Amazing Filipinos!

[Gandang Smile]

There has been a flurry of threads lately, that made all to easy for a few of us to lay criticism about the may unsolved (unsolvable?) problems and defects of the Filipinos and Filipinas.

I won't forget that, at least in my time between Davao and Manila, I have met, or heard of, or being exposed to, a pretty good number of young people who represent the "good" of the Philippines. And I am not talking about beauty pageant winners or winners of the foreign marriage lottery. I am referring to young women and men whose intellect, ingenuity, actions and words go well beyond the modest platform that today's Philippines seem to offer, and show that no matter where one starts, talent and hard work can get them anywhere they want. Just like their peers from Singapore, Boston or London.

Let's start from this amazing kid, who was able to create a few award-winning explainer videos and, rumour has it, is now continuing her studies at the Massachussets Institute of Technology. Her name is Hillary Andales.

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Gandang Smile

[Gandang Smile]

Filipino Inventor from Mapua University Wins the James Dyson Award for Sustainable Invention
Published November 20, 2020, 3:30 PM

by Len Amadora

2020 was a record-breaking year for the James Dyson Award, an annual international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers.  This year, the Award received its highest number of entries, and the quality was exceptional – highlighting the ingenuity of young inventors.  The brief for entry is broad: design something that solves a problem.

This year, it is with great pride that the James Dyson Award’s first ever Sustainability Award winner is 27-year-old Carvey Ehren, a Filipino inventor from Mapua University.

The AuREUS System Technology invented by Carvey is a new material made from waste crops which converts UV light to renewable energy.

The problem

Many renewable energy sources suffer from intermittency: wind power and solar power can only be generated in very specific environmental conditions. Solar panels mostly capture and convert visible light into renewable energy and must be facing the sun to do so. Current solar farms are only built horizontally, never vertically and often placed on prime arable farmland, meaning the land can’t be used to grow crops. Yet, there are thousands of windows and other surfaces that could be repurposed. 

The solution

The James Dyson Award’s first ever Sustainability Award winner is tackling the challenge of how we could more effectively generate renewable energy from light and upcycling waste in the process.

AuREUS, invented by Carvey Ehren Maigue from Mapua University in Manila, Philippines, is a material that can be attached to a pre-existing structure or surface to harvest UV light and convert it into visible light to generate electricity in a way that traditional solar panels can’t. Whether the sun is shining, or it is cloudy, Carvey’s material will still generate electricity as the particles in his material absorb UV light causing them to glow. As the particles ‘rest’ they remove excess energy and this ‘bleeds’ out of the material as visible light which can then be transformed into electricity. AuREUS has the potential to turn more solar energy into renewable energy than traditional solar panels and it can function fully even when not in direct sunlight. Current testing suggests that it can produce electricity 48% of the time, compared to 10-25% in conventional photovoltaic cells[5][6].

The Philippines is victim of severe weather disruption and Farmers can lose much of their produce as a result. Rather than leave the crops to rot, Carvey sought to use them as a UV absorbent compound for his substrate. After testing nearly 80 different types of local crops, Carvey found nine that show high potential for long-term use. The substrate, when applied to materials, is durable, translucent and can be moulded into different shapes. Carvey is already looking into how he can develop his material for use beyond windows and walls, such as fabrics and embedded into cars, boats and airplanes.

“AuREUS is impressive in the way it makes sustainable use of waste crops, but I’m particularly impressed by Carvey’s resolve and determination. Having failed to make the national stage of the Award in 2018, he stuck at it and further developed his idea – this will be a very important character trait as he embarks on the long road to commercialisation. I wish him every success because, as a farmer, I have always been concerned about covering fertile, food-producing, agricultural land in photovoltaic cells. Carvey’s invention demonstrates a convincing way to create clean energy on existing structures, like windows, within cities.” James Dyson, Founder and Chief Engineer at Dyson.

Determination

Carvey first submitted his idea to the James Dyson Award in 2018 but did not progress to the Awarding stages of the competition. Then, his technology could only be applied to windows and used a chemical compound as the key ingredient in the substrate. 2 years on, with further R&D into applications and using upcycled waste crops, Carvey’s invention is the James Dyson Award’s first ever Sustainability Award winner. His persistence to improve his idea and learn from setbacks mirrors James Dyson’s ethos on failure – a key component to the design process fostered at Dyson.

After speaking to James Dyson, Carvey said, “Winning the James Dyson Award is both a beginning and an end. It marked the end of years of doubting whether my idea would find global relevance. It marks the beginning of the journey of finally bringing AuREUS to the world. I want to create a better form of renewable energy that uses the world’s natural resources, is close to people’s lives, forging achievable paths and rallying towards a sustainable and regenerative future.”

