(Center from left to right) NCKU’s Associate Dean of College of Engineering Dr. Jui-Hsiang Liu; NCKU Dean of the College of Engineering Dr. Pao-Shan Yu; Mapúa President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea, Mapúa Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Bonifacio T. Doma, Jr. (behind from left to right) Dr. Alvin Caparanga, Mapúa Chemical Engineering Program Chair; Prof. Kuo-En Ching, NCKU Associate Professor on Geomatics; Prof. Liang-Ming Whang, NCKU Chair for the Department of Environmental Engineering; Prof. Yu-Lung Lo, NCKU Mechanical of Engineering Department Chair; Prof. Hsiang Cheng, NCKU Aeronautics and Astronautics Department Chair; Atty. Ma. Eloisa Gan, Mapúa Vice President for Operations; Dr. Delia Senoro, Mapúa International Linkages for Research and Development Officer and Head of the Environmental Engineering Graduate Program; Dr. Lemmuel Tayo, Mapúa Biotechnology and Biological Engineering Program Chair; Mr. Dante Sauqillo, Mapúa Physics Department Chair; Engr. Ronald Santiago, Mapúa Electrical Engineering Program Chair; Engr. Divina Gonzales, School of Civil, Environmental, and Geological Engineering faculty member; Engr. Mary Charlemaine Abas, School of Electrical, Electronics, and Computer Engineering faculty member; Engr. Donamel Saiyari, Environmental Engineering PhD student under the sandwich program with NCKU; Engr. Igmedia Isla, Jr., Mechanical Engineering Program Chair; Ms. Jacqueline De Vera, BSBE student and organizing committee member; and Erik Jonas Lybecker, exchange student from KTH Royal Institute of Technology- Sweden.
Mapúa Institute of Technology and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), a premier state university in Taiwan, signed a Memorandum of Understanding last April 27 to further advance the schools’ research and development efforts in the field of engineering and science.
NCKU’s College of Engineering Dean Dr. Pao-Shan Yu and Mapúa President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea.
Welcoming the NCKU delegates in a forum on the same day, Mapúa President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea said that it is an honor for the Institute to collaborate with NCKU, a globally ranked university, on different research activities and other academic exchanges. The QS World University Rankings cited NCKU as the 224th university in the world, and the 36th in Asia, last year.
“This collaboration between Mapúa and NCKU is a partnership to discover new things and apply new knowledge in an innovative way,” Dr. Vea said.
According to NCKU’s Associate Dean of College of Engineering Dr. Jui-Hsiang Liu, NCKU shares the same goal as Mapúa—generate new knowledge for the betterment of education and the industry.
“Mapúa is one of the excellent private institutions in Manila,” Dr. Liu said. “We are glad to extend NCKU’s excellent research environment and advanced analysis equipment to Mapúa students and faculty for advanced research work and professional skills for future application.”
Mapúa and NCKU’s College of Engineering are set to have a full-blown collaboration on research projects, student and faculty exchanges, joint conferences, as well as a visiting professor program. Both schools will also host joint academic and training programs. NCKU is offering scholarships to students and faculty who wish to pursue a PhD program in the university.
Mapúa has been engaging in several research activities and partnerships over the past years. In 2015, Mapúa opened the doors of its newly constructed research building to house various research projects.
Dr. Yu and Dr. Vea sign the Memorandum of Understanding between NCKU and Mapúa for a full-blown collaboration on research projects. Student and faculty exchanges and joint conferences will also take place during the duration of the partnership.
For one, the Institute is collaborating with the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden on natural products engineering for industry competitiveness and sustainable development. The engineering of natural products are intended for various applications such as fiber and textile, environmental monitoring, detection, treatment and remediation, pharmaceutical, membrane research, among others. Mapúa is also involved in the grant-in-aid project of the Department of Science and Technology, the Mapúa-Phil LiDAR 1 and 2, wherein Mapúan researchers map the area of Cavite, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon (CABARZON) to produce detailed and accurate hazard and resource maps.