UP students chosen as US global environment scholars

MANILA, Philippines - University of the Philippines-Manila medical student Ramon Lorenzo Luis Guinto and University of the Philippines-Diliman Geology major John Dale Dianala were selected, along with 18 other undergraduate students from the Philippines, Burma, Malaysia, and Thailand, by the US Department of State to attend the five-week Study of the US Institute (SUSI) for Student Leaders on Global Environmental Issues recently.

Funded by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, SUSI’s objective is to develop young leaders with the ability to build and maintain resilient communities in light of global environmental challenges.

Guinto, a 6th year medical student at the UP College of Medicine, was last year’s chairman of the UP Manila University Student Council. He is the founder of UP One Earth, a student organization in UP Manila working on environment and health issues.

In 2007, he was named Bayer Young Environmental Envoy in Leverkusen, Germany.

Dianala, a 4th year geology student, is currently the president of the UP Geological Society and a member of Iskolar Cleans Up (ICU). In March 2010, he received the Geology Merit Award for excellence in academics and leadership from the Iuvenis Orbis Geological Fraternity Inc. and the National Institute of Geological Sciences.

The five-week course includes field visits to sites such as the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii State Capitol, Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center of the US Department of Agriculture, and Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve in Hawaii, and the US Environmental Protection Agency, US Congress Committee on Environment and Public Works, Greenpeace USA, Cato Institute, and the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington, DC. The participants also interacted with local, national, and global environmental leaders from government, business, science and civic sectors.