Omongos Bags Outstanding Young Chemistry Research Award in Taiwan

      Mr. Rashen Lou M. Omongos, Chemistry Laboratory In-charge of the Caraga State University (CSU), attended the 2020 Taiwan-Philippines Bilateral Symposium on Chemical Science and Technology and Workshop on Chemical Science and Marine Technology last February 5-14, 2020 at the National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. CSU was among the seven universities from the Philippines that sent delegates to present a scientific paper during the symposium.

         Among the 11 presenters from the UP Manila, UP Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, MSU Iligan Institute of Technology (IIT), and Philippine Normal University, Mr. Omongos, representing the CSU, was awarded as Outstanding Young Chemistry Research Award, alongside with other two delegates from MSU-IIT and UP Manila.

      The plenary sessions included various topics such as Material Science, Organic Synthesis, Total Synthesis, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Peptide Synthesis, and Analytical Instrumentation. The student section of presenters started on the second day which also included various fields such as Organic Synthesis, Material Science, Biochemistry, Natural Products, and Computational Chemistry, where Mr. Omongos fall under. He presented his undergraduate thesis on ONIOM Calculations of the X-ray Emission Spectra of Intrinsic and Phosphorus-doped Fullerene.

        The delegates had hands-on experience with advanced equipment such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), X-ray Diffraction, and Scanning Electron Microscope. Lectures on Materials Characterization by Prof. Chun-Hu Chen and discussions on Lithium-ion battery by Prof. Jyh-Tsung Lee, Marine Science and X-Ray Crystallography by Prof. Chih-Chuang Liaw were also given. They also experienced synthesizing Graphene Oxide.

        According to Mr. Omongos, this activity enlightened him to the recent trends in drug discovery and functional materials that can be used for drug delivery. This also opens opportunities for future research collaborations with Filipino and Taiwanese researchers who are also working on said field. KLC/pico