Ever since the approval by the Board of Regents of the curriculum of the Department of Electrical Engineering in January 10, 1916, the Electrical Engineering Department has produced multi-talented graduates who specialized in the fields of Power, Communications and Computer Engineering. There was no EE alumni organization then — only great student organizations like UP ERG (est. 1935), UP Circuit (1993), IECEP (2001) — as the graduates went off eagerly to all corners of the earth to work or do further studies, after surviving one of the two tough engineering departments in UP; the Electrical Engineering and others.
The Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering or Triple E came about only in 1994 when two new undergraduate programs were created, the BS Electronics & Communications Engineering and BS Computer Engineering.
In 2001, the department transferred to its current location along Velasquez Street coming from its humble beginning at UP Manila to Melchor Hall, Yia Hall and NEC. It was during the inauguration of the new EEE building in 2002 when a small group of Alumni and Faculty members felt the need to organize and unify the graduates into one cohesive group and decided to form the UP EEE Alumni Association, Inc.
The UPEEEAAI was formally incorporated in June 7, 2003 and registered as a non-profit organization in SEC last Feb 27, 2004.
The first set of officers of the association consisted of alumni who have distinguished themselves in their own field of expertise and profession : Gemini Abad (External VP), Magdaleno Albarracin, Filemon Berba Jr., Lesly Zaren Endrinal (Internal VP), Jesus Francisco, Rowena Cristina Guevara (Auditor), Antonio Herrera Jr. (President), Randy Barsalan, Carl Michael Odulio, Michael Angelo Pedrasa (Secretary), Dennis Posadas, Necitas Manila, Ferdinand Santos, Vicente Sioson (Treasurer) and Francisco Viray (Chairman of the Board).
The Mission and Vision of the UPEEEAAI are to unite its alumni by promoting friendship, loyalty and cooperation; to ensure the recognition of the alumni as respected and integral part of the university; to support the EEE Institute in its endeavors; to work towards the advancement of the field of electrical and electronics engineering by promoting and focusing support and service to the country and the Alma Mater.
The following events highlight the major activities and projects of the association in the last 13 years:
Fundraising via Golf tournaments (2012-2014) and Homecoming events were held to build up it finances to support its Scholarship program and assistance to student org and technical summits.
The Scholarship program was established in 2013 and implemented in 2014-2015 starting with two scholars, with increment of one scholar per year thereafter. The scholarship funds for 2013-2014 were diverted to 5 students affected by typhoon Yolanda, with some Alumni generously giving anonymously to complement the funds.
The association has partnered with the community in 2007 to support the GILAS Connect-@-School Project which aimed to deploy wireless infrastructure that will allow rural public high schools, which are far from a telecommunications point of presence, to connect to the internet and enhance education through access to relevant information.
Support for the undergraduate organizations was also made through financial support for org events (ERG Summit, EEE Rep events), EEE graduation ball and technical summits. Some alumni were quick to donate office equipment for use in the Student Quiet/Study lounge at the EEE1 building to help them cope with the stress of studying EEE.
Several awards were established by the association, in coordination with the Institute, to help promote relevant and excellent undergraduate research and development activities, such as the UP EEEAAI President’s Medals for Outstanding EEE Undergraduate Project and Paper. A few of these projects might eventually find use on commercial basis: Prototype for Hands-Free Filipino Text Messaging, An Aggressive Power Optimization of the ARM9-based core using RAZOR, eNAI Electronic Natal Assistive Intervention, Automatic word-level lexical stress labeling for Filipino Speech, Optimum System reliability of Radial Distribution System with Tie line, and Optimal Extraction for Phil. Ethnic Gong Music.
The association also started sponsoring forums, such as the “Public Forum on the Looming Power Crisis – Sep 2004” which gathered key industry players, public interest groups and engineers, to present the power situation and actionable solutions or concrete action plans to avert a major crisis.
Practicing its role in helping review the EEE Curriculum, the Alumni members sit in the UP EE Advisory board to provide recommendations in the review of the BS EE programs/curriculum, especially in terms of Program Educational Objectives and the various demands of the electrical engineering profession. This is in support of the Institute’s track to be consistent with the Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) Framework as adopted by the Philippine Technological Council. The UP EE Advisory board for 2014-2016 includes Dr. Francisco Viray, Engrs. Alex Cabugao, Philip Joven, Gerardo Villacorta and Edwin Soliman.
On a yearly basis, the UPEEEAAI nominates EEE Alumni to the Board of Directors of the UPAE so that programs/initiatives which require joint support such as the Shell-Eco Marathon, CCTV Security can be addressed. It also submits candidates for the various Engineering Alumni awards. Noteworthy to mention, some previous EEEAAI presidents like Tony Herrera and Rene Nolasco have served in the UPAE board.
For this year, the Association’s main focus is to update its database, improve its web site (http://upeeeaai.org), facebook pages (www.facebook/upeeealumni/) and maximize the use of social networking media to reach out to its Alumni. It is also gearing up for other forms of bonding activities such as Fun Run (July 2015) and Indoor Sportsfest (e.g Bowling, Darts, Billiards) to allow more Alumni to participate.
The upcoming Centennial Celebration of the UP EEEI on January 10, 2016, together with the Mining and Mechanical Engineering Departments, will be the next main event which will see the Alumni getting together to reminisce and celebrate.