from left) Professors Meng-Hui Li, Allan Soriano, Rhoda Leron and Alvin Caparanga after the awarding ceremonies at the Manila Hotel, Philippines

Mapúa Institute of Technology and Chung Yuan Christian University (Chungli, Taiwan) professors won the 1^st and 4^th places in the 16^thASEAN Regional Symposium in Chemical Engineering (RSCE) research paper competition held on December 1-2, 2009 in Manila, Philippines. The winning papers are “ Solubility of carbon dioxide in aqueous blended amine solutions of triethanolamine and piperazine” by Pei-Yuan Chung, Rhoda Leron, Allan Soriano, and Meng-Hui Li (1^st place) and “Molar heat capacity and electrolytic conductivity of aqueous solutions of 1-butyl-3- methylimidazolium methylsulfate by Pei-Yin Lin, Allan Soriano, Alvin Caparanga, and Meng-Hui Li (4^th place).

Over 150 papers with authors from 15 different countries were submitted for presentation in the symposium. From among these, twelve papers from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines were pre-selected as finalists to compete for the best paper award through oral presentation. Other winners are from Institut Tecknologi Bandung, Indonesia (2^nd place) and Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan (3^rd and 5^th places).

The Mapúa – CYCU delegation which attended the symposium was headed by the Mapúa Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Bonifacio T. Doma, Jr., Professor Meng-Hui Li of the Thermodynamics Laboratory of the Chemical Engineering Department of CYCU and Dr. Alvin R. Caparanga, Mapúa Chemical Engineering Subject Chair.