Meanwhile, the title of International winner of the James Dyson Award 2020 went to Judit Giró Benet, a 23-year-old biomedical engineering graduate from the University of Barcelona and a recent Cyber-physical Systems Master’s graduate from the University of California Irvine.  She invented the Blue Box, a new way to detect breast cancer, at-home, using a urine sample.

The James Dyson Award forms part of a wider commitment by Sir James Dyson, to demonstrate the power of engineers to change the world.  It has now financially supported 250 promising inventions from young engineers and scientists around the world.

[Shady]

13 hours ago, Gandang Smile said:

no matter where one starts, talent and hard work can get them anywhere they want. Just like their peers from Singapore, Boston or London. Let's start from this amazing kid, who was able to create a few award-winning explainer videos and, rumour has it, is now continuing her studies at the Massachussets Institute of Technology.

So what's the lesson here, if a Filipino is really smart, talented, and hard-working, they get to immigrate into the US?

I've always been impressed with PH robotics (and I don't mean the robotic training methods they use in the service industry).

 

Quote

 

PH robotics team wins big at FIRST Lego League World Championship

Dubbed as “the world’s largest celebration of STEM for students,” the FIRST Championship brings together tens of thousands of students from around the world who participate in the K to 12 Robotics program. This year, around 34,000 teams participated and only 109 teams reached the World Championships.  “The Philippines holds the Champion Award center stage in International Robotics and will continue to excel and showcase the brilliance of the Filipino Youth,” according to FELTA Multi-Media Inc President and CEO Mylene Abiva, who accompanied the team.  Abiva is the National Organizer of the Philippine Robotics Olympiad/FLL Philippines and the first and only World Robot Olympiad Ambassador.  Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) Director Dr Josette Biyo, lauded the team’s triumph in the international stage.  “We thank our young robotics champions and the people behind their team for bringing honor to the country and inspiring others to get into robotics. This victory further motivates us at DOST-SEI to continue supporting our emerging robotics experts,” Biyo said. Their head coach is Heinz Elorde while the assistant coach is Genevieve Pillar. - https://www.rappler.com/bulletin-board/philippine-robotics-team-wins-big-first-lego-league-world-championship-2019

 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by Shady

[Freebie]

I worked here for 5 years and worked with a great many filipinos OFWs in Saudi ,Hong Kong, Jordan, Malaysia and a few other places.

Without a shadow of a doubt the OFWs were way more serious workers. Prouder of their jobs, probably aware of their responsibilities to repay their debts, probably aware of responsibilities to send money home utang na loob etc , and in general as they told me, happy to be out of the Philippines and the incompetence of govt there    ( this was a phrase regularly repeated ). In general they didnt take short cuts, they followed instructions much better and they were way more focused.

I came to the conclusion they are way better than we think..they just have to be in the right environment where EVERYONE folllows the rules... pasaways not allowed .

[Gandang Smile]

7 hours ago, Shady said:

So what's the lesson here, if a Filipino is really smart, talented, and hard-working, they get to immigrate into the US?

I guess the lesson is that if they're really talented, they will try their best to thrive.

Apparently Hillary won a $250,000 (US dollars, not pesos) from some US organisation and she chose to pursue her dream of studying physics in the US. No doubt we will see hear at NASA or CERN in a few years.

Another lesson learned is that she is the product of the Philippine Science High School system I was mentioning in the other thread. An elite STEM school for gifted kids that have proven to be smarter and more dedicated than the average, completely free of charge and enrolling kids regardless of their socio-background. That's something we don't have in Italy.

From what I understand, the Philippines have a decent education system up to undergraduate level, but one that is being inflationed by a lot of private colleges, academies and diploma factories. Where they don't shine, and I think they never will, is in applied research and development. Not until they find a way to stop the brain drain.

[Gandang Smile]

A couple of interesting "amazing Filipinos" of generations past who you may or may not be acquainted with.

Leon Chua

One of the most accomplished electrical engineers and circuit designers of our time, inventor of an electronic device so theoretically advanced that it took US R&D labs almost 40 years to build one.

His Wikipedia page refers to him as an "American engineer". He is in fact a Chinese-Filipino who stiudied at Mapua Institute of Technology, a private (but reasonably cheap), engineering school in the old Manila.

He is also the father of Alma Chua, a law professor who got her moment of global fame for writing a book about being a "tiger mom", not afraid to push her kids to compete for success.

Diosdado (Dado) Banatao

This guy may not say much but, to many of us 40-something dabbling with PC hardware 20+ years ago, the name "S3" may be more revealing. That's right, he was co-founder of one of the the first makers of "graphics accelerator" chips, the precursor of the modern GPUs. As I remember well, S3 was the first company to bring accelerated graphics to the mass market, as their processors had arguably the best performance for the buck.

