The Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) awarded thesis grants for School Year 2006-2007 to seven Southeast Asian nationals pursuing their graduate programs at Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), Indonesia; Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malyasia; Kasetsart University (KU), Thailand; and University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Philippines.
The UC thesis grant provides a limited amount of funds to assist ongoing graduate students of any of the Consortium members and associate members in the preparation and production of the thesis/dissertation manuscript.
The UC thesis grantees from IPB are Ms. Nor Sholekhah Damayanti, MS in Biotechnology, and Mr. Lalu Solihin, MS in Tropical Marine Resources. Ms. Damayanti’s thesis is titled “Determination of Minimal Allergenic-Pollen Concentration for Injection Immunotherapy Application,” while Mr. Lalu’s thesis is on “Economic Vulnerability of Resources Uses in Small Island Region (Case Study in Tourism Area of Gili Indah, West Nusa Tenggara Province).”
Pursuing their graduate programs at UPM are Ms. Sri Rahayu, PhD on Tree Improvement, and Ms. Tunung Robin, MS in Food Safety and Microbiology. UC thesis grants were awarded to Ms. Rahayu for her dissertation titled “Effect of Genetic Variation on Growth and Gall Rust Disease Resistance in Falcataria moluccana (Miq.) Barneby & J.W. Grimes in Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia,” and Ms. Robin for her thesis titled “Isolation and Characterization of Salmonella Species from Street Foods and Clinical Samples.”
The lone UC thesis grantee from KU is Ms. Sureeporn Khemmook, MS in Watershed Management. Her thesis is titled “Differences in Soil Moisture Content and Water Availability in Various Water Systems under Different Land Use Types in Andaman Sea Coast: A Case Study of Ban Tung Soong Village in Krabi Province, Thailand.”
The thesis grantees from UPLB are Ms. Joy Elaine P. Kaligayahan, MS in Chemistry, for her thesis titled “Extraction and Characterization of Inulin and Fructooligasaccharides from Yacon [Smallanthus sonchifolius (Poepp. & Endl.) H. Rob] and Arrowroot (Maranta arundunacea L.)” and Mr. Rico C. Ancog, MS in Environmental Science, for his thesis titled “Expansion of Environmental Users’ Fee System to Households for Enhanced Water Pollution Control in Laguna de Bay.”
To qualify for the grant, the thesis/dissertation of the applicant must be in line with the UC's strategic priorities, namely: sustainable management of natural resource systems; food and agriculture policy; biotechnology in agriculture; food and health; information and communication technology, bioinformatics; and data management in agriculture.
To date, 180 students of UC members have availed of thesis grants. (LLDDomingo)
