Wilfredo Jose

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WILFREDO I. JOSE, PhD (DocWillyJoe) is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the College of Engineering, University of the Philippines where he teaches several graduate and undergraduate courses. Prof. Jose obtained his BS Chemical Engineering at the Mapua Institute of Technology in 1969, MS Chemical Engineering from the University of the Philippines in 1976, and M. Phil. and PhD from Rutgers University in 1983 and 1984, respectively. He placed first in the Chemical Engineering Board Examination in 1969 and was conferred the Outstanding Chemical Engineer of the Year Award in 2007 by the Professional Regulations Commission.

Courses handled

ChE 101 Introduction to Chemical Engineering
ChE 171 Introduction to Biochemical Engineering
ChE 198 Special Problems: Health and Wellness Engineering (This is a new area of study.)
ChE 266 Waste Utilization (For revision to Waste Engineering)
ChE 202 Biotechnology for Engineers (This course is available to non-engineers as an elective)
ChE 233 Chemical Bioreactor Design
ChE 292 Biochemical Engineering
ChE 297 Special Topics: Design Engineering Principles and Practice (A new course)
ChE 298 Special Problems: Creativity and Innovation in Engineering Design (A new course)
ChE 298 Special Problems: Design for Environment and Sustainability (A new course)
EnE 303 Biological Processes in Environmental Engineering
Special Courses Offered Through the National Engineering Center
Seminar/Workshop on Innovation and Creativity for Industry Professionals
Seminar/Workshop on Innovation and Creativity for Educators
Seminar/Workshop on Innovation and Creativity for Researchers

Awards and Recognitions

Achievement Award in Engineering, National Research Council of the Philippines, 1990.
Outstanding Young Scientist in Engineering, National Academy of Science and Technology, 1987
G. Y. Zara Award in Applied Science (Biochemical Engineering), conferred by the Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science, 1991.
Outstanding Researcher of the University of the Philippines System for 1986-87.
Outstanding Engineering Researcher, conferred by the U. P. Engineering Research and Development Foundation, Inc., July 1992
Holder, UPERDFI (University of the Philippines Engineering Research and Development Foundation, Inc.) Professorial Chair in Waste Utilization, 1978 to 1990
Holder, C. A. Ortigas Professorial Chair in Chemical Engineering, 1991 to 1999
Holder, Cerlito San Juan and Family Professorial Chair in Engineering, 2000-2009
Holder, Sy Ling Chat Professorial Chair, 2010
Winner, 1991 National Science and Technology Week Search for Outstanding Research Award (Environment Category), Department of Science and Technology, July 12, 1991
Winner, Best Poster Paper Competition, 2nd Asia Pacific Biotechnology Congress, Los Baños, Laguna, May 22-24, 1991
2nd Prize, Regional Cluster Competition of the 7th Regional and National S&T Fora Competitions in Industry and Energy, February 2008
2nd Prize, Scientific Poster Presentation, Scientific Poster Exhibition, 74th NRCP Meeting, Manila Hotel, March 8, 2007
Outstanding Silver Jubilarian Award in Academe, MIT ChE-Chem Alumni Association, Inc. 21st Alumni Homecoming and Convention, Nov. 26, 1994

