Progress on the February 2021 Board Meeting Action Points

Good progress has been made on the programs and projects that the Board approved to pursue in the February meeting.

1. Approval in principle of the Innovation Model proposed by the Innovation Committee. This is being fine-tuned by our Innovation Committee led by Chicho Mantaring and Val Reyes.
2. Approval of the 2021 Budget, the draft of which was discussed in the November BoT meeting. Adopted as approved.
3. Dissemination of Energy System Modelling Project Results. See discussion below.
4. Implementation of the High Performance Computing Facility.  Discussions are in progress with ePLDT Data Center on the options for the facility to be set up on a hosted arrangement. This is meant to relieve UP of facility investments and administration, also enabling professors to focus on research. 
5. Refocusing of professorial chair awards to predefined topics of research.  This will be taken up in a special meeting to be scheduled.           
6. Digitalization of accounting systems, including a Document Management System (DMS). VP Dante Briones, with member Rico Ibana, are leading this twin initiative.  We have procured a cloud version of the QuickBooks Software for our Integrated Accounting System, replacing the old desktop version. The DMS will enable tracking donations from prospecting to accounting for receipts and disbursements, by donor and purpose. (This is now done manually.)
7. Expanded networking. We continue discussions with the Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering (PAASE). Areas of collaboration with the 400-person organization are being pinpointed; 
8. Formation of a Policy Review Adhoc Team to review policies and guidelines.  See discussion below.
9. Preparing the groundwork of our 50th anniversary in August 2022, or in 18 months. Discussion on this matter to be taken up shortly.