A new Filipino SEARCA graduate alumnus was recognized with a Best Paper Award at the 13th Annual Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Philippine Society of Soil Science and Technology (PSSST), Inc. held at Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines on 27-28 May 2010. Dr. Artemio A. Martin, Jr., Associate Professor, College of Agriculture, Isabela State University (ISU), Echague, Isabela, Philippines, won the award for his paper titled, “Characterization and Suitability Evaluation of Major Agricultural Soils Towards Rational Land Area Allocation for Biofuel Feedstocks Production in Cagayan Valley, Philippines.” The conference theme was “Soil and Water Management Approaches for Climate Change Mitigation.”

Dr. Martin completed in April 2010 his Straight PhD program in soil science at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) under a SEARCA scholarship. He also received an Academic Achievement Award from UPLB for being among the top five PhD graduates with the highest academic average.

In January to April 2009, he was awarded a travel grant to the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada, under the auspices of Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education and Natural Resources or the University Consortium (UC). Launched by SEARCA in 1989, the UC aims to promote the sharing of academic expertise and resources among the Southeast Asian higher education institutions.

As associate professor, Dr. Martin is involved in various research and development activities of his university. His advocacy for sustainable development and management of land resources has led him to conduct the study which gained for him the Best Paper Award. He hopes that the findings will serve as valuable inputs for local and national planners in implementing policies and decision-making in land allocation. Foremost, he said, is to ensure food security and at the same time allow Cagayan Valley (a food producing region in Northern Philippines) to locally produce alternative energy to conform with the Philippine government’s mandate of promoting biofuels production.