Harreez Villaruz-Quimque ,both are Electronics Engineering faculty members, provided the theories and concepts thru lectures while the MSEE-Microelectronics students served as the training assistants.
The said endeavour is also in line with the research projects of the IIT MicroLab which are funded by the DOST-PCIEERD. Among the deliverables is to provide training to the faculty members of the universities in the Mindanao so they may be able to put up their own microelectronics laboratories.
