Engr. Ubay – Anongphouth at Thailand Visitor’s Programme 2014

The delegates doing the ASEAN handshake! 

 Engr. Irene Olivia Ubay – Anongphouth, an Assistant Professor of the Civil Engineering  Department from the Gokongwei College of Engineering of De La Salle University, was selected by the Royal Thai Embassy – Manila as one of the representatives of the Philippines to the Thailand Visitor’s Programme 2014 (TVP 2014) held last February 23 to March 1, 2014. Said program is a professional exchange program that seeks to build mutual understanding between Thailand and other countries. Delegates from ASEAN countries, in addition to Japan and the Republic of Korea, were young and promising leaders from the media, government,  academe, and private sectors. Engr. Ubay – Anongphouth, with the other delegates, attended briefings to learn about Thailand’s policies on governance and economics. Furthermore, active discussions were made regarding the role of Thailand in relation to its neighboring countries on the upcoming ASEAN 2015 movement. Strategies regarding improving cultural, education, infrastructure, and economic connectivity within the ASEAN community were also presented. Visits to The Nation Group, Nakorn Luang Rice Factory, and Chiang Khong Customs House allowed participants to witness the host country’s media, business, and customs practices, respectively. Cultural immersions were also organized in Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Chiang Rai.

TVP Delegates at Chiang-Rai (Anongphouth - front, 2nd from left)

Heritage tour at Ayuthaya

TokyoTech Prof. HIrose lectures on NDT

Prof. HIrose recieves a token from Dept chair, Engr. Ongpeng

De La Salle University-Manila, Philippines – Professor Soichi Hirose of Tokyo Institute of Technology specializing in the numerical scattering of elastic waves, simulation of wave propagation and ultrasonic signal processing, delivered a lecture on Non-Destructive Testing of Reinforced Concrete last March 10, 2014, Monday, at Yuchengco Seminar Hall (Y508). Currently, Prof. Hirose he is the President of the Japanese Society for Non-Destructive Inspection (JSNDI). He presented various methods on non-destructive testing, especially on reinforced concrete structures. On his lecture, he discussed the development of the 2-D and 3-D time-domain Boundary Element Method for air-coupled utrasound testing, furthermore, he also presented the conduction of 2-D and 3-D simulation for air-coupled ultrasound testing using Rayleigh waves. He recommended to design an experiment that will incorporate the results of the numerical simulations and to develop a numerical method for inverse analysis.

Prof. Hirose is supporting the research initiatives of Engr. Ongpeng  and the Department on NDT of concrete structures. Undergraduate thesis on NDT were also presented to get feedback from Prof. Hirose.

- Reported by Joenel G.

CE Dept. Presented Papers at DLSU Research Congress 2014

Abstracts of the CE Dept. papers in the RC2014 can be viewed at

http://www.slideshare.net/andyoreta/ce-rc2014

Faculty and students of the Civil Engineering Department presented thier researches during the DLSU Research Congress (RC) 2014 with the theme, "Towards Rigorous, Relevant and Socially Responsive Lasallian Research" held on March 6-8, 2014.

In the parallel session on Sustainability,  Environment and Energy, four paper were presented.

• An Artificial Neural Network Approach to Structural Cost Estimation of Building Projects in the Philippines by  Cheryl Lyne C.  Roxas and  Jason Maximino Ongpeng 
• A Study on the Applicability of Replacing GI Wires with Plastic Cablein Structural Members by Nevin Y. Balibrea, Louie Mart M. Montrias, Gregorio S. Uymatiao III Kelvin Gerard N. Yao and Dr. Bernardo A. Lejano
• Investigation of the Strength of Cold-Formed Steel C-Section in Compressionby Arvin Patrick Yu and Dr. Bernardo A. Lejano
• Application of Response Surface Methodology:Optimum Mix Design of Concrete with Slag as Coarse Aggregate by Rhea Regulacion and Dr. Andres Winston Oreta

A symposium on Scholarship and Innovation on Learning and Teaching (SILT) was also held during the RC2014 on March 7. Dr. Andres Oreta presented the paper, "Outcomes-Based Assessment of a Basic Engineering Course (Statics of Rigid Bodies)." The paper is based on the URCO research conducted with Cheryl Lyne C. Roxas.

Dr. Oreta presents a paper at the SILT Symposium.
Photo by Cheryl Roxas.

In the Graduate Students Colloquia held on March 8, the paper, "Mode Choice and Value of Time of Inter-Island Travellers: The Case of the Philippines" by Krister Ian Daniel Z. Roquel and Dr. Alexis M. Fillone was presented.

Dr. Fillone: AUN/SEED-Net Short-Term Visiting Prof at CU

Dr. Fillone delivers a lecture on TRE research at DLSU

Dr. Alexis Fillone,  Associate Professor in Transportation Eng'g (TRE) visited Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, February 16-22, 2014 under the AUN/SEED-Net Short-Term Visit Program in ASEAN. The following were the activities that Dr. Fillone got involved in while at Chulalongkorn University:

• Presented a lecture about current researches in the Transportation Engineering Division of De La Salle University.
• Panel member of the final thesis defense of Mr. Louiee Jayme, MS in Transportation Engineering and Alumnus of DLSU which he successfully defended.
• Collaborated on the research project entitled, “Mode Choice and Residential Location: Case of Residents in Condominium near Rail Transit Stations in Metro Manila and Bangkok” which is currently ongoing. The research project is being headed by Dr. Saksith Chalermpong.
• Discussed the proposed MS thesis topic of Mr. Marcus Baron, also MS in Transportation Engineering and Alumnus of DLSU. Mr. Baron is a first year MS student and is currently preparing his MS thesis proposal. Discussed also with Dr. Kasem Choocharukul, the thesis adviser of Mr. Baron, about possible research collaboration in line with Mr. Baron’s MS thesis.

RDJ is now a full-time STE Faculty

 Engr. Richard De Jesus, formerly a part time faculty member joins the Department as full time teaching staff of the Structural Engineering (STE) Division starting the 3rd Term AY 2013-2014.

Engr. Richard De Jesus

Engr. Richard De Jesus finished his BSCE (2000) and MSCE (2009) at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He has research experience on corrosion in reinforced concrete when he was a research associate at the UP ICE- Building Research Service (BRS).  He wants to explore numerical and statistical approaches such as Kalman Filter and neural networks in modeling corrosion behaviour in reinforced concrete members when he pursues his PhD course in Civil Engineering. Presently, De Jesus teaches Engineering Mechanics courses (STATICS and MEDEFOR). He also handles Theory of Structures. Being a Structural Engineering major, he will be teaching Structural Design courses like RC and Steel Design in the coming terms in both undergraduate program and Structural Engineering courses in the Graduate program.