Happy Birthday, Regina!

Photo Caption: (1) Photo of Regina and me; (2) Regina with her mother, Amy; sister, Raissa; and father Felix. Photos taken on December 11, 2007.

Last December 11, 2007 was the 7th birthday celebration of my godchild ("inaanak"), Regina, daughter of my friend Felix (Dr. Felix Muga II of the Mathematics Department of Ateneo de Manila University). Regina celebrated her birthday at McDonald's Katipunan, infront of Ateneo.

Here are some photos taken during Regina's birthday party. More photos can be found at this link:

http://booleanlogic.multiply.com/photos/album/54/Reginas_7th_Bday_Party_121107

Happy Birthday, Regina!

From,

Ninong Raffy

'Bravissimo!' - A Tribute To Excellence (Philippine Madrigal Singers Concert)

Media Release. Source: http://www.pisay82.org


The Philippine Science High School Alumni Association and PSHS Class of 1982 sponsor 'Bravissimo! – A Tribute to Excellence' a Philippine Madrigal Singers concert on 18 December 2007, 8:00 p.m., Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.


The Madz, as they are affectionately called by fans, recently won the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Arrezzo, Italy, last August. A two-time winner of this prestigious competition, they are the only choir in the world that has ever achieved this feat since the inception of the Grand Prix in 1989. The event shall be their only gala performance this December; thus we expect there to be tremendous response from the music-loving public to this concert. As the concert is a fundraising activity for the PSHS Alumni ‘Natatanging Guro Endowment Fund’ (NG Fund) , fellow Pisay Alumni can also contribute to the fund by joining ‘Sponsor-A-Teacher to the Madz concert’. If you cannot watch the concert but want to contribute to the fund, why not buy a concert ticket for a Pisay teacher? That way, a Pisay teacher watches the concert at the same time you contribute to the NG fund … a good deal?Net proceeds of the event will go to the PSHS Alumni ‘Natatanging Guro Endowment Fund’. The fund’s goal is to help maintain high standards of teaching excellence at our alma mater, the country’s premiere institution for secondary education. Income from the fund will help provide financial incentives and programs designed to recruit, retain, and help further improve the level of teaching excellence at PSHS. For ticket prices and seat reservation, watch for e-mail in the next few days. You may also check out the pisay82.org website for links to more information about this and other upcoming alumni events this Christmas.‘Bravissimo! – A Tribute to Excellence’ is organized by the PSHS Alumni Association and the PSHS Class of 1982. Chris Franco ‘82 Chairman, Batch 82 / PSHS Alumni Xmas events committee.


Ticket prices are available at:

Orchestra Center P 2,000 ($50 for US based) Orchestra Left / Right P 1,500 ($37.5) Balcony 1 Center P 750 ($18.75) Balcony 1 Left / Right P 600 ($15) Balcony 2 Center P 400 ($10) Balcony 2 Left / Right P 300 ($7.5)

For inquiries or to purchase tickets, please contact:

For Philippine Based Gerry Parco at +639209514350 / gerryparco@edsamail.com.ph, Vicky Santos-Abraham at +639189432516 / vickisantos.abraham@gmail.com, or Chris Franco at +639172432307 / cchristopherfranco@hotmail.com).

For U.S. Based Lenito Sinay at +15085662155 / lsinay@aim.com, Liza Virata-Theimer at +12407885187 / lizavirata@yahoo.com or login to www.filgifts.com/pisay for ordering online.

Raffy Saldana

The Pisay '77 Blogger

12/17/07

Embassy of France To The Philippines To Sponsor ICT4Health 2008 (First International Symposium on ICT For Health)

Today, December 11, 2007, I received a very welcome message from the Embassy of France to the Philippines informing me that the French Embassy will sponsor the First International Symposium on ICT For Health (ICT4Health 2008) to be held on February 29 to March 1, 2008 in Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines.

I am the convenor of the said symposium. While I was still in Taipei, Taiwan (for the ICT Asia Regional Seminar sponsored by the French Government) I submitted a funding request to the French Embassy in Manila to support the project that I am organizing on behalf of Ateneo de Manila University -- the First International Symposium on ICT For Health.

