PHD Journey starts now

 This first semester AY 2021-22, I enrolled in a Phd program under Structural Engineering to help me pursue my career in the academe and hopefully research on topics about earthquake engineering application to our NSCP Code. I remember I started teaching offcially wayback 2017 in TUP , my undergraduate alma mater.

Early on in my application, I already have struggles because I need to publish paper in a reputable journal as part of my requirement to stay in this Phd program. Luckily, my paper titled "Learning Stiffness Method using SMATH, MS Excel and STAAD" were accepted in the ICEE Phil 2021". I am yet to verify if this is already sufficient for my program requirement. Below is a snapshot of my paper.

The paper above is one of those topics Im longing to share to community because some students are not aware of the theory behind the softwares they are using and hopefully this paper helps those who will read it.

Well, as an academician, we are required to publish papers related to our line of teaching. I have lots of ideas and possible topics to research on but the current status of my employment (Instructor 1 rank only) plus the ongoing pandemic are some inconveniences we need to overcome.

Anyway, about my Phd journey, its really a different experience to be a student again because teaching becomes more interesting as you learn more about your specialization from the reputable Phd faculty of a reputable university in the Philippines. The pressure of accomplishing their requirements made me more interested in the subject of civil engineering and push me to study further some concepts I havent tried on before. While I do study on it, I gained more confidence teaching my subjects further and hope to share it to the students.

My Approach In Hydrology

The third subject I am teaching every Saturday is Hydrology. I remember during interview that the dean wanted me to teach this since I have hands-on experience doing Flood Study.

So, I wanted my students to be able to fell the same fullfillment of doing a simple flood study especially since Valenzuela is always flooded as it lies near Manila Bay. Thus, while I asked the students to report on the subject, I injected my lecture with my experience and solve problems on board for the students to engage on the subject. Hydrology has very long problems unlike some subject, so I let the students form a group while solving the problem on board.

While doing the reporting per group, I assigned the students locations in Valenzuela to determine flooding scenarios and this require them going to PAGASA, purchasing the NAMRIA map, and picture taking on site to ask for maximum flood level the occupants experienced.

This sort of engaging the students with real life project motivates them to learn the subject and absorb it. Also, this made sure no dull moments in the 3 hour straight of lecture.

MY APPROACH ON CIVIL ENGINEERING RESEARCH METHOD

This is my first subject every Saturday. I last made my legitimate thesis when I was college though I always make report writing in the office and during Masters in Diliman. So I accepted the challenge to teach the subject for the first time. To date, we are on our 12th meeting. I always like to summarize everything I did on a certain task like this one. This gives me certain fullfillment and writing it like this help me improve on my next task assuming I teach this again. So far, I think my approach on this subject is pretty good. I asked the students to researched past thesis on the school library, deans office, and even available thesis in National Library of the Philippines.

I believe in saying.." You cant learn to swim unless you get yourself wet "..That is, if I approach the subject by referring to a textbook alone, they will not learn fully if they did not researched on an actual papers available locally and online. Also, the students will become aware of the difference in approach of thesis made inside their university and researches outside which are peer reviewed thoroughly to guarantee a place in the national library.

As they searched on National Library and prepare reports, I do parallel reporting in a chosen textbook to relate the topics to the researches they made.

Blogsite as Motivation for my Students

I intend to put up all my students researches into a blogsite for them to look upon in the future. I told them to build a reputation online and one of way of doing that is showcasing their researches online. But they have not build a blogsite like this before, so I will create it for them and hopefully will motivate them to publish a more ready-to-read-online reports for the subject.

By the way, since my subject that time was hydrology, I told them that the report they will make featuring their observations on Flood depth of some barangays in valenzuela will be searchable online thus helping other citizens to be aware of the flooding situations on that place. I told them this.."Imagine your profile on Linkedin being linked to that website where you showcase your skill of doing studies like Flood Study. That will definitely boost your reputation and hopefully give you a positive impression on your future employers"..I can see how the students became wide awake suddenly when I told them this.

Thinking about this, I am glad to live up to my earlier belief that a teacher is not always there to teach alone but to become a motivator for students to take action..

Below image shows how I caught students to understand the lecture by letting them solve a hydrology problem by group..This is a hydrograph routing topic which requires iterative solution..

A Promise Made Not to be Broken

I am officially a college instructor last November in my hometown. I remember back when Im taking up my masteral units in UP Diliman, I always make appeal letter to the dean to allow me another semester because I wanted to teach and share my knowledge to the less privileged students especially those who cant afford going to UP Diliman. And finally, when I graduated last June, I fullfilled that promise. I got hired in the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela and now Im teaching three subjects one of which is a major subject.

I know some will be surprised why I choose in this university because the pay in the government is less than in private universities. But I followed my instinct of fullfilling my promise to UP. That I will teach to the less privilege and hopefully inspire them appreciate more civil engineering. I may not have the perfect lecture, the step by step procedure perfect for understanding the subject, but I have the passion to interrelate a subject to different subjects for better appreciation of the students.

Remember, a teacher is not supposed only to teach but to facilitate learning and to move the students to learn also on their own. Thats how I learned all my life. I didnt wait for my teachers to teach me step by step or spoonfed us. I searched in the library by myself with the motivation I got from my teachers. Thats how UP trained us also.

Anyway, my last post was about my graduation and today its my fulfillment of my promise prior to my graduation.

I Passed The Exam, Thank you Lord

All my review efforts were paid off after passing the exam last May. I remember of writing about my journey for the exam review. I will upload some of my graduation pictures later. Imagine, It took me 7 years before graduating in the Masters program. Its even longer than my undergraduate degree in TUP which I took in 5 years only. Biggest factor of this long schooling period is my full time job. Its really difficult working in a local company while pursuing a Masters degree in the most prestigious university in the Philippines. But its all worth it.

Although it took me that long, I am able to apply all my learnings in my seven year career. I understand easily the concepts of what Im doing as a civil and structural engineer.

Thanks to the very helpful library in Engineering for keeping me company.

On Elon Musk, Matrix Theory and Matrix the Movie

Just earlier, I read this news about Elon Musk saying we are living in a simulation. I can partly believe his hypothesis. I have delve into this topic a bit in my blog about Matrix. It just simply suggest that we are living inside a bigger Matrix. I fear of this conclusion of course and I dont like to believe in this but for the sake of being a thinking man, I entertain the idea without affecting my sanity.

Everything happening now is computer related. Every datas we showed to the world event the word I typed can be theoretically converted into a set of matrix leading to a bigger set of matrix which can guess my personality. Imagine that! I fear of that yet its amazing how some code in the apps on android can more or less depicts what you are thinking.

So..there is a substance on that news. Since I love the matrix subject during my postgraduate course.I am able to find the analogy of this with the way things are happening in our world. I may be alone on this kind of thinking, but thats how I am able to understand the concept of the subject. Thats how we are taught to learn a subject. It is by finding connection between the subject and other subject..and its connection I find is in the real world. After all, Matrix is a Mathematical term that has been incorporated in the programming world. Thats how powerful it is.

Id like to analyse the concept of Matrix and explain how I find its analogy in the real world in an outline like manner. But this endeavour is quite lengthy yet fulfilling..In short I am proposing a mathematical explanation of whats happening in the physical world... Amazing! #YOLO #justsaying