DASNR
International
Student of the Week
Home Country: Philippines
The Philippines (Filipino: Pilipinas), officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an island nation located in Southeast Asia, with Manila as its capital city. The Philippine Archipelago comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean. The Philippines is the world's 12th most populous country, with a population of 88 million. Its national economy is the 39th in the world with a 2007 gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$145 billion.
Filipinos are mostly of Austronesian descent, but there are significant Chinese, American, Spanish, and Arab minorities. There are more than 11 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, about 11% of the total population of the Philippines.
The Philippines became a Spanish colony in the 16th century, and then a U.S. colony after the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War. The Philippines has many affinities with the Western world, derived mainly from the cultures of Spain, Latin America, and the United States. Roman Catholicism became the predominant religion, although the pre-Hispanic indigenous religious practices and Islam continue to flourish. The two official languages of the Philippines are Filipino, which is based on Tagalog, and English. Source: Wikipedia
About one-third of the total land area is classified as arable. Three-fourths of the cultivated area is devoted to subsistence crops and one-fourth to commercial crops, mainly for export. Farms tend to be small, and many areas are double-cropped. Soils are generally fertile, but 30% of the agricultural land is suffering erosion.
Roughly half the cultivated land is devoted to the two principal subsistence crops, palay (unhusked rice) and corn.
Commercial agriculture, dominated by large plantations, centers on coconuts and copra, sugarcane, tobacco, bananas, and pineapples. Coconuts are the most important export crop, accounting for 23% of world production; in 1999, 11,000,000 tons were produced. Copra production, in which the Philippines leads the world, rose from 1,470,000 tons in 1965 to an estimated 1,510,000 tons in 1999. As oil milling capacity rose, the domestic market for copra expanded, accounting for almost all of the output and leaving only marginal amounts for exportation. Source: Encyclopedia of Nations
Imelda Tudor
November 2007
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From the Department of Food Science...
 In the photo above, Imelda experiences Homescoming at OSU. This week’s international student of the week is Maria Imelda A. Tudor. She is a Master of Science degree student in Food Science. Imelda (Imee) is from the Cabuyao, Laguna; a province 30 km south from Manila in the Philippines. She speaks Filipino and English. Imelda is a member of the Society for Food Science and Technology and a member of the American Society for Microbiology. She worked in the Philippines in food processing plants (meat, dairy, and wine) as a microbiologist and quality assurance specialist.
In her free time Imelda likes to surf the net, read, watch tv, sleep, shop and travel. Her goal is to visit as many states in the USA as possible. She also likes to spend time with her friends and chat with her family and friends. Imelda has 6 siblings (2 brothers and 4 sisters). She is the youngest in her family. Her mother is living in the Philippines with one of her sisters, and her dad passed away when Imelda was 4 years old. She has one brother working in Saudi Arabia and a sister living in Georgia, USA. Imelda came to the States because education here is the best on the world. Research facilities are excellent. She thinks that she can get more knowledge and skills in her field of studies. Aside from education she always had a long dream of visiting Disney World, New York City and other famous cities.
OSU was her choice because her sister was doing her PhD in Plant Sciences (1999-2001), so she gave her an idea of the quality of education and research facilities here. Her sister encouraged her to pursue a Master’s degree. Imelda started to have communication with her current advisor who has research in food microbiology and probiotics and who also offered her assistantship. Imelda’s future plans are to find a job. She would like to work in the States in the area of product development or quality control. She is thinking of pursuing a PhD program if possible, after she gets married and starts a family. Advisor: Dr. Stanley E. Gilliland Imelda’s advice to International Students: “Try to learn as much as you can and always be optimistic. Make sure that you can balance your academics, family, and social lives so your life would be more enjoyable. Take advantage of all the opportunities given to you and use whatever knowledge you learn to better your life and career.” Interview by Sandra Rodriguez
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