UST Sta. Rosa set to boost UST’s research efforts

NINETY-SEVEN PERCENT COMPLETE: The UST-Dr. Tony Tan Caktiong Innovation Center is expected to finish construction by the first half of the year. (Photo by FMO Director Fr. Dexter Austria, O.P.)
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THE UNIVERSITY plans to intensify research through the UST Sta. Rosa campus, which houses the Dr. Tony Tan Caktiong Innovation Center, UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. said in his first Rector’s Report on Thursday.

Ang said improving UST’s research ecosystem would boost its academic reputation.

“There is a large potential to enrich further our research ecosystem. Doing so will increase the academic reputation of the University,” Ang said in his report that covered the period of January 2020 to July 2021.

Ang said the Sta. Rosa campus was being eyed to complement the research activities of the España campus by becoming a technological and innovative hub in Laguna, following the model of Pennsylvania State University and Cornell University in the US.

The Dr. Tony Tan Caktiong Innovation Center will consist of a three-story mixed-use building with innovation and prototyping centers, food innovation and product development hubs, laboratories, leasable office spaces for start-up businesses, huddle and conference rooms, and co-working spaces. It will also have a hostel with 40 rooms.

The P100-million innovation center will be an annex of the Department of Science and Technology-TomasINNO Center, a technology business incubator office launched in the Sampaloc campus in 2019.

According to Ang’s report, the University had 197 faculty members affiliated with six research centers, which produced 323 publications in Academic Year 2020 to 2021. J.B.T. Lim