Former PSU Teacher's Invention Wins in String of Int'l Awards

 Former PSU Teacher's Invention Wins in String of Int'l Awards

A former teacher of Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus (PSU-BC) has won a string of international awards for her invention of a new motorcycle engine bio-lubricant based on the sap of the pili nut.

Elmina Quinto Paras is now a teacher at Manuel Roxas Senior High School is Manila, but she used to be a former faculty member of the Science and Math Department of PSU-BC. She used to teach chemistry there to high school, college, and postgraduate students. She is the daughter of Jaime C. Quinto Sr., a retired dormitory manager of PSU-Bayambang, and Prof. Elsa Ferrer Quinto, herself a former PSU professor, also now retired. (A highlight of Prof. Elsa Quinto's work was a thesis compiling local folk songs.) Paras is commonly known by her nickname, "Mariel," at home. She grew up in Zone IV from 1977 to 1989 and in Zone III thereafter.

Her winning entry is entitled "A Novel Bio-Lubricant for Motorcycle Engine from Canarium Luzonicum Sap (Pili Nut Sap)," and juries from different parts of the world have recognized her invention. Her entry has been presented in Malaysia; India; Toronto, Canada; Turkey; Zagreb, Croatia; and Moscow, Russia.

In an online interview, Paras -- a mother of four -- revealed that she has always been passionate about science since childhood. "I chose chemistry because it’s related to my (college) major which is General Science, with Chemistry as my minor," she explained. "In my teaching profession, on the other hand, since there were few graduates of chemistry during my time, I had been mostly tasked to teach inorganic and organic chemistry, biochemistry, and environmental chemistry," she said further. Aside from PSU-BC, she also taught in PSU Infanta and Philippine Normal University (part-time). When she got married, she followed her husband in Manila and that's where she continued her teaching career.

"The research/invention I made started when my husband wanted to venture into making paper briquettes as an alternative fuel. I tried to help him by discovering an ignitor. That’s the time I was able to get to know the sap through our staff. But we did not prosper in making briquettes in Manila for we still didn’t have enough area for that and because of our busy schedule. And since we needed to represent the school abroad, I thought of using it in other different products."

She said she plans to submit her invention in other competitions abroad. A member of Manila Young Inventors Association (2017-present) and Toronto International Society of Innovation and Advanced Skills (2019-present), Paras said her award-winning work is now in the process of getting a patent and is being explored for possible commercial application.

This and other research work, by the way, have been published in scientific journals in China and Canada.

In humility, Paras tipped us off that she's not the only internationally recognized teacher from PSU-BC. She mentioned the following former mentors and colleagues as past recipients as well: Dr. Raquel Carungay Pambid, who is the one who convinced her to take up chemistry for there were so few takers back then; Dr. Wilma Muena de Vera; Dr. Veronica Cancino Austria; and Dr. Armando Manzano. She said that, apart from the science field, there's even an internationally recognized poet too teaching in the same department: Caroline Nazareno-Gabis.

She and the rest of her fellow PSU educators are proof that the sprawling historic campus in Bayambang remains a fount of innovation and excellence as it has always been.