PROFILE OF SPEAKERS

Eufemio Rasco Jr. is a member of the NAST Philippines (NAST Phil), serving as chair of the Agricultural Sciences Division since 2015. He is best known for his pioneering work on hybrid breeding of indigenous tropical vegetables, the product of which are commonly found in farms and markets of the Philippines and other tropical countries, even today, 30 years after their initial release. His research also covered plant physiology, agronomy, and agriculture’s impact on the environment. He is author of 5 books, 1 monograph, and close to 100 journal publications, majority of which are peer reviewed. His book, The Unfolding Gene Revolution, was recognized by NAST Phil as an Outstanding Book in 2008.

His teaching career started at the UP Los Baños (UPLB) where he also served as director of the Institute of Plant Breeding. He was also first dean of the College of Science and Mathematics of UP Mindanao. In between, he served as coordinating scientist of the International Potato Center, assigned to the Asian network. He also helped establish East West Seed Company (now number 1 in Global Access to Seed Index) and served as consultant for eight years during the company’s infancy in the Philippines.

He studied at UPLB for his Master of Science in Horticulture and at Cornell University for his PhD in Plant Breeding.

His last government assignment was as executive director of the Philippine Rice Research Institute. His current project is a book, The Inconvenient Truth About Rice, which advocates linking of agriculture with human nutrition and environmental care.

Shin-Horng Chen is the director and a research fellow of the International Division at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, a leading economic think tank in Taiwan. Apart from full-time research work, he has taught EMBA/MBA courses at several universities in Taiwan, including National Taiwan University (NTU), National Tsinghua University, and National Chiao Tung University.

Chen has intensive research experience on the development of the ICT industry, science and technology (S&T) policy, national innovation system, global production and innovation networks, and research and development (R&D) internationalization. In recent years, he has extended his research fields into China’s industrial development and innovation, technology foresight, and service innovation. He is also an experienced reviewer for a few R&D programs sponsored by the Taiwanese government. For his well-respected work of innovation and policy studies, he received the Award for Innovation Model Promoter, First National Industry Innovation Award from the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2011.

Out of his policy studies, Chen has generated a number of academic publications in the international academic community. His recent academic publications can be found in a few refereed journals, such as Research Policy, Technovation, R&D Management, Industry and Innovation, Asian Journal of Technology Innovation, Working Paper of National Bureau of Economic Research, China Economic Review, China Information, and NTU Management Review. He has also contributed papers to more than 20 editorial books, published by international academic publishers.

Carol Yorobe is the undersecretary for Scientific and Technical Services of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). She supervises S&T Human Resource Development Program; the Balik Scientist Program; Scientific Career System; has oversight over laboratory facilities of DOST agencies, and the promotion of science culture. She served as DOST Undersecretary for Regional Operations.

Joel Cuello is a professor of Biosystems Engineering and director of the Global Initiative for Strategic Agriculture in Dry Lands at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. A globally recognized expert in engineering of sustainable biological and agricultural systems, Cuello has designed various engineered systems, including those applied in bioregenerative space life support, industrial mass production of algae cultures, and vertical farming. He conducted his postdoctoral research as a US National Research Council postdoctoral research associate in the Controlled Ecological Life Support System Division at NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. He earned his PhD degree in Agricultural and Biological Engineering with minor in Chemical Engineering from Penn State, and earned two Master of Science degrees (Agricultural and Biological Engineering; Plant Physiology) also from Penn State. He is a Lifetime Visiting Professor at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, and a faculty fellow at the Innovation Center of the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. He has published over 55 refereed journal articles and 11 book chapters, and has delivered over 300 presentations around the world. Cuello is currently president of the Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering and a corresponding member of the NAST Phil.

David Hall is senior technical advisor for Economic Development at RTI International. He was formerly the chief of party for the USAID Science, Technology, Research, and Innovation for Development Program. He holds a PhD from Loughborough University, UK. He has more than 30 years of professional experience specializing in engineering, science, and technology. He is experienced in industry-university collaboration as well as the creation, funding, accreditation, and management of new university programs and centers. He has served as dean of Computing and Engineering at universities in the UK and United Arab Emirates. He has also served as the director of the Appropriate Technology Center at Kenyatta University in Kenya. More recently, he was chief of party for the USAID/Liberia Excellence in Higher Education for Liberian Development Project. In universities, he has supervised six research PhDs, has 50 publications, and has generated or managed grant and private sector funding in excess of USD 30 million.

