Meet the Speakers
Filipino physicists from different fields will be invited as main speakers to talk about medical physics, plasma physics, geoscience, and more.
Dr. Jacqueline Romero
Quantum Physics
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Associate Professor School of Mathematics and Physics Faculty of Science
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University of Queensland
Dr. Ernest Macalalad
Atmospheric Physics
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Assistant Professor of Department of Physics
Mapúa University
Dr. Alvie Asuncion-Astronomo
Nuclear Physics
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Associate Scientist
Department of Science and Technology - The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute
Dr. Maricor
Soriano
Computational Physics
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Professor
National Institute of Physics,
University of the Philippines Diliman
Dr. Jacqueline Romero
Quantum Physics
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Associate Professor School of Mathematics and Physics Faculty of Science
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University of Queensland
Dr Jacqui Romero is an expert in experimental quantum information. Her research is focused on using higher-dimensional systems for exploring curious quantum physics phenomena and developing future quantum technologies. She is the group leader of the research team Qudits@UQ, there's more information on her group's webpage.
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Jacqui was born in Manila, Philippines. Hearing her high school physics teacher complain about quantum physics, she becamse curious and googled "quantum physics"—she has been hooked ever since. She holds BS Applied Physics magna cum laude and MS Physics degrees from the University of the Philippines. She finished her PhD at the University of Glasgow (in sunny Scotland!) where she was a researcher for seven years. In 2015, she moved to Brisbane to join the Quantum Technology group at the University of Queensland. In 2016 she took up an ARC DECRA fellowship with the same group. In 2019, she took up a Westpac Research Fellowship and formed her own team, Qudits@UQ. Jacqui is recognised for moving the shape of photons to mainstream quantum information. She has received several prestigious national and international awards which include: a L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women In Science award in 2017 (one of four in Australia), the Ruby Payne-Scott Medal of the Australian Institute of Physics for excellence in early-career research in 2018, and a L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women In Science International Rising Talent Award in 2019 (one of fifteen awards globally).
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She is currently a Reader and Westpac Research Fellow. She is also a chief investigator at the Centre of Excellence For Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS).
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Outside work, she is a busy mum to three lovely boys, and an occasional painter.
Dr. Ernest P. Macalalad graduated with a degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Space Science at the Graduate Institute of Space Science of National Central University in Taiwan where he specialized in global navigation satellite systems and ionospheric modeling. He also earned his degrees of Bachelor of Science in Physics with and Master of Science in Physics from De La Salle University in Manila.
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Dr. Macalalad is currently a professor of the Department of Physics at the Mapúa University in Manila. He has experience teaching university physics and some advanced courses physics such as classical mechanics, electromagnetic theory, and computational physics. Aside from his teaching duties, he currently the faculty-in-charge of BS Physics program. Prior to his work at Mapua, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research in National Central University from 2014 to 2015.
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He also heads the Space Environment and Atmospheric Research group of his department where they use various satellite and ground-based systems for space and atmospheric observations. Using global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), they study the effects of solar and geomagnetic activities in the ionosphere for communications and navigation applications, and measure and monitor atmospheric water vapor.
Dr. Ernest Macalalad
Atmospheric Physics
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Assistant Professor of Department of Physics
Mapúa University
Dr. Alvie Asuncion-Astronomo
Nuclear Physics
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Associate Scientist
Department of Science and Technology - The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute
Dr. Alvie A. Astronomo is a Career Scientist of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), detailed at the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI). She is the former head of the PNRI Nuclear Reactor Operations Section. Her current research activities focus on characterization of neutron fields and nuclear reactor core configurations. She is the lead person implementing the project to re-establish the historical Philippine Research Reactor-1 (PRR-1) as a Subcritical Assembly for Training, Education, and Research (SATER). She is also the lead developer of a novel neutron spectrometry system that is used to characterize neutron fields in medical accelerators. She participated in the Nuclear Energy Program Inter-Agency Committee (NEP-IAC), which drafted the national position for a nuclear power program in the Philippines. Dr. Astronomo obtained her Ph.D. Physics degree from Ateneo De Manila University and has extensive training in reactor physics and engineering, nuclear safety, security, and safeguards from international nuclear institutions.
Dr. Maricor Soriano is a professor of physics at the University of the Philippines who specializes in developing hardware and software tools for video and image processing. Her work spans multidisciplinary domains such as coral reef imaging (for which she won the PCIEERD R&D prize in 2018), cultural heritage conservation, video analysis of sports, and medical imaging. She was NRCP Outstanding Young Scientist in 2006, Third World Academy of Science Physics Prize recipient in 2009, and The Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service (TOWNS) awardee in Applied Physics in 2013
Dr. Maricor
Soriano
Computational Physics
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Professor
National Institute of Physics,
University of the Philippines Diliman
