By Rizal Raoul Reyes / Correspondent
THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Philippines announced the 2015 list of scholars under its Science, Technology, Research and Innovation (Stride) at a news conference in Makati City.
For the Philippine-US Research and Exchange Grants, there will be five recipients who will feature collaboration between Philippine and American universities. The program allows Philippine universities to conduct joint research with a US university of their choice on a topic relevant to Philippine industry. The grant may include mobility funding for the university partner.
Meanwhile, the Collaborative Applied Research with Industry provides schools grants and opportunities to collaborate on projects approved by Stride. Technical support to the university-industry partnership will be provided by the USAID Stride and one of its partner US universities.
Fifteen students have been granted the Professional Science Master’s Scholarships. They will pursue their master’s degree from different universities in the US. Meanwhile, only one student will pursue the PhD Post-Doctoral Research Scholarships this year.
In his keynote address, US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg said Stride enables the Filipino students to help transform society through the skills they learned during their study in the US.
“These scholarships are key elements in Philippine society that could foster inclusive growth through science and technology,” Goldberg said.
“Being anchored on science and technology means that this will bring more relevance to the industries in the Philippines and eventually accelerate economic growth,” Goldberg added.
He also pointed out that the grantees can maximize their knowledge to help enhance innovation in the country.
In her testimonial, Janella Mae Salamania said being a Stride scholar transformed and gave direction in her life. While she was taking her master’s in engineering at the University of the Philippines, Salamania recalled that she did not have the focus and determination to finish her course because of several problems and lack of funding.
“I was getting frustrated with the way things were going,” said Salamania, who finished her Master of Engineering in Materials Science and Engineering at the Cornell University. “Stride turned my life around and enabled me to finish my studies in Cornell,” she added. Salamania said Cornell developed her not only as a student but as an outstanding leader in her field. “Stride gave me also the opportunity to learn a lot of things inside and outside the campus,” she said.Salamania is the first graduate of the Stride program.
Stride is a five-year, P1.3-billion project by the USAID that aims to boost inclusive growth by beefing up science and technology.
This is being done by working closely with Philippine academic institutions and industries to transpose their capacity to produce research, graduates and innovation partnerships to hasten development in the country.
Stride is the flagship science, technology and innovation program of the US-Philippines Partnership for Growth, which advocates inclusive growth.
Image credits: Denisse Jane Remolacio