An Engineer, But a Teacher First

by DocWillyJoe

I love being a teacher because teaching is my passion and it is exciting. The reason comes not only from the why, but also from the how, the what, and the whom of teaching. I was an accidental teacher. Having taken chemical engineering, I was preparing for employment in industry. Unfortunately, my medical condition (I was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect) did not allow for such plans. My first job was as a confidential technical assistant to the Chief of the Research and Development Center of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in 1970. I worked on explosives and pyrotechnics. Operating with inadequate facilities and limited resources, I was able to complete my research projects by improvisation and by using practical methods. I noticed I was being creative and innovative. I felt an urge to impart such trait to others. (Isn’t that what teachers do?) I applied for a NSDB (National Science Development Board, now DOST) scholarship and was accepted. I enrolled at the University of the Philippines and pursued the masters course in chemical engineering. I was still studying when an instructor’s position became available at the UP Department of Chemical Engineering. The duties consisted of teaching, research, and extension work. The research part caught my interest. I applied and was chosen from among several applicants. I had to adjust to my new job and it was not long before that I liked everything that I did. I especially appreciated that the results of my research could be incorporated in my lectures and applied to my extension work and consultation. The variety of activities kept me busy and no dull moments came. Teaching was becoming a passion. I also kept honing my creativity. Imparting this trait to others was still at the back of my mind.
In 1980, I was sent to the US as a scholar to pursue a doctoral degree in chemical and biochemical engineering. The added knowledge transformed me to become more adept at technologies. Upon returning, I conducted researches that encompassed chemical engineering, biotechnology, environment, and energy. I received many awards and my desire to impart creativity to others became more fervent.
In 1988, I received a report from the National Research Council in the US that described the frontiers and the “paradigm” of chemical engineering. A paradigm refers to a model, theory, map, perception, etc. At about the same time I attended a seminar on “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. Covey used paradigms as examples. I became curious about the term “paradigm” and thought about its application to my teaching and other related activities. I started a personal research project based on such curiosity. Initially, I encountered difficulties because the subject matter is outside of my expertise, but I persisted. About ten years passed before a desirable result came out. It was about formulating teaching strategies. Developing teaching innovations and introducing new courses came next. Being an engineer, I applied the technique to designing new processes and devices. Finding the framework and basis of the technique took several more years. I called the project “Probing Paradigms for Generating Ideas.” Probing paradigms means we have to study, analyze, and explore them thoroughly. We can then find insights, perspectives, points of view, etc., which lead to many ideas. We systematically organize and map the ideas in our mind. We connect and relate these ideas to come up with new ideas. Our brain is a powerful neural network computer that is capable of performing such processing. With this technique, I am able to elucidate the how, the what, and the whom of my teaching activities.
The How. In developing my technique on probing paradigms, I concentrated my effort in formulating teaching strategies and developing innovations. This was also a way of preventing boredom to pervade my work. Teaching the first course in chemical engineering offers some challenges because of the transition of students from general education to engineering orientation. Scrutinizing and probing the paradigm of chemical engineering took care of this. Introducing innovations adds variety to the course and enhances the interests of students. I extended the techniques to graduate classes where students come from different disciplines; I was able to teach chemical engineering courses to non-chemical engineering students. In short, I was teaching differently and more effectively.
The What. Chemical engineering, because of the emphasis and inclusion of many chemistry subjects, becomes quite a fundamental field of study with diverse ideas and applications. I performed researches that concerned biotechnology (design of bioreactors and fermentation systems), the environment (design of waste and wastewater treatment systems), and energy engineering (design of energy systems). I integrated the results of my researches to my graduate and undergraduate subjects. With the technique I was working on, I was able to introduce new courses such as Health and Wellness Engineering and Waste Engineering. More importantly I am now able to teach courses on how to become creative and innovative, a desire I had four decades ago.
The Whom. I teach undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students. Each level requires a particular type of attention and detail. But in some cases, I offer subjects where the three groups are mixed and good interaction pervades. My extension work led me teach the other types of “students”. I conduct continuing education courses for engineering instructors, engineers, and other professionals. I give lectures on the environment to the LGU’s. As a consultant to some companies, I “teach” managers and executives.
My experiences have provided me the opportunity to teach various types of people and I like it. On October 17, 2010, I delivered a paper, “Developing a Continuing Education Seminar for Engineering Educators” at the 12th World Conference on Continuing Engineering Education held in Singapore. Come to think of it, I taught a group of international teachers. Isn’t that awesome? Yes, I really love being a teacher!

Health and Wellness Engineering

Abstract
Professionally, health and wellness is usually the concern of health and medical practitioners. The analogy and similarity between biological and engineering systems are striking that engineers become interested in studying potential applications. The human body is more complicated than many engineering systems, and applying engineering principles to the human body can logically improve its performance. In this paper, five major principles (mass balance, energy balance, momentum balance, charge balance, and moment balance) are applied to the human body. About 2 dozen auxiliary principles (fundamentals usually studied in physics and chemistry) supplement the major principles. Examples of some practical applications are discussed. Direct applications of some principles may not be simple and have some limitations. Genetic makeup, environmental factors, and lifestyle practices largely affect the performance of the human body. A more realistic alternative is to apply the principle of preventive maintenance of engineering systems to the human body. This will result in a well functioning and healthy body.

