Innovating the way we operate to grow in 2021
For us at AIC-ROSES, the year 2021 will be partly about innovating how we organize and manage our research group in this online world we find ourselves in due to the pandemic. We note that current understanding on how people best learn, teach, research, and organize in this online world is still sketchy at best.
Thus, besides our weekly technical seminars and one-on-one Skype meetings, we are challenged to be humble and to be open in improving the way we operate by using unconventional experimentations as vehicles to find more productive ways to learn and to research. One unconventional vehicle I would like to share is video reactions, commonly found in YouTube.
This idea stems from my discussions with Clyde Calgo on scientific content in the form of reactions. Clyde shared to me that his project team in 2018 [under the Ateneo League of Physicists (LeaPs)] conceptualized and executed this idea in the Physics Department by tapping Dr. Joel Maquiling to talk about and to react to scenes from the Hollywood movie Geostorm from a geophysicist’s point of view. You may access the event information and documentation on LeaPs’s Facebook page.
The challenge for us is how to modify the reaction video idea for our particular technical and research needs. We need to reimagine (i) how we can best use it, (ii) how to identify suitable format(s), and (iii) how to implement it in our group. Alessandra Molo, Chino Acero, and Samuel Wood are leading a subgroup to flesh out this idea further. If you have any suggestions, kindly share it with them.
Lastly, I would like to assert that learning from the reactions of students/people/ourselves to technical videos or scientific talks might lead to:
(i) unexplored paths toward better learning (that might turn out to be entertaining) and,
(ii) insights on how others learn (that we can playfully copy).
Remember that true innovation is both technical and behavioral!
Salamat at masaganang bagong taon,
Benjie Dingel, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Ateneo Innovation Center
School of Science and Engineering
Ateneo de Manila University
Affiliate Professor
Department of Physics
School of Science and Engineering
Ateneo de Manila University
Year-end Pasasalamat (December 2020 message)
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we at AIC-ROSES have lot to be thankful for. Let me list some of them.
Firstly, I am very thankful to the amazing organizational abilities of Lenz Dagohoy (3rd year student), who recruited the best students in a very efficient manner especially during our early recruitment stage, and to Clyde Calgo (research assistant) who kept our research group well-connected and for efficiently running the AIC-ROSES technical seminars. Their matured organizational skills builds a great foundation by which we will continue to build on the operations of our research group!
Secondly, I would like express my gratitude to the three sophomore sub-groups (the Logo Group by Samuel Wood, Alessandra Molo, and Chino Acero, the Innovation Challenge Group by Louie Cornista, Cath Antipuesto, and Maya Sanchez, and the Pipeline-to-Scholarship Group by Sarah Busto and Bea Bayan). They have been very productive with their assigned tasks. Together with their infectious and youthful enthusiasm toward mathematical physics research, their contributions are what make AIC-ROSES better. They are blessings to have in the group!
Thirdly, I am very appreciative to the five 5th year students (Anya Santos, Gab Castillo, Jamie Tan, John Rivera, and Wayne Sy) who were adventurous enough to enlist to our AIC On-the-Job-Training (OJT) program. There were many ups and downs in their respective publication-research topics but they embraced their challenges despite the limited time span of three to five months that was conducted virtually. I personally learned and continuously gained from interacting with all of them. I hope they continue to research with us!
Fourthly, I like to commend the three early research assistant recruits (JC Nacpil, Simon Borja, and Elijah Tuprio), as well as Kent Soria (5th year student), who all joined the group last August 2020 and has since then made speedy technical progress in their respective research topics. They are examples and models for the group!
Fifthly, I like to acknowledge the direct leadership support from Profs. Toto Oppus (Director of AIC & Assistant Professor of ECCE), Nat Libatique (Associate Professor, AIC & ECCE), and Clint Dominic Bennett (Assistant Professor, Physics). They were our strongest technical and administrative supports in the Ateneo community.
Sixthly, I am also thankful to Profs. Obie Cambaliza and Joel Maquiling from the Department of Physics for their indirect-but-equally-important support that allowed AIC-ROSES to obtain a SOSE-ARISE research grant to hire three more new research assistants (Yoj Gavilla, CJ Paguia, and Julius Guillermo) this December 2020. From January 2021, my official home department will be the Physics Department! This is made possible by the tireless efforts of both Profs. Obie Cambaliza and Joel Maquiling and I thank them!
Lastly, the year 2021 will surely pose more challenges to us as we continue to increase our technical publication outputs and develop the capabilities of each of our members. History reminds us that in time of great crisis, great things are achieved by embracing them rather than escaping them! Let us welcome the year 2021, together as a research team with high goals!
Salamat,
Benjie Dingel, PhD
Research Head of AIC-ROSES
Ateneo Innovation Center
School of Science and Engineering
Ateneo de Manila University
Affiliate Professor
Department of Physics
School of Science and Engineering
Ateneo de Manila University