Two Filipina scientists were honored as the National Fellows by L’Oreal’s For Women in Science (FWIS) awards. L’Oreal Philippines proudly announced Dr. Ma. Cecilia G. Conaco and Dr. Aleta T. Yniguez as their second batch of L’Oreal For Women in Science (FWIS) National Fellows. After a grueling judging process headed by the first Filipino FWIS ASEAN Laureate, Prefessor Lourdes Cruz, both women stood out among the rest and will be awarded Php 400,000 grants each to aid their research.
Dr. Ma. Cecilia G. Conaco received the FWIS National Fellowship grant for her research proposal entitled “Dynamic Gene Regulation in Marine Sponges.” The project aims to identify novel sponge genes and the mechanisms that allow the organisms to monitor and adapt to its environment which will help us better understand the impact of ecological change on marine life. It will also provide insights into the development of technologies for the synthesis of isolation of bioactive compounds.
Dr. Aleta T. Yniguez received the FWIS National Fellowship grant for her research proposal entitled “Enhancing Robustness of Plankton Models and Monitoring Systems by Understanding Fine-scale Biophysical Processes.” This project intends to contribute to the improvement of primary production and harmful algal bloom models that are currently being developed in other endeavors, as well as to validate and increase the reliability of real-time monitoring platforms and remotely-sensed data that will be part of a bloom-forecasting system in target sites in the country.
For over a decade, FWIS, in collaboration with the UNESCO, is the first of its kind award program, aiming to promote excellence among young woman scientists worldwide. In past years, it was one of the most anticipated annual events in the scientific community in more than 93 countries. To date, nearly 1,100 women have received FWIS awards – 67 laureates from 30 countries, and over 1,000 fellowship awardees. The awards, which started 12 years ago, came about because the field of science has traditionally been a man’s world. Since 1901, there were over 300 recipients of the Nobel Prize in the sciences but only 10 of them – about 3 percent – were women.
