Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Atty. Joan S. Largo, Ll.M. led a ten-strong delegation of USC administrators and researchers to meet with their counterparts at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology on March 28, 2023 for collaborative meetings.

Also part of the USC delegation were Patrick John Y. Lim, Ph.D. (Director, Research, Development, Extension, and Publications Office) and representatives from two departments.

The Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering was represented by Michael E. Loretero, Ph.D. (chair), Virgilio Y. Abellana, Ph.D., Engr. Princess Joy Naig, and Engr. Khareljoy S. Sungcad.

The Department of Physics was represented by Renante R. Violanda, Ph.D. (chair), Rommel G. Bacabac, Ph.D., Roland Emerito S. Otadoy, Ph.D., and Raymond Lee Antonio C. Sarmiento, Ph.D.

Each of these departments is designated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as a Center of Excellence.

The team was welcomed by MSU-IIT Chancellor Atty. Alizedney M. Ditucalan, Ll.M., Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Ephrime B. Metillo, Ph.D., Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise Gaudencio C. Petalcorin Jr., Ph.D., and other deans, directors, and chairs. 

Separate collaborative meetings were held in the afternoon with IIT’s Materials Science Engineering Group and Department of Physics.

The USC team also visited the Premier Research Institute of Science and Mathematics (PRISM) which houses IIT’s Tuklas Lunas Development Center and Nanoscience Group among others, the Materials Engineering Laboratory, and the Center for Sustainable Polymers, which is designated by the Department of Science and Technology as a Niche Center for Research in the Regions (NICER).

USC also has a NICER-Center for Tissue Engineering and Biological Soft Materials headed by Dr. Bacabac, as well as a Tuklas Lunas Development Center led by Dr. Lim.