UP Cebu continues to elevate its research, development, and public service with the launch of new centers and projects, and of the new building to house them.
The launch on April 27, 2018, attended by Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato dela Peña and Undersecretary for Research and Development Rowena Cristina Guevara, was part of the centennial celebrations of the campus, which was founded on May 3, 1918.
The new centers are: the Central Visayas Center for Environmental Informatics; the Center for Molecular Diagnostics and Research; the Cybersecurity Research, and Extension Center; and, the Students’ Teachers’ Innovation, Incubation for Technologies and Commercialization Hub (STiiTCH). STiiTCH is UP Cebu’s initiative to support and encourage the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region by unifying the different shared services facilities of the campus, such as: the Fabrication Laboratory (Fablab); the Technology Transfer and Business Development Office; the Creative Digital Media Production Center; the Co-Working Space; and, the Go-Negosyo Center.
The R&D projects consist: of Firecheck, an urban fire hazard mapping and fire spread modeling and geomapping; and, nutrient analysis of wild edible plants as food alternatives in disaster-prone areas in the Central and Eastern Visayas regions.
The new centers and projects are housed in the new three-storey Technology Innovation Center (TIC) building, which also features a store of UP Cebu fabrications.
The DOST, Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the UP System provided funds for the establishment of the centers and projects.
“We are quite lucky because UP Cebu’s culture and environment matches the thrust of these DOST-granted researches from environment to cybersecurity. As a Center for Excellence in Information Technology and a Center for Development in Environmental Studies, the strength of UP Cebu will be highlighted,” Chancellor Liza Corro said during the launch. “A lot more research projects of our faculty, students and staff will be accommodated in this building, in the near future,” she added.
“We believe that these granted to us, are not just aimed to be science for the people but a science for change to provide sustainable and inclusive growth for the majority of our people,” Corro said, reiterating UP Cebu’s tagline: “Nurtured to Create, Inspired to Innovate and Destined to Serve”. (Jo. Lontoc, UP MPRO)
