Written by Marico Betonio
Boracay – Samar State University’s Mirador G. Labrador and Jon Alvin L. Macariola respectively clinched the Best Paper and the 2nd Best Paper awards in Science and Technology during the 1st Global Research and Education Conference (GRAEC 2016) last June 17-19, held at the Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center, Boracay, Aklan.
The Best Paper award went to Engr. Labrador’s “Soil Mineral Characterization Equipment.” “My study focuses on developing a soil mineral characterization equipment that automatically characterizes the mineral composition of soil as a guide in agronomic activities, an equipment with GIS (Global Positioning System) and GPS (Geographic Information System),” shared Engr. Labrador, the director of Center for Engineering Sciences, Technology and Innovation.
He noticed that “basic data on land resources and soil properties in the Philippines are obsolete, not detailed, and often not available.” Engr. Labrador reasoned that this should be addressed immediately to “support agricultural sustainability” considering that Philippines is an agricultural country.
Following him with the 2nd Best Paper award for his paper entitled “Low-cost Wireless Sensor Data Acquisition and Transmissions” was Engr. Macariola. The aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 pushed Engr. Macariola on developing the wireless sensor.
“The study designed and built a portable wireless sensor network that can handle data acquisition and transmission over a generic and dedicated network,” stated Engr. Macariola when asked about his paper. “This aims to enable communication among people in the event of natural or man-made disaster when all communication system is down or destroyed.”
GRAEC 2016 was Engr. Labrador’s second international presentation while it was Engr. Macariola’s first. “Actually, I was already happy to have been able to participate in an international forum. I was happier though when I won the 2nd Best Paper,” exclaimed Macariola.
With this and his other experiences, Engr. Labrador shared his insight on writing a research study and presenting it. “He/She must put his/her heart on it. No need to compare. Every research is unique by itself. So, there’s no need to worry as long as you know your research,” he said.
Their fellow College of Engineering instructors, Engr. Rafael P. Escareal and Engr. Meddy S. Mangaring, also presented their papers.
Panelist-evaluators, keynote speaker, plenary speaker, and participants of the GRAEC 2016 were from the country and abroad. The event was organized by Asian Intellect for Academic Organization and Development, Inc.