From Wikipedia, I also read he previously co-founded another semiconductor company, producing chips for IBM.

A "rags to rich" story, he notably decided to get involved and give back to that world (the Philippines) he left after graduation (from the same Mapua Institute).

From Wikipedia.

Quote

In the Philippines, Banatao through his Dado Banatao Educational Foundation, annually awards five educational scholarships to intelligent Filipino students who have bright futures in the field of engineering and technology. Also, with Philippine Development Foundation which he chairs, he is helping send brilliant young Filipinos to school to help them reach their full potential. PhilDev was spun off from Ayala Foundation's program. Through his Banatao Filipino American Fund, he assists Californian high school students of Filipino heritage who are pursuing a college education in engineering. He also built a computer center at his grade school in his childhood town of Iguig in Cagayan Valley, making it the only public school with the most modern computer network in the Philippines.

Both these two engineers found their fame and fortune in the US, not unlike great minds from all around the worlds: Indians and Pakistanis, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, Israeli, Iranians and Armenians, not to mention the old world bunch, including Italian, Greeks et cetera.

I guess these people's lives speak as much about their own intellectual abilities, as the ability of the United Stated to offer the perfect platform where these minds could thrive. Maybe things aren't that way anymore, but I guess the academic/corporate culture up to the early 90s must have allowed that to happen.

[Jack Peterson]

2 hours ago, Gandang Smile said:

Both these two engineers found their fame and fortune in the US,

 Yet we all forget the Great Henry Sy who amassed over 480 SM stores all from a Market stall selling shoes, He was Uneducated to Degree level and kept his Money in the PI, This was an Amazing Filipino and there are some more, Not all the greats needed the US or any other Country to be AMAZING 

[Terry P]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Yet we all forget the Great Henry Sy who amassed over 480 SM stores all from a Market stall selling shoes, He was Uneducated to Degree level and kept his Money in the PI, This was an Amazing Filipino and there are some more, Not all the greats needed the US or any other Country to be AMAZING 

Sent a link on this guy to the good lady

Me:-We could be there one day honey

J:-I don't want to expect this just lets try focus hardwork and dedication is our weapon

Me:- it's just an inspiring story of rags to riches

J:- he was a very inspiring man and he loved to eat dried fish

Me:- what is inspiring about eating dried fish?

J:- not that!!! He was a very hard working man

Me:-oh!! I thought dried fish might be some kind of brain food

J:-oi!! Businee

Me:- what's businee

J:- I haven't finished typing someone is calling me to buy. I will pinch you Terry

Me:- see you are a Henry Sy in the making more interested in making a sale

J:-hahaha business before pleasure

Me:-thats it I'm locking the door I want some pleasure

J:- I hate you you're crazy

That's your lot

[Gandang Smile]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Yet we all forget the Great Henry Sy who amassed over 480 SM stores all from a Market stall selling shoes, He was Uneducated to Degree level and kept his Money in the PI, This was an Amazing Filipino and there are some more, Not all the greats needed the US or any other Country to be AMAZING 

Of course. Another example of rags to riches story of the Fil-Chinese community was Lucio Tan.

From Wikipedia...

Quote

 

Tan was born in Amoy (now Xiamen), Fujian, China. His parents moved to the Cebu in the Philippines when he was a child. He was said to have gone to school on barefoot and first worked as a stevedore who tied cargo with ropes made from abaca[6] He earned a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the Far Eastern University in Manila.Forbes states that while in college, Tan "worked as a janitor at a tobacco factory" where he "mopped floors to pay for school."

 

We could have literally dozens of posts in this thread. Please feel free to contribute. However unrelated to our expat lives, this topic would help remind us that no world society is condemned to mediocrity in its entirety, and forever.

[Gandang Smile]

My wife's auntie's next-door neighbour is a long-term employee of Henry Sy. He is a chemical engineer and has been in charge for one of the first and biggest shoe factories owned by SM (SM originally stood for ShoeMart). Notable he married Henry Sy's personal secretary of many decades.

I met them on a few occasions, they're a lovely couple in their 70s. He is still working up to now. He said he had to wake up at 4 AM since he was 15 and he continue to do so when he started to work for SM. That was the work ethics of the Fil-Chinese back in the day. Business, business, business.

Needless to say, he is very well off, I have been to his house and he has 2 huge rooms full of high-end hi-fi equipment and vynils, probably worth hundred of thousands of dollars. Rumour has it he gets 3-400K USD bonus every year from SM. Despite this, he still looks and sound every ounce the humble man who makes rubber shoes. His face skin is badly scarred and blemished, a sign of chemical poisoning due to decades of exposure.

These are the Fil-Chinese of yesteryear. Not sure if the current generation is up to these kinds of work standards.

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by Gandang Smile