DLSU Secures Prestigious Structural Innovation Award at IDEERS 2025 in Taiwan

 Oct 2, 2025 – De La Salle University-Manila (DLSU) brought home a prestigious honor from the 2025 International Introducing and Demonstrating Earthquake Engineering Research (IDEERS) competition, held from September 30 to October 1, 2025, at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) in Taiwan.

The DLSU team, competing for the first time at the undergraduate level, was awarded the coveted “Structural Design and Innovation Award” for their model, “The Archer”.

The achievement is a significant milestone, as the DLSU team was the lone university from the Philippines to receive a special award at the event. The Structural Design and Innovation Award is a highly selective honor, granted to only six of the 49 participating universities from across Asia, recognizing the team’s exceptional and creative structural concept. This also marks a historic win for the university, being the first award secured by a DLSU undergraduate team on its maiden participation.

The DLSU team was represented by fourth-year BS Civil Engineering students specializing in Structural Engineering (CIV-STE): Daryll Hans Go, Aaron Glenn Escovilla, Lance Joshua Irisari, and Jeremy Wynn Kieffer Yaokasin, under the guidance of their mentor, Engr. Salvador Olaivar.

The DLSU team, Kieffer Yaokasin, Daryll Go, Lance Irisari, and Aaron Escovilla, with faculty advisor Engr. Salvador Olaivar

DLSU’s Daryll Go (third from the right) receiving the Structural Design and Innovation Award

The team’s entry boasted a design philosophy based on “controlled symmetry.” The tower featured a robust, symmetrically braced central spine engineered to provide the immense torsional rigidity required to support a cantilevered mass. Its innovative “pinwheel” column orientation, integrated truss network, and novel “arrow weld” jointing technique, devised to maximize connection surface area, together demonstrated an advanced understanding of load paths and seismic resistance.

While the tower’s forward-thinking design was its greatest strength, the team faced rigorous dynamic tests during the competition, consisting of four shaking rounds at increasing intensities of 400 gal, 600 gal, 700 gal, and 800 gal. The model did not advance past the first round, failing to resist the initial 400-gal earthquake. However, the experience provided invaluable learning and highlighted the challenging standards of the global competition. Winning the structural innovation award, based solely on the design’s outstanding merit, underscores the quality and ingenuity of the team’s engineering concept.

DLSU Team’s model tower, “The Archer,” and its exhibit poster, presenting the winning structural design.

Daryll Go, team leader, described the journey as both a challenge and a triumph. “Participating in IDEERS pushed us to bridge the gap between classroom theory and a high-stakes practical challenge. While we were disappointed not to pass the 400 gal test, winning the Structural Innovation award was a tremendous honor, making our five-month preparation worthwhile. It validates our entire design process and proves that our ideas are competitive on an international stage.”

Engr. Salvador Olaivar, the team’s mentor from the Department of Civil Engineering, praised the students’ efforts, noting the support they received from the university. The team’s preparation was aided by the DLSU Structural Engineering division and laboratory, which provided crucial access to its own shake table for prototype testing. “The achievement is a testament to the students’ creativity, hard work, and resilience. The experience has been a powerful avenue for knowledge exchange and will inspire future Lasallian engineers to aim even higher.”

The team’s success at IDEERS 2025 reaffirms De La Salle University’s commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and producing world-class engineers capable of solving complex modern challenges.

DLSU CE Faculty Engr. Elevado Showcases Research at ISIE 2025 Conference in Singapore

 

The International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE) holds biennial conferences. On June 30–July 4, 2025, the 12^th International Conference on Industrial Ecology (ISIE 2025) was held at the National University of Singapore, with a theme of interconnectivity — how industry, society, governance, and the environment depend on one another. Discussions spanned every scale of human settlement and emphasized the circular material and political relationships that define industrial ecology.

Engr. Kenneth Elevado, a faculty member of the Department of Civil Engineering at De La Salle University (DLSU) and a PhD student at Nagoya University, presented a paper titled “Estimation of Material Stocks of National Roads in the Philippines,” on behalf of his co-authors: Dr. Marianne Faith Martinico-Perez (Nagoya University), Prof. Anthony SF Chiu (DLSU), and Prof. Hiroki Tanikawa (Nagoya University). Their participation to the Conference was supported by the Asian Satellite Campuses Institute (ASCI) of Nagoya University.

