"The Reaction" Goes Online

In line with its efforts to cope with technological innovation in the digital age, "The Reaction - The Official Newsletter of the Chemical Engineering Society" launched its new simple website portal last 20 February 2015.

The blogspot website of the reaction was already set up as early as January 11, 2015 but uploading of articles was deferred until Managing Editor Darwin Eugenio received Ches President Vincent Almeda's blessings to initiate the project. Almeda lauded the initiative of the administrators of The Reaction on February 1, 2015 and subsequently gave the go signal to have the news articles uploaded. Incumbent Editor-in-Chief Bob Castrence believed that it's already due time for "The Reaction" to evolve with the current technological trends. "Ako naman masaya. we have to embrace change" he said.

The Reaction's Managing Editor Darwin Eugenio admitted that the webpage maybe transferred in case that the UST Chemical Engineering Society will launch its own website. "As of now, may koordinasyon naman kami ni [Internal Vice President] Allen 'Seph' Baluyot tungkol sa website. Siya rin po nagbigay ng go signal nang pinakita namin 'yung burador o draft ng blogspot website ng 'The Reaction'. Kung ililipat ang laman nitong website, go lang naman po kami." Eugenio said.

Articles with Publication Materials/Posters

To visit the article regarding the event, click the event's poster: 

Food Innovation Seminar

Biomedical Seminar

Polymers Symposium

Book Scholarship Drive

ChE Chorale

Exit Exam

Community Leadership Seminar

Summer ChEARS

UST ChES holds a Biomedical Seminar

by Christelle Navarette

The University of Santo Tomas Chemical Engineering Society (UST-ChES) held a biomedical seminar last October 8 at the Education Auditorium, Albertus Magnus Building titled “Leveraging Diverse Medical Science to Fortify Humanity.” The seminar have four series of sessions that aimed to instill knowledge about the Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Industries and to showcase the influence of these subjects to the human health security through the years.

The first topic was discussed by Mrs. Marie Cris Mizal-Merz, UST Bioanalytical Laboratory Head of Center of Excellence in Drug Research and Evaluation and Studies. She discoursed about the validation of bioanalytical methods in the production of quality medicine. On the other hand, Dr. Arturo V. Estuita, a Co – Founder, first President and Chairman of Philippine College for the Advancement of Medicine (PCAM), discussed about the beauty and advantages of a new found technology called the cardiovascular chelation therapy as cure for Hepatitis B.

After a break, Ms. Zenaida M. de Guzman, the current Chairman of the Development of Philippine National Standard on Food Irradiation talked about the radiation sterilization of medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. And lastly, the Country Safety Lead for Safety Evaluation and Reporting, Worldwide Safety and Regulatory and Worldwide Research and Development of Pfizer, Inc., Mr. Byron Webb A. Romero, disclosed the reality behind drug safety.

The said seminar was attended primarily by Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Pharmacy and Graduate School students of the University of Santo Tomas.

UST-ChE Performs Better in November 2014 Licensure Examination

Three Thomasians Make it to the Top 10

by Bob Chaervin S. Castrence (December 27, 2014)

The passing rate of ChE batch 2014 in the recently held Licensure Examination for Chemical Engineers had improved with three included in the top 10 ranking. Joseph John Liwanagan led the Thomasian passers at 2^nd place (83.40%), followed by Francis Jessy Liggayu at 7^th place (82.80%) and William Macasero, Jr. at 9^th place (82.50%).

From left to right: Francis Jessy Liggayu (7th place), Joseph John Liwanagan (2nd place),
and William Macasero Jr. (9th place) 

Based on the results released by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), USTChE improved its numbers with a 69.12% overall passing rate, wherein 96 out of 136 examinees successfully passed the examination compared to last year’s 58.97% wherein 69 passed out of 117 examinees.

Despite the breakthrough, USTChE still did make it to the Top 3 performing schools. University of the Philippines- Diliman dominated the licensure examination having an overall passing rate of 91.76%, followed by University of the Philippines- Los Banos (86.27%) and Batangas State University (81.03%).