For details about ICT4Health, please visit its temporary website:

http://www.math.admu.edu.ph/~raf/ict4health.htm

CSP Seminar in Baguio City: More Photos

Note: These photos were taken during the Seminar on ICT sponsored by the Computing Society of the Phippines and hosted by the University of the Cordilleras in Baguio City, Philippines on December 8, 2007. Click on photos to view larger images. See related blog entry,
http://raffysaldana.blogspot.com/2007/12/csp-seminar-on-ict-university-of.html

CSP Seminar on ICT, University of the Cordilleras, Baguio City, December 8, 2007

(Photo Captions: (1) Dr. Rafael Saldaña, Past President of CSP, with Ms. Nancy Flores, Dean of University of the Cordilleras; (2) New members of the CSP in an oath-taking ceremony led by Dr. Rafael Saldaña on December 8, 2007 in Baguio City.)


On December 7, 2007 I went to Baguio City (in Northern Luzon, Philippines) to conduct a seminar on ICT (Information and Communications Technology) for the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP).

The seminar was held at the University of the Cordilleras on December 8, 2007.

Our host is the College of Computer Studies of the University of the Cordilleras, led by its dean, Ms. Nancy Flores. (Note: Nancy is currently the President of the Philippine Society of Information Technology Educators [PSITE].)

The guest speakers are: Dr. Henry Adorna (of the Department of Computer Science, University of the Philippines and currently Secretary of the CSP) and myself (Dr. Rafael Saldaña of Ateneo de Manila University and Immediate Past President of CSP).

More than 100 participants from Baguio City and other schools in Northern Luzon participated in the CSP Seminar.

At the end of the seminar we inducted more than 60 new members of CSP in an oath-taking ceremony. These new CSP members will form the Computing Society of the Philippines Northern Luzon Chapter.

Supercomputing Cluster Challenge Won By The University Of Alberta (Canada)

Cluster Challenge

"A team of undergraduates from the University of Alberta, Canada, won the inaugural Supercomputing cluster challenge, a three-day cluster-building marathon, during the SC07 (International Conference For High Performance Computing, Networking, and Analysis) held at Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Nevada,USA on November 10-16, 2007. Competing teams assembled small clusters on the exhibit floor, running benchmarks and applications selected by industry and high performance computing veterans.

Power consumption was limited: each team was allowed just a single 26 amp, 110 volt circuit. Clusters were judged on the speed of benchmarks and throughput of application runs.

The University of Alberta’s winning system was a 64-core (Xeon 2.66GHz) system with 20Gbit InfiniBand and 16GB of memory running Scientific Linux. The competition was designed to show how accessible clusters have become: the systems built by the student teams would have been considered top-of-the-line super computers just ten years ago."

Sources:
1. http://www.isgtw.org/?pid=1000797#cluster
2. http://sc07.supercomputing.org/

PISAY PAROL: Christmas Lanterns (PSHS Fund Raising Project)

Christmas Lanterns For Sale

Visit: http://www.pisay82.org/pisayparol.aspx for details and pictures.


These parols (Chirstmas lanterns) will be for sale during the Pisay Pasko Alumni Xmas Homecoming, during PSHS selected events, at www.filgifts.com or at www.pisay82.org or please contact Marj, Loida, Ruther or Doods at +6326673690 (ordering and delivery w/in Metro Manila) or Adee Sipin at +639175595180 / adee.sipin@gmail.com (for inquiries on Pisay Parols and NG Fund).

Delivery within Metro Manila is P300/parol; please inquire about shipping rates outside of Metro Manila.

• PISAY PASKO…A Dedication Ceremony of the PSHS Natatanging Guro Endowment Fund Project – Dec. 7, 2007 4:30pm.

All alumni, faculty, students, and friends of the Philippine Science High School are cordially invited to attend the 'Pisay Pasko', a dedication ceremony of the PSHS Natatanging Guro Endowment Fund project. The ceremony will be held on Friday, December 7, 2007 from 4:30 to 7:00 pm, at the Administration Building area of the school's main campus in Diliman, Quezon City. Representatives from the various groups collaborating on the worthwhile project will be on hand to pledge their support. These groups include the PSHS Alumni Association, PSHS Foundation, Inc., the school's faculty and administration, and the PSHS Class of 1982.
Performances by the champions of this year's Paskorus competition, plus the PSHS Himig Agham Glee Club, will render Christmas and other songs to mark the event. As culminating activity, symbolizing the bright light that PSHS teachers cast on their students and our country, there will be the lighting of a giant 10ft. Natatanging Guro Pisay Parol and a fireworks display. Light refreshments will also be served.

It is envisioned that the Natatanging Guro Fund will become a multi-million peso endowment, income from which will be used to finance programs intended to attract, develop, and retain the best teaching and faculty talent for the premiere science and technology secondary school in the Philippines. Programs will eventually include awards for teaching excellence; faculty study and research grants; and, faculty exchange programs.

