UP Open University faculty members were appointed as UP Scientist I by the UP Board of Regents on their 1317th meeting in 28 April 2016.Dr. Alexander G. Flor, Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, and Dr. Sheila R. Bonito, Director of the UPOU Office for Academic Systems and Instructional Services, were awarded the UP Scientist I title effective for the years 2015 to 2017. Dr. Ricardo Bagarinao, on the other hand, was renewed as UP Scientist I effective 2016-2018. The award is given under the UP Science Productivity System and carries with it a monetary award given annually.
Dr. Flor is an expert in development communication, knowledge management, environmental communication, ICT for Development and open and distance e-learning and has authored several publications in these fields. He is one of the awarded Top UP Researchers in 2016 for garnering an H-index of 7 and a citation of 207 in Google Scholar.
Dr. Bonito, as an expert in the education and research of health, statistics, and open and distance e-learning, has received multiple grants and awards, the latest of which is the Technology Scholarship Grant for Southeast Asia (TSA Post Doc) of the Federal Ministry of Science Research and Economy of Austria within the Framework of the ASEAN-European Academic University Network (ASEA UNINET) in 2015. ASEA-UNINET also awarded her the Bernd Rode Award this 2016, an award granted to outstanding scientific and higher education collaborators between European and Southeast Asian universities.
Dr. Bagarinao is one of the most prolific researchers of UPOU. He has numerous publications in the area of ecology, and in environment and natural resources management. He was first awarded UP Scientist I effective 2013-2015, and this time his title was renewed for 2015-2017. He was UPOU's Gawad Chancellor for Outstanding Faculty in 2015. (Anna Cañas-Llamas)
