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Czarina
A. Saloma-Akpedonu, PhD was named 2007 Outstanding Young Scientist
(OYS) in the field of Sociology by the National Academy of
Science and Technology (NAST) during awarding ceremonies held
recently at the Manila Hotel.
According
to NAST, Saloma-Akpedonu received the award for her work which
"can be considered as a marriage between technology and
social science. Its impact lies on the way one views technology
and its relation to culture and people's identity."
The
OYS Awards are given to young Filipino scientists who have
made significant contributions to science and technology.
The awards are traditionally conferred to 10 outstanding individuals
working in the following fields: agriculture sciences; biological
sciences; chemical, mathematical and physical sciences; engineering
sciences and technology; health sciences; and, social sciences.
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In
the latter years however, the magical number has not
been reached which explains why the numerical ceiling
has since been dropped.
To
be eligible, one must not be more than 40 years old
at the time of the awarding and must have accumulated
a sizable body of published works, scientific researches
and other equally significant publications.
Saloma-Akpedonu,
who hails from Baclayon, Bohol, is the youngest daughter
of the late
Ciriaco Saloma, former manager of the Bohol Power Grid
of the National Power Corporation, and Celerina Aya-ay,
a public school teacher.
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She
is also the youner sister of Caesar Saloma, now Dean of the
College of Science at the University of the Philippines-Diliman,
who himself won the award in 1992 in the field of Applied
Physics.
She
is the second sociologist to receive the award, following
in the footsteps of her former teacher at the University of
the Philippines-Diliman Ma. Cynthia Rose Banzon-Bautista who
won the award in 1988. She said both her brother and her teacher
served as her inspiration.
Saloma-Akpedonu
earned her academic degrees from Bielefeld Universitaet (Dr.
rer. Soc) in Germany, Peking University (MA) in China and
University of the Philippines-Diliman (BA). She currently
serves as Assistant Professor and Chair of the Department
of Sociology and Anthropology at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Saloma-Akpedonu is also President of the Philippine Sociological
Society and Secretary of the Board of the International Sociological
Association (ISA) Research Committee on the Sociology of Science
and Technology.
She
is currently the Gender and ICT Specialist for eHomemakers
(Malaysia) and International Development Research Council's
research project on Homeworkers and ICTs in Southeast Asia.
She is also Editor of the Loyola Schools Review 2006 and Issue
Co-Editor of the Philippine Sociological Review.
Saloma-Akpedonu
is the author of "Possible Worlds in Impossible Spaces:
Knowledge, Globality, Gender and Information Technology in
the Philippines (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2006),
an ethnographic study on the "doing" of IT in the
Philippines.
She
is currently doing a study on heritage houses in danger of
being overtaken by tourism developments in the province of
Bohol, together with husband Erik Akpedonu, an architect from
Germany.
In
acknowledging the accolade she received from her former classmates
at the Holy Spirit School-Tagbilaran City, she wrote, "I
am sure the awarding ceremony itself will simultaneously be
a humbling and inspiring experience - this is what standing
before people who have done so much more than whatever I did
would do." (Yasmin S. Gatal-Hashimoto)
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