ALABANG, Muntinlupa City- Dr. Rizalinda De Leon of the University of the Philippines (UP) received the Gregorio Y. Zara Award for Applied Science Research in the recent annual convention of the Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology (PhilASST).

The award was established by the family of National Scientist Gregorio Y. Zara and the Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science (former PhilAAST) in 1968 to honor the most outstanding national scientists of the country.  To date, the award already recognized 70 Filipino scientists and researchers.

Dr. Rizalina De Leon, Dean of the UP College of Engineering, was recognized due to her contributions in energy fuels and thermal systems.

De Leon also engaged in different projects related to energy by being the head of the UP Fuels, Energy and Thermal Systems Laboratory, faculty coordinator of the Energy Engineering Program, and co-head of the Engineering Research and Development Technology (ERDT).

With her expertise, De Leon became the project leader of the Mentoring Program in Energy Engineering of the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI). She has been invited to participate in several local and foreign fora as speaker and lecturer.

De Leon also received various awards which includes the 2015 Outstanding Professional in Chemical Engineering, given by the Professional Regulation Commission.