From Jose, W. I., "The Application of Engineering Principles to Health and Wellness", Paper presented at the The 10th Science Council of Asia Conference, Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Manila, June 15, 2010

Article reprinted from Ingenium 2007, The UP Alumni Engineers' Digest"

I am a College of Eng’g alumnus because I finished my MS from the U.P.Ch.E. Department. I obtained my BSChE degree from another school. It must be a good school; otherwise Dr. Rey Vea would not want to be President of that school. During my undergraduate years, I spent my leisure hours solving chemical engineering and mathematics problems. During the exams it always turned out that I have already solved at least one or two problems in almost all the exams. I consider that luck, which was with me in the Board Exams (where I got first place), and in the M.S. and Ph.D. courses. I compiled the solutions of the problems I solved and made a reviewer for my own use. A friend borrowed it and unknown to me, he photocopied it and other people used it. Years later, I learned that this reviewer was being used in other schools. Up to now, some people thank me for having used the unauthorized reviewer and passed the board exam. Hey, where’s my royalty! (joke) But I did not want to be known as an author of a reviewer, so I started writing a book. However it took me so long to publish it. Watch out for the first book in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, “Introductory Concepts in Chemical Engineering”, to be published by Alex Sy of Alexan. It contains an easier teaching strategy. The next will be “Biotechnology for Engineers”, which features a new teaching strategy and original researches. I like to tell jokes but they are corny. My adviser in the US did not like them and called them “Willy Joke”. Watch out for my third book, “Willy Jokes by Willy Joe”. (No joke, really.)

They say I do many researches and I really loved to do researches. However, some circumstances prevented me to pursue the work as hard as I should. Instead, I turned my attention more and more to social science aspect particularly on the concept of paradigms. I attended the seminar by Stephen Covey on invitation by Proctor and Gamble. At about the same time, I received a monograph describing the frontiers of chemical engineering. In these two instances, paradigms were described. I became interested in the concept and I started probing the paradigm of chemical engineering. It was very intuitive. I gradually developed a technique of promoting creativity and innovation. I first turned my attention to formulating teaching strategies and innovations and came out with several methods. I have probed the paradigms of biotechnology and biochemical engineering, environmental engineering, energy engineering, and engineering design. One of the results of probing paradigms is the truth about chemical engineering. Some people comment that chemical engineering is a dying profession, gauging from the falling enrollment in other schools. But that is not the case in other countries. The problem in the Philippines is that the state of our technology cannot offer applications for this profession. Probing its paradigm will tell us that all the basic principles in science and engineering is provided by chemical engineering that we can consider a good basic background for applied science and engineering disciplines.

Patents and Paradigms

by DocWillyJoe
Article reprinted from "Ingenium 2008, The UP Alumni Engineers' Digest"
Our salary as a teacher is so low, that we have to work extra such as being a consultant in order to support a family. Balancing work as a teacher and a consultant is difficult. Both jobs are demanding. In the end, we run the risk of becoming a bad teacher and an incompetent consultant.

To earn extra money, I joined a research contest, where it was possible to get as much as PhP400,000 in prize money. It was not easy as preparation required a lot of time and effort. I was able to win PhP100,000 but was not satisfied with the judging; it was more like a lottery. After the hard work, it became frustrating.

I think the best way for an engineering faculty to earn money for the rest of his/her life is to develop inventions, patent them, and collect royalties. The fuel saving diesel additive derived from waste materials developed by a group of students and teachers from the chemical engineering department is about to be commercialized. The wastewater treatment system I developed is already being commercialized. Soon, I will be able to derive crude oil from garbage. Patents for these processes are being applied for. Some inventors insist on commercializing the invention themselves but only very few succeed. It is best to leave the commercialization to the experts and investors.

Invention and patents have a direct effect on the development of a country. The more patents a country has, the more developed the country is (such as US, Japan, and England). The faculty and the College can contribute the country's economy by patenting their inventions. If appropriate, patents should first be applied for instead of publishing the research results at once.

Then the problem boils at how to be creative and innovative. To think creatively is not easy to do. Our educational system discourages it: only one answer to one question is accepted instead of encouraging different options in problem solving. We need to train ourselves. Hundreds of techniques are available; one is TRIZ (Russian acronym of The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving), developed in Russia by Altshuller and now applied by many large corporations, such as Chrysler Corp., Emerson Electric, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Rockwell International, Xerox Corporation, etc. As Einstein said, the most important step in problem solving, is defining the problem. It is a difficult step that emphasizes the importance of research. After 20 years of research, I developed a technique called "Probing Paradigms," which can be used for idea generation and evaluation. I use this as a tool in my classes and I am now ready to offer this to companies. Contact me at wijose2002@yahoo.com

I propose the following system for the UP College of Engineering: First, a training program on developing creativity and innovativeness among faculty members should be instituted. Each invention could be initiated by an individual faculty, a group of faculty members from the same department, or from different departments, or collaboration with faculty members from other colleges. Undergraduate projects can result in a patent for the students and the adviser. Masters and PhD students can share the patent application with the respective advisers. Through the university licensing office, the technology can be disseminated with the appropriate royalty.

Let us promote creativity and innovation. This is a sure way to develop the country's economy and uplift the lives of our people.