USTChE is moving forward to improve its overall passing rate by means of programs that can gauge candidates’ and students’ preparedness and confidence for licensure examinations such as InDEX, an exit exam for higher years and LEChE Plan, an in-house microreview programs facilitated by faculty members of UST Chemical Engineering Department.

ChES Conducts a Seminar about Food Innovation

by Bob Chaervin Castrence (October 29, 2014)

ChES conducted a seminar titled, ChEF (Chemistry of Food): Discovering the recipe for food innovation last October 23 at the Beato Angelico AVR. The seminar tackled about the current trends and innovation in the food industry and an overview about venturing into food industry.

The guest speakers were Engr. Jose Victor Saqueton of Dole Philippines, Engr. Rodolfo Domingo of Mondelez Philippines and Ms. Rosemarie Reyes of Universal Robina Corporation (URC) Cavite Plant. Engr. Saqueton talked about Asceptic Processing Technologies and High Pressure Processing (HPP), which is one of the modern alternative food processing methods. He also discussed the advantages of accepting processing over conventional canning. Engr. Domingo tackled about the importance of food innovation in our society, the ethical considerations in food manufacturing and the role of Chemical Engineers in the food innovation. Ms. Reyes recalled the basics of food chemistry and introduced the applications of Programmable Logic Control (PLC) in their plant.

The seminar was made possible by the ChES Student Affairs committee spearheaded by Lea Gilliane Delica. 

Ultimate Dance Revolution: ChEDC Defends Crown Once Again

by Darwin Eugenio (December 26, 2014)

The Chemical Engineering Dance Crew retained the championship status of the department during the Engineering Student Council’s General Assembly titled “Neon Generation ‘Let Your Color Define You’” held on October 19, 2014 at Circuit Makati. Similar to previous competitions, the Ultimate Dance Revolution competition was fought among dance crews representing a particular department in the Faculty of Engineering and the newly-established Institute of Information and Computing Sciences.

(Photo from Ust Ches Facebook account)

The fifteen-member Chemical Engineering Dance crew wowed the audience with their dance performance consisting of hiphop, ballet, contemporary dance and isolation elements mixed together. In terms of ranking, the Chemical Engineering Dance Crew was preceded by the Information Technology, Civil Engineering, and Electronics and Communications Engineering dance crews, respectively. According to Crystel Quijano, captain of the Chemical Engineering Dance crew, fifteen out of nineteen members of the dance crew were able to participate in the competition.

Rochelle Louise Sampaga, the Co-Captain of the Chemical Engineering Dance Crew, jubilantly described how challenging yet fun it was to work on retaining the championship. “Actually kasi, noong practice namin nahihirapan kami sa routine namin. Siyempre, lahat naman ninanais yung titulo. Tsaka [bilang isa sa mga lider], napepressure ako, kasi defending kami. Siyempre nag-eexpect din ang mga tao lalo na yung [Chemical Engineering Department]. Kaya ginawa namin lahat nang makakaya namin at marami kaming naisakripisyo. Nang bandang huli pagkatapos namin sumayaw, naisip ko masaya ako [para sa lahat] kahit [hindi pa sinasabi kung sino ang nanalo]. Kasi yun naman talaga dahilan kung bakit kami sumali. Gusto namin sumayaw, para ipakita sa lahat yung talento na binigay ni Lord samin. Para rin makapag-inspire kami [at] hindi para makapagyabang. Sa kahulihulian, masaya kami at napagbigyan kami dahil na rin sa mga dasal at pagpursigi ng bawat isa.” she said.

The Chemical Engineering Dance Crew was the champion during the Ultimate Dance Revolution 1 (A.Y 2011 – 2012) and Ultimate Dance Revolution 3 (A.Y 2013 – 2014). The dance crew was the first runner up during Ultimate Dance Revolution 2 which was held on 2012.