Joel Joseph Marciano Jr. is a professor at the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute at the UP Diliman and is currently the acting director of the Advanced Science and Technology Institute of the DOST. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from UP Diliman and his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He was the UP-Dado Banatao Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley in 2004 and at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 2005. In 2007 and 2009, he was a visiting associate research scientist in UCSD.

His research interests include wireless communications and small satellite systems engineering as applied to rural connectivity, emergency response communications, disaster risk reduction, and scientific earth observation. Marciano is a recipient of the Gawad Chanselor Para sa Natatanging Guro in UP Diliman, the Most Outstanding Electronics Engineer in the field of Education from the Institute of Electronics Engineers of the Philippines, the 2015 Manila Water Foundation Prize for Engineering Excellence, and the Distinguished Alumni Award in Science and Technology from the UP Alumni Association in 2017.

Jose Ramon Albert is a senior research fellow of PIDS, the government think tank. He is former chief statistician of the Philippines as the secretary general of the defunct National Statistical Coordination Board. Albert is a professional statistician who has authored papers and popular writings on topics spanning poverty analysis, education statistics, ICT statistics and big data, climate change, and innovation. He is also a member of various bodies and expert groups on statistical matters, including the United Nations Global Pulse Privacy Advisory Group and the Philippine Committee on Higher Education’s Technical Committee on Statistics.  

For over 15 years, Albert has worked in two dozen countries supported by the development community, including the ADB. He has taught at several higher educational institutions and has directed various statistical capacity-building activities. He is past president of the Philippine Statistical Association, Inc. He took a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics (summa cum laude and Awardee for Excellence in Mathematics) from DLSU (1988) with a DOST-SEI Scholarship. He earned his Master of Science in Statistics (1989) and PhD in Statistics (1993) from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Alex Avila is the assistant secretary for Workers Protection, Policy Support, Human Resource, Administrative, and Internal Auditing Services of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

In a permanent and/or alternate capacity, he represents the DOLE and the secretary of Labor and Employment in the governing boards of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), Philippine Statistics Authority, and UniFAST. He also represents the DOLE in the 18-agency Project Advisory Committee of the pilot application of the Just Transition Guidelines of the ILO as its chair, and serves as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Technical Working Group that is presently formulating the Green Jobs Human Resource Development Plan as mandated by the Green Jobs Law of 2016.

He served as OIC-executive director of the NWPC, regional director of the DOLE National Capital Region (NCR) and DOLE Regional Office No. 4A, and chairperson of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board of NCR and CALABARZON.

Avila is an accountant by profession, earning his Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. As a scholar under the Netherlands Fellowship Programme, he obtained his Master of Arts in Development Studies, with specialization in Human Resources and Employment, from the Institute of Social Studies (now International Institute of Social Studies), The Hague, in December 2002. He also attended the UP-SOLAIR Workers Institute on Labor Laws in 1997.

In August 2017, he served as a speaker during the OECD Southeast Asia Regional Forum on “Digital Transformation in Southeast Asia: Opportunities and Policy Challenges” held in Bangkok, Thailand. Avila is a recipient of a presidential citation in 2010. He is a Career Executive Service Officer Rank IV.

Markus Ruck holds a Master’s degree in Socioeconomics from the Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Before joining the ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team for East and South-East Asia and the Pacific, based in Bangkok, as senior specialist on Social Protection in April 2018, he served for nearly nine years as senior social security specialist at the ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team for South Asia based in New Delhi. Prior to his assignment in New Delhi, he worked for nearly six years as senior social security specialist at the ILO Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe. Prior to his assignment in Harare, he worked for eight years at the ILO Sub-Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest, Hungary as social security specialist. Before joining the ILO Office in Budapest, he worked at the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs as senior social security specialist.

Emmanuel Esguerra is professor of Economics at the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE). A member of the UPSE faculty since 1993, he was seconded to the NEDA in July 2012 where he served as deputy director-general for Policy and Planning and subsequently as director-general and secretary of Socioeconomic Planning until June 2016. Prior to his stint at NEDA, he was chair of the Department of Economics at UPSE. He was also editor of the Philippine Review of Economics, an academic journal jointly published by the UPSE and the Philippine Economic Society, in 2001–2007 and 2008–2010. He obtained his Master of Arts from the UP Diliman and his PhD from the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA. His research interests include labor economics and development microeconomics.