We look forward to seeing you on December 7.

For more information, contact:

Adrian Sipin (adee.sipin@gmail.com)

Ramanujan Prize 2007 Awarded To Argentinian Mathematician

(Photo Caption: Jorge Lauret, Argentinian Mathematician. Source: http://www.abelprisen.no/en/)

Jorge Lauret, professor of mathematics at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina, has been awarded the 2007 Srinivasa Ramanujan Prize "in recognition of his outstanding contributions to differential geometry and group representations".

The award ceremony was held on December 3, 2007 at Trieste, Italy. The Ramanujan Prize is awarded to outstanding young mathematicians from developing countries and is supported by the Niels Henrik Abel Memorial Fund through the participation of the International Mathematical Union.

The Prize carries a $10,000 cash award donated by the Niels Henrik Abel Memorial Fund.

The prize, set up by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the International Mathematical Union, is designed to honour researchers under 45 years of age who have conducted outstanding research in developing countries.

"Jorge Lauret has been awarded the prize in recognition of his outstanding contributions to differential geometry and group representation", says the prize selection committee.

Jorge Lauret works in the field of Riemannian geometry, especially on questions related to geometry and symmetry. A Riemannian manifold is an abstract mathematical space that can be "curved" in interesting ways –this curvature codes a lot of information about the structure of the space. Lauret has made several outstanding contributions to the study of such objects.

Members of the prize committee: Professor Le Dung Trang (chairman), Professor Bernt Øksendal, Professor Jacob Palis, Professor Peter Sarnak, Professor Srinivasa Varadhan.

The Award was established in 2005 by ICTP in cooperation with IMU (International Mathematical Union) in the name of Srinivasa Ramanujan, India's greatest mathematical genius (1887-1920) of the 19th century. He made outstanding contributions to the analytical theory of numbers, elliptic functions, continued fractions, and infinite series.

Sources:

1. http://pio.ictp.it/words/news/prizes_news/2007/ramanujan-prize-2007

2. http://www.abelprisen.no/en/

PSHS Teacher Endowment Fund

MEDIA RELEASE (12/4/07)

PSHS Alumni, Foundation, and Administration Join Hands to Launch Natatanging Guro Teacher Endowment Fund

The Philippine Science High School Alumni Association and the PSHS Foundation will formally launch the Natatanging Guro Endowment Fund (NG Fund) in a simple dedication ceremony on December 7, 2007, at 4 pm, at the school's main campus in Diliman, Quezon City. Various government officials and administrators connected with PSHS are expected to grace the event. They include Dr. Filma G Brawner, PSHS System Executive Director and Dr. Jessamyn Marie O. Yazon, OIC, Office of the Director, PSHS Main Campus.

PSHS is the Philippines' only government-funded high school with the mandate to prepare high school students for future careers in science and technology. Created in 1963 during Pres. Diosdado Macapagal, and subsequently expanded under the terms of Presidents Fidel Ramos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the school now has 8 campuses in different regions of the Philippines in addition to the main campus in Quezon City, with close to 3,000 students enrolled at any given time. Since 1969, the PSHS system has produced more than 11,000 graduates that have gone on to become leading lights in their professions in medicine, engineering, math and science, education, as well as in business and in the arts.

Over the decades, the PSHS AA and PSHS Foundation have delivered many projects in that complemented the resources that the government provides to run the country's science high school. The NG Fund marks the first time that the two organizations are working together on a project of this nature, and could thus act as the catalyst for future collaborative endeavors that will positively impact the PSHS.

The NG Fund will assist in the further development of the PSHS system, by helping it achieve world-class levels of faculty excellence. Over a period of time, through various fund-raising activities, as well as by tapping government and private donors, both locally and abroad, the target is to set up a P100 million fund. Income from the fund will support initiatives such as:

· Cash awards for teaching excellence

· Study grants for PSHS faculty members who would like to pursue advanced degrees in their fields, or in pedagogy

· Grants to conduct research, write scientific papers for publication, and to attend scientific conferences

· Faculty exchange programs with peer academic institutions globally, which would hone teaching talent and foster the transfer of leading-edge teaching methods to the country

These programs, and those that will be developed in the future, will help the PSHS system attract, develop, and retain the best teaching talent available in the country, to ensure that the school continues to build the critical mass of science and technology leaders, thus contributing to the Philippine nation-building

Images of Taiwan: Taipei 101, Part 2

(Click on photos to view larger images. Photos by Raffy Saldaña, 11/24/07, Taipei, Taiwan)