Message from Engr. Rei Gene Villarosa, USTEAA-USA Scholar 2014-2019
Date: January 23, 2023
Dear Ma’am Cita,
A prosperous new year to you and the whole USTEAA (USA) family. I hope you’ve spent a good time with family and friends during the holidays.
Thank you for always including me po in the updates through email. I am still in Tokyo, Japan working in RISE Structural Design, Inc. under the Plant and Piping Design Department. One of the big projects assigned to me in the company last year was one equipment structure for a large LNG project in Qatar. Since it was an english project in nature, the company gave me direct obligation for the said project in terms of dealing with the client. Also recently, I was chosen by the company to give a speech/talk (about the different structural design and analysis that the company has been doing specifically on seismic analysis) during the Natural Disasters Expo-Asia last December in Singapore. Although there’s not much of an achievement, I just thought of sending an update after seeing your recent email.
I am and will always be forever grateful to the whole USTEAA (USA) family. I would not be where I am right now had it not been for your generous help when I was still in the university.
Thank you very much!
May God bless you in all your endeavors.
Best regards,
Rei Gene Villarosa
B.S. Civil Engineering, Batch 2019
Message from Engr. Aldous Respicio, USTEAA-USA Scholar 2009-2014
Date: Jan 21, 2023
Greetings!
First of all, I wish the USTEAA-USA family a Happy New Year and I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebration.
As a civil engineer, there is always that joy whenever you see your project comes to reality, most especially if you know that it can help our fellow Filipinos to improve the quality of their lives.
I am happy to share with you that the Mindanao-3 Binary Power Plant in Kidapawan City, Cotabato was inaugurated and commissioned last year. This is the first power plant project to be completed in my five year (and counting) career here in my company. I was involved from its conceptualization, its design phase (area development, piping layout, pipe supports) and up to the evaluation of documents during its construction phase. But behind this project are the consolidated efforts of several people who went extra mile to complete the project in the midst of a pandemic. This is the result of the collaboration of different people from different fields of expertise who were driven by a common goal of providing clean and renewable energy.
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With this success, I am looking forward to other power plant projects that I am involved in, which are expected to be completed few years from now. I am preparing myself for more frequent site inspections and visits especially now that travel restrictions due to the pandemic are easing already.
Big gatherings are now also allowed, following minimum health protocols, so for the first time in almost three years I was able to reunite with some of my colleagues during our company's Havana Nights Christmas party on Nov 29, 2022.
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We will see each other more often as we will start, this February, an experimental hybrid work setup which will require us to report to office twice a month (or as required) and work at home for the rest of it. I am thankful to be part of a company that is very much concerned to the health and safety of its employees as we are still not being required to report to office full time.
Once again, I would like to thank the USTEAA-USA organization for believing in me from the time you chose me to be one of your scholars. Without you, I would not reach this milestone in my career and the opportunity to make a difference.
Keep safe and more powers!
Regards,
Aldous Regin M. Respicio
BS Civil Engineering, Batch 2014
UST Faculty of Engineering