 

More information on ISIE can be found here: https://www.is4ie.org/

In photo: Engr. Elevado (left) with one of his advisors, Prof. Masatoshi Hasegawa (right).

DLSU CE Faculty Engr. Kenneth Elevado: First Filipino Student Admitted to Nagoya University’s GSES Program

 On November 26, 2024, Engr. Kenneth Elevado attended the Entrance Ceremony for the incoming doctoral Filipino students admitted to the Transnational Doctoral Programs for Leading Professionals in Asian Countries under the Asian Satellite Campuses Institute (ASCI) of Nagoya University, Japan.

The programs offered by ASCI are specialized research-focused doctoral programs in various disciplines that target professionals in academic and government institutions from select Asian countries. This year, the ASCI in the Philippines has started offering doctoral courses under the Graduate School of Environmental Studies (GSES) and Graduate School of Engineering (GSE). Engr. Elevado, who is a part-time faculty member of the Department of Civil Engineering, is the first student from the Philippines admitted to the GSES.

 

More information on ASCI can be found here: https://asci.nagoya-u.ac.jp/about_asci/

In photo: Engr. Elevado (right) with one of his advisors, Dr. Marianne Faith Martinico-Perez (left).

DLSU MSCE student received the Best Paper Award at the 6th International Conference on Aquatic Science & Technology (i-CoAST 2025) in Bangkok, Thailand

 The 6^th International Conference on Aquatic Science & Technology (i-CoAST 2025) was held from August 26 to 29, 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand – marking the first time that it was held outside of Korea. The organizing committee included several chairpersons from prominent institutions such as the Hydro-Informatics Institute, Korea Rural Community Corporation, and Sungkyunkwan University. The event brought together around 150 participants from more than 11 countries, aiming to strengthen collaboration among academia, industry, and government organizations. Key thematic sessions included topics such as Impact Assessment of Coastal Flooding, Salinity Intrusion, Marine Radioactive Contamination and Coastal Infrastructure Safety, Marine Renewable Energy, Establishment and Utilization of Marine Spatial Data with Special Sessions on Beach Erosion Management, Ocean and Coastal Digital Twin Technology, Sustainable Ocean Economy and Data-Driven Policy, Beach and Coastal Safety, Leisure and Tourism.

Engr. Christian James Aquino (MSCE student) presented his study and received the “Best Paper Award” for his paper titled “Effects of Sea Level Rise on the Wave Overtopping Performance of an Existing Breakwater”. The paper is co-authored by his adviser Dr. Mario De Leon from the Department of Civil Engineering.

Engr. Christian James Aquino (left), MSCE student, receives the Best Paper Award for his study “Effects of Sea Level Rise on the Wave Overtopping Performance of an Existing Breakwater.”

DLSU Faculty Wins Best Paper Presentation at the International Conference on Engineering Education 2025

The International Conference on Engineering Education (ICEE-Phil 2025) is an annual gathering of engineering educators in the Philippines and neighboring regions aimed at sharing knowledge and best practices, building networks, discussing policies, and advancing engineering education in the country. Organized by the Philippine Association of Engineering Schools (PAES) since 2015, this year’s conference was hosted by the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila, on September 12–13, 2025.

Prof. Andres Winston Oreta, Prof. Joenel Galupino, and Dr. Erica Elice Uy presented their paper, Exploring the Role of Curriculum in Developing Student Awareness of Civil Engineering’s Impact on Quality of Life: Insights from De La Salle University. The study examined civil engineering students’ awareness and understanding of the discipline’s role in enhancing quality of life through the Civil Engineering–Quality of Life (CE-QOL) Framework, which emphasizes sustainability, public health and safety, infrastructure development, and disaster resilience. Using surveys to assess knowledge and curriculum integration, the findings identified strengths and gaps that can guide curriculum improvements to better prepare future engineers for addressing societal challenges and promoting community well-being.

Dr. Erica Elice Uy delivered the presentation on behalf of the team and was honored with the Best Paper Presentation Award at the conference.

Dr. Erica Elice Uy (center) receives the Best Paper Presentation Award at the International Conference on Engineering Education (ICEE-Phil 2025).