The Institute of Mathematics of University of the Philippines-Diliman has announced the launch of the Dr. Concesa Milan-Baduel Professorial Chair in Mathematics, an award given to distinguished researchers and educators in mathematics.
The professorial chair is handed out annually for seven years, from the year 2021 to 2027, through the UP Diliman Mathematics Foundation Inc. The donors for this award are the seven children of Dr. Concesa Milan-Baduel and Atty. Mirardo Baduel.
The launching and awarding of the Dr. Concesa Milan-Baduel Professorial Chair in Mathematics for the year 2021 is timed with the 100th anniversary of the UP Math Club. One of the donors, Vincent Baduel, served as its president in 1971, exactly 50 years ago when the club was celebrating its golden anniversary.
Dr. Concesa Milan-Baduel (1920-2000) is a towering figure in the field of education in the Philippines. She started as an elementary school teacher in Cebu City after being one of the youngest graduates of the Cebu Normal School (now the Cebu Normal University). She obtained her master’s degree from the University of San Carlos in Cebu City and her doctorate from the University of Santo Tomas (graduated meritissimus).
Dr. Baduel was a faculty member of the University of the Visayas in Cebu City and she eventually became its vice president from 1965 to 1973. In 1973, she joined the Department of Education and became the assistant director of the Bureau of Higher Education.
At the same time, she held two other jobs as a faculty member of the Manuel L. Quezon University in Manila and of the Angeles University Foundation (AUF) in Angeles City. She became the executive vice president of AUF where she was responsible for the establishment of its College of Medicine, from curriculum development to faculty recruitment.
In 1987, together with other educators, she founded Greenville College in Pasig, Metro Manila where she became its founding President. She served in that position until she passed away in 2000.
Dr. Baduel and her husband worked together to send their seven children to study in UP. It was not easy for a family in Cebu City to send a child to a school in Quezon City, let alone to send seven. Financing the education of seven children with only their salaries to rely on was no mean feat. Dr. Baduel had to work on multiple jobs to make this possible.
In the end, all their children obtained baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate degrees: one in law, two in medicine, one in dental medicine, one in speech and drama, one in engineering and one in arts education.
Now, the Baduel siblings — Joseph Milan Baduel, Arachelle Baduel Jose, Suzette Baduel Siozon, Felicidad Baduel Balcos, Vincent Milan Baduel, Winnifer Milan Baduel, and Zenaida Milan Baduel — have generously provided for this seven-year professorial chair in honor of their parents.
Engineer Vincent Baduel said, “Through this professorial chair project, my siblings and I can honor and thank my mother, together with my father, for her vision and her sacrifice for her children. The donation will also be a token of our gratitude to the University of the Philippines for the gift of a wonderful, well-rounded, and compassionate education. The choice of a professorial chair in mathematics is our modest way of contributing to science and technology in the Philippines, with mathematics being considered as the foundation of science and technology.”
First awardee
The first recipient of the Dr. Concesa Milan-Baduel Professorial Chair in Mathematics is associate professor Aurelio A. De Los Reyes V.
Dr. de los Reyes obtained his BS and MS Mathematics degrees from UP Baguio, and his doctorate in mathematics from the Karl-Franzens Universitat in Graz, Austria.
His teaching career started in UP Baguio, then in 2010 he joined the UP Diliman Institute of Mathematics as an assistant professor. He has taught a wide array of mathematics courses including analysis, differential equations, biomathematics, optimal control, and their applications. He has successfully advised 9 undergraduate students, 8 masteral students, and 2 Phd students with their theses.
De Los Reyes is one of the most prolific researchers in the modeling and applications academic group and in the Institute. He is involved in many projects with colleagues in the academe and industry, here and abroad, including in South Korea, Switzerland, and the USA.
He is an active a member of local and international societies such as the Society for Mathematical Biology and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He is frequently invited to speak at research gatherings and has successfully organized the same. He pioneered the International Workshop on Mathematical Biology (IWOMB) in 2018, which has since developed into an annual undertaking held in different parts of the country.
De Los Reyes studies a gamut of math-biological and optimization topics which are potential contributions to the health industry, to environmental and related disciplines, and to policy-making bodies. His current researches focus on modeling biological systems, applications of optimal control theory, and chemical reaction network theory.
Some biological modeling efforts include understanding cardiovascular-respiratory dynamics, designing intervention measures to mitigate infectious diseases such as TB/HIV, therapeutic strategies in cancer treatment, and recently, the local dynamics of Covid-19. At present, he is set to spend a year with the Biomedical Mathematics Group (BIMAG) of the Institute for Basic Sciences in Daejeon, South Korea.
