Saint Louis University (SLU) spearheaded a landmark initiative by hosting the 3-Day Capacity-Building Program titled e-Participation 2.1: Harnessing Natural Language Processing for Community Participation at the Devesse Building in the Maryheights campus from March 7 to 9, 2024. In partnership with Bicol University and National University, the collaborative endeavor aimed to empower IT and CS students and faculty by exploring Natural Language Processing (NLP) for community engagement.
The National University, led by Dr. Mideth Abisado, was represented by distinguished individuals, including Dir. Ramon Rodriguez, DPO Director; Dir. Alexa Ray Fernando, Research and Development Director; Ms. Maricon Alvarez, FGD Facilitator; Mr. Christian Satuna, FGD Co-Facilitator; Mr. Simon Daquis, Project Assistant; Mr. Jay Rhald Padilla and Mr. Myron Darrel Montefalcon, both Researchers. They were welcomed by the School of Accountancy, Management, Computing, and Information Studies (SAMCIS) Officer-in-Charge (OIC), Ms. Glory De La Peña; University Research and Innovation Center’s (UNRIC) Innovation and Technology Transfer Officer, Mr. Andrew Ducas; and IT and CS-CA faculty and students.
The program commenced with welcome remarks from Mr. Andrew Ducas, who emphasized research collaborations. Ms. Glory De La Peña shared that artificial intelligence has been around for decades and reminded the IT and CS students of the responsibilities attached to the powerful tools brought by the advancement of technology. Dir. Ramon Rodriguez started the workshop by introducing machine learning and natural language processing, followed by exploratory data analysis and data cleaning/ text pre-processing. The National University team had the privilege to meet one of the pioneers in Philippine Natural Language Processing, Mr. Dalos Miguel, a distinguished faculty member of CIS.
On the second day, Dir. Ramon Rodriguez, Dir. Alexa Ray Fernando and Mr. Simon Daquis paid a courtesy call to SLU President Rev. Fr. Gilbert B. Sales, CICM, Ph.D., to express their heartfelt gratitude for the partnership and collaboration. Dr. Richel Lamadrid, UNRIC Director; Dr. Josephine Dela Cruz, CS-CA Department Head; and Ms. Kasima Rose Mendoza, IT Department Head, gave them a comprehensive tour of SLU’s main campus where they met the School of Engineering and Architecture’s Dean Engr. Jeffrey Des B. Binwag and Associate Dean Engr. Caroline B. Moncada.
The program’s final day featured student presentations, where participants showcased their AI-NLP research ideas developed during the workshop. Concurrently, Dir. Alexa Ray Fernando, Ms. Maricon Alvarez, and Mr. Christian Satuna were assisted by the Banangan Extension Coordinator, Ms. Maria Araceli Tambol, and the IT and CS-CA Department heads to meet with the 17 representatives from the Barangay Banangan Women Association for a Focus Group Discussion on Disaster Risk Reduction Management and Climate Change Adaptation. The session aimed to gather insights and collaboratively explore strategies for addressing disaster risks and climate change impacts using technology-driven solutions.
The Capacity-Building Program exemplified the power of collaboration and innovation in addressing complex societal issues. The program underscored the importance of interdisciplinary approaches and technology-driven solutions by bringing together academia, industry, and local communities. The insights gained and partnerships formed during the program will continue to drive positive change and promote sustainable community development. (Kasima Rose Mendoza, Department of Information and Communications Technology, SAMCIS)
