A UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas professor was named the 2021 Outstanding Chemical Engineer for Research and Development awardee by the Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Maria Natalia Roxas-Dimaano was recognized for her contributions in the field of energy engineering, specifically on her researches on conversion of non-edible seed oils into biodiesel and the production of wallboards, composites, activated carbon and biochar from waste seed husks as primary materials.

No stranger to recognitions, Dimaano was the 2011 Gregorio Y. Zara Awardee for Applied Science Research by the Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology.

She was also the 2009 Achievement Awardee for Engineering and Industrial Research by the National Research Council of the Philippines, as well as a Fellow of the ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology and the PICHE College of Fellows.

Dimaano, who holds a PhD in Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, teaches at the Department of Chemical Engineering and is the Program Lead for Engineering at the UST Graduate School.

Likewise, she’s a researcher of the university’s Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences.