The University of the Philippines (UP) Resilience Institute (UP RI) – Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (UP NOAH) Center continues its advocacy of serving the studentry by sharing their knowledge as an academic research institution. This year, UP RI – NOAH Center once again opened its doors to students from UP and other universities and colleges through its Internship Program.
This Midyear, the Internship Program organized by UP RI Education Division ran from July 2, 2024 until August 7, 2024, covering 200 hours. UP RI – NOAH Center, including the Flood Modeling Component (FMC), has been part of this program since 2020. This year is the first time that the FMC will implement a full face-to-face setup where the interns can physically report for work and be fully immersed in a Science and Research work environment.
In the past three years, FMC has had interns from the UP Diliman Institute of Civil Engineering (ICE), UP Diliman Department of Geodetic Engineering (DGE), MMSU Department of Meteorology. This year, all three students, namely, John Harold Cruz, Frankee Vinuya, and Janross Mercado, came from the ICE. Mr. Dino Evangelista, assisted by the rest of the FMC researchers, supervised the FMC interns.
Week 1 for the interns covered the welcome program organized by the FMC researchers and an orientation to the organizational structure of the UP RI and its core components and divisions. A brief history of FMC also was provided by one of the tenured researchers of FMC, Mr. Glenn Sabio. Short lectures and activities about Flood Modelling were given by Ms. Patricia Anne Delmendo.
Week 2 allowed the interns to utilize the PowerBI tool, one of the software used by FMC researchers when dealing with big data. This was facilitated by Engr. Genarro Pascual. Aside from data processing, the interns were given a task to creatively identify a possible topic and general analysis based on the results of the data processing they handled. The interns also started their lecture on Basic GIS and Mapping with Mr. Raymund Tirol and did mapping activities that would carry on through Week 3.
Digitizing, Map Elements, and Map Layout lectures and activities were given by Mr. Marc Moises, Engr. Leony Timbal, and Engr. Steffanie Chua. The interns continued these activities from the end of Week 3 until the start of Week 4. The interns started this week with a quick lecture about LandSat Images and processes related to remote sensing from Mr. Gifford Agudo.
They ended their 4th week with a first-hand experience of post-typhoon activities in UP RI. They were able to watch Executive Director Dr. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay give interviews about Super Typhoon Carina and Habagat and other current and relevant issues about flood hazards, climate change, disasters, and possible solutions to certain environmental issues. The interns also had the opportunity to meet seasoned journalists Ms. Jessica Soho and Ms. Maki Pulido from GMA News and Current Affairs.
Week 5 started with more advanced lectures about Flood Modeling facilitated by Ms. Delmendo. These were followed by the Internship Kumustahan organized by the Education Division to catch up with the interns and check on their overall internship experience. The rest of Week 5 was allocated for the interns to prepare for Internal Training they will be facilitating at the end of the week. This was a great opportunity for them to share their knowledge with researchers from different fields. They covered a wide range of topics such as Air Quality, the Generation of Topographic maps, and the Basics of Bowling.
The final week covered the last three days of the Internship Program. The interns provided a short presentation about their key learnings and internship experiences during the UP RI Closing Program and FMC Final Output Presentation and Closing Ceremony. For their final output, the interns were able to use the mapping processes and techniques that they have learned to create maps of the data they have processed. Frankee Vinuya created a map about the level of need for Public Libraries in Ilocos Norte, John Harold Cruz’s map discussed La Union Voter’s Literacy during the 2016 Elections, and Janross Mercado’s map showed the areas in QC with the highest population of senior citizens and children below 7 years old and their possible exposure to flood hazards.
As the Internship Program for 2024 came to a close, the FMC researchers also made sure to impart how to create a fun and healthy work environment, particularly in the field of Science and Research. FMC researchers also highlighted the importance of what is being done by the institute and the need to process and produce high-quality and relevant data because, on the larger scale of things, the component really helps the country by saving lives. As always, we do this with honor, with excellence, and in service to the nation.
