Engineering faculty present papers in international confab

Dr. Leonila Abella of the Chemical Engineering Department and Dr. Aida Velasco of the Industrial Engineering Department attended the 6th Triennial Conference of the Association for Engineering Education in South East Asia and the Pacific 2000 (AEESEAP) held at the LTI-Patra Jasa Hotel Bali, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia on August 23-25. Both presented papers during the parallel sessions on education process.

Abella presented “The Challenges and Opportunities of Environmental Catalysis in the Natural Gas Based Industry and the Academe in the Philippines,” a paper she co-authored with Dr. Susan Gallardo, also of the Chemical Engineering Department.

For her part, Velasco talked on “Enhancing Education Through Total Quality Management.” Only two Philippine universities, DLSU-Manila and the University of the Philippines, were represented in the conference.

Organized by Persatuan Insinyur Indonesia, the conference carried the theme, “The Natural Gas Based Industry in the 21st Century: A Challenge for Engineering Education in the Free Trade Era.” The conference served as venue to present the state of natural gas based industry and its role in the development of South East Asia and the Pacific. The event also gave the participants the opportunity to identify the perceived needs of the said industry, its challenges, and the role of the academe to help meet its needs.

COE vice dean elected regional VP of Philippine ME society

Engineer Efren dela Cruz, vice dean of the College of Engineering and faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department, was elected as vice president of the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers National Capital Region Academe Chapter. The Chapter has about 20 member schools.

Marketing faculty in national confabs

Two faculty members from the Marketing Department were guest speakers in separate national conventions.

Dr. Jaime Ong gave a talk on “The Convergence of HR and PR” during the 8th National Congress of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) held on September 22 at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City. A week before this event, he was also invited in a services marketing seminar by the Philippine Marketing Association. He talked on “External Operations of Service Firms”. The seminar was held at ACCEED Conference Center, AIM, Makati City on September 13.

Meanwhile, Marketing Management Chair Dr. Leonardo Garcia Jr. delivered a talk on “Effective Marketing Communication Mix in the 21st Century” during the 32nd National Management Congress of the Philippine Council of Management last September 29 at the Manila Hotel. The theme of the congress was “Globalization in the 21st century: A Management Challenge.”

In another news, Ong contributed an articled titled “A Generic Customer Satisfaction Survey Instrument for the Public Sector” to the July-August 2000 issue of The Productivity Manager, a newsletter published by the Development Academy of the Philippines.