8 Filipinos @ WACBE Congress for Biomedical Engineering

Thank You to all the people who helped us and guided us to achieve this.

Thank You Ma'am Noh, Ma'am Cat, Sir Greg at Sir Nat...Thank You Ma'am Lori

The eight Filipinos at the Congress are: Sir greg, Ma'am Lori (Sir Greg's Wife), Lester, Chris, Jimson, Andy, Arlan and me.

At the welcoming event, we were overwhelmed with international pica-pica food, drinks and the pretty Thai girl that the ECE undergrads seem to adore. We tried to mingle, note the word try, but we were busy eating and we felt shy against the great old minds before us.

I tried to look for other Filipinos in the event, but there seem to be no other Filipinos but us.

During the first day, we put our posters on their proper boards and attended talks in various fields. It was hard to cover all the talks because there were four simultaneous talks and in an attempt to cover all, the undergrads decided divide themselves to different presentations.

During the breaks, we tried to stay by our poster and share our research with them, but very few really want to take time, look and read. They just breeze thru the posters and take pictures for their future reference.

In all three days that we spent there, that was what we did except for some occasional trips around Thailand. ( We were in Thailand anyway why not squeeze in some sight seeing)

What I learned about other countries during the Congress:

1. Other countries are really advanced in developing new technologies in the biomedical field.

a. A portable ECG machine was made. I felt this could be a good addition to the
Biomedical Database that the Ateneo ECCE Department is developing.
b. Aeronautical Science for biomedical applications is what other countries are trying to
develop. They enhance exercise equipment for astronauts so that weightlessness side-
effects would be less of a problem.

c. Others develop a mind reader kind of machine for gaming. Imagine thinking your next move for a game and
your character already does it for you.

In my opinion this will make a lot of gamers fat however, if maybe it could be interfaced with Wii then it will be
better, making the gamers move.
d. They also think of trying to navigate mice using a remote control. Imagine an RC car but instead of a car you
are navigating a mouse.
e. Yet other biomedical engineers want to concentrate on sports health, creating means for preventing sports
injuries. Knee-pads, knee and ankle supports may already be a thing of the past if knee operations for added
body support be introduced.

There are a lot more interesting advancements and they are sharing their knowledge to encourage more people to join their endeavor.

2. I learned that Filipinos are way better in communicating in English than other countries. It was hard listening to technical papers if half the time you were struggling to understand what they were saying. And sometimes, the technical jargons add to the difficulty of understanding the research.

3. Lastly, sometimes it both adds and lessens your self-esteem walking around in a place where all the other participants are doing their MS and PhD Degrees.

As an overall experience, I will grade this experience A++ being with intellectual minds makes you wonder what the future may hold for humanity. It also makes you wonder, where do you want to place the Filipinos in that future. And maybe, if i get the right mind and get enough courage, I would want to pursue a Biomedical Engineering focusing on Bio-mechanics.

**NOTE: A re-post from my multiply site