TWO researchers from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños were conferred Scientist 1 rank by the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Science and Technology through the Scientific Career System.

They are Dr. Rodney Perez of the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology and Melissa Montecalvo of the College of Agriculture and Food Science.

Perez is a University Researcher II at UPLB-NIMBB.

“He was awarded the Young Asian Biotechnologist Prize by the Society for Biotechnology, Japan, in 2021. In the same year, he was also given the Outstanding Research and Development Award for Applied Research by the National Academy of Science and Technology,” it added.

Meanwhile, Montecalvo is a researcher of the UPLB-CAFS. She obtained her BS in Agriculture major in plant pathology and MS in Plant Pathology minor in horticulture at UPLB.

She received the UP System International Publication Award for eight journal articles. She was also part of the team that garnered the 2023 NCPC Outstanding Research Team Award, the school said.

To be promoted as Scientist I, candidates must have completed either a master’s degree in appropriate fields of science and ten years of productive scholarship and professional research and development work, or a doctoral degree and five years of productive scholarship and professional research and development work.

These are measured through their scientific findings, inventions, major research papers, and book articles, and their acceptance as evidenced by citations.