International Professor — Dr. Soriano with Taiwanese students during a English training summer camp in the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines — To be a scientist in the Philippines is to run into a gamut of frustration. Unlike in the United States, Japan, or Israel, where science and technology is of utmost importance, the Philippine government has many other basic things to prioritize. As far as science and technology are concerned, resources are limited and funds are scarce.

Yet, despite this uninspiring reality, there are still some who choose to pursue and advance in this field. All for the love of.

Dr. Allan Soriano, whose work in Chemical Engineering has won for him the 2011 Outstanding Young Scientist (OYS) award given by the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), initially wanted to translate his dreams and visions on the canvas and become a painter

“My ambition was to become a painter. But I knew the financial situation that my family was in, so I took up Engineering. But even after I already earned a degree in Engineering, I was still planning to take up master’s studies in Fine Arts. Someday, maybe,’’ says Soriano

But for now, Soriano is doing what he does best. His winning research on the “Thermophysical and Transportation Properties Characterization and Correlation Development of Industrially Important Solvent’’ will certainly help design the absorption processes of carbon dioxide emissions.

His research, which took him three years to complete, was made possible through the funding of Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU) in Taiwan, where he did his research while taking up his doctorate studies. At CYCU, he was able to publish a total of 34 articles and papers in international publications.

He is also the first foreign PhD graduate of the said Taiwanese university. He was sent by Mapua Institute of Technology, where he works as a professor, to CYCU under a scholarship.

A CHANGED PROFESSOR

Yet, amid his achievements in the fields of science and research, Soriano considers himself a teacher — first and foremost.

“I’m a teacher foremost. Kasi iba ang perception sa scientist na nasa laboratory ka lang,” the 32-year-old engineer/professor says.

Soriano currently works as a professor at Mapua’s School of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. He started teaching at MIT after he graduated in 2000. He was a Department of Science and Technology (DOST) scholar and a consistent honor student in elementary and high school.

He says his studies in Taiwan has opened him to a lot of realities and has made him a better teacher.

He realized that students should live curious and continue to seek answers to their questions, that they need not to be confined in a box and be encouraged to explore more to learn more.

“I was the typical professor before, but when I got back from Taiwan, the teaching profession has changed dramatically for me.

Now I first try to motivate the students before incorporating the objectives. Aside from finishing the lecture, you also have to motivate the students not just to pass the subjects, parang may mga value added na rin,” Soriano shares.

ENCOURAGING THE YOUNG

Taiwan may have the resources as far as science and technology are concerned, but Soriano takes comfort in the fact that Filipinos are very exceptional when it comes to talent. “It’s incomparable when it comes to the resources. Taiwan is in another level. But in Taiwan, Filipinos are very exceptional. Filipinos excel in the different department. First, because of our English skills,” he shares.

What he finds frustrating though is the red tape that science proponents like him face when it comes to even proposing a project or research to government. Taiwan, in comparison, goes all-out in its support of the same endeavours.

“DOST, for instance, is supposed to support the endeavors of Filipinos, but ‘yung act pa lang ng pagpopropose ng project, imbes na ma inspire ka, madedemoralize ka na. Ang hirap ng proseso. Unang-una, ang materials hindi readily available dito. Wala kang data source.

Second, dito walang materials and equipment. Kahit ang mga universities walang equipment, ang magagandang equipment nasa industries kasi meron silang R&D. Ang tanong ang industry, ba willing mag cooperate?”

Yet, he does not want these realities to discourage his students to go into research. He says that he stands as a role model to his students with all his post graduate researches, which he pushes his students to do.

“If you don’t have any pressure to work after you graduate, I suggest they get into graduate school. What this country needs are MS and PhDs in science and engineering, not masters in business administration or law. I think the future of the country will be brighter with more scientists around,” Soriano ends.