Gazing upon sunshine: Alfie Peña and the Research Impetus

Somewhere in an office at the PLDT-CTC building, a beam of sunshine passes through. Daylight fills space momentarily—flickering slightly in the skyline—then fades out. Gazing upon this sunshine in his work for the Ateneo Energy Research Laboratory is Robert Alfie S. Pena, PhD, whose practice in energy systems put him in the Department of Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering (ECCE) of Ateneo. Known by many as Doc Alfie, he has contributed to and published numerous researches centered around renewable energy.

His inclination toward engineering started out from a high school interest in physics, but it wasn’t until his college education in Ateneo, taking BS Electronics Engineering (EcE) with the help of scholarships, that his passion blossomed. Taking inspiration from his professors’ lectures, he realized then that pursuing research was his calling. Sure enough, after completing his bachelor’s degree, Doc Alfie applied for the master’s program for EcE in ADMU and went on a short stint in the Erasmus Mundus exchange program in Italy for his thesis. Afterwards, he joined a research project on solar energy with his mentor, Dr. Erees Queen Macabebe of the ECCE Department.

The experiences he had during his graduate studies inculcated in Doc Alfie the extent of his work’s relevance in the field of energy. To him, “everything we do and decide requires energy [and thus] has the capacity to pollute the environment.” Transitioning from fossil fuel-based to renewable energy sources plays a big role in counteracting energy pollution; in realizing his work’s connection to this, Doc Alfie decided that he would specialize his field in improving current energy systems through sustainability. Eventually, he would pursue this through his doctorate studies abroad.

Doc Alfie had in mind the goal of bringing the scientific culture he could absorb overseas into the local academe while broadening his field to industrial applications. With the support of his mentors, he eventually secured a funding offer from the Ampère Laboratory of Université Claude Bernard in Lyon, France. There he would spend the next few years working on improving energy storage systems in collaboration with the SuperGrid Institute.

Getting exposed to the research and work culture of France influenced Doc Alfie’s outlook in many ways. For one, it was a normalized practice for various companies, institutes, and corporations in France to outsource their R&D needs to PhD candidates in university laboratories with the support of research grants and scholarships. While such programs exist in the Philippines, they are implemented at a narrower scale. Research jobs in the Philippines remain limited to laboratories in universities or the government. As such, this is something to which Doc Alfie attributes the underdevelopment of R&D in the country, as the principles and systems surrounding the national economy remain far from knowledge-based.

In the future, Doc Alfie hopes that similar programs can be employed to change the current paradigms around R&D in the Philippines and allow R&D to thrive in the country. By doing so, it could allow the country to enter a knowledge-based economy where R&D can drive economic growth and development and become of service to the Filipino people. In the meantime, Doc Alfie continues teaching ECCE courses at the Ateneo, embodying the professors who inspired him, emphasizing the mastery of the R&D process, and finding ways to further develop his work on solar energy storage. It is his way of giving back—to help aspiring scientists and engineers flourish in research, and to see to it that the landscape of energy research expands in service of the Filipino.

Gearing research towards developing appropriate technologies for communities, especially those in remote areas, who are the least advantaged yet get the most benefit, is where the potential of sustainable development shines. Beyond the shadows cast by the skyline, the impetus of research is creating things that can help change and better these systems for the benefit of the marginalized. No matter where we are—in the colors of Lyon or in the bustle of Katipunan—we all know the same sunshine. Or at least, Doc Alfie hopes to play a part in bringing it to reality. Indeed, the light is priceless, and it illuminates the world little by little.

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Text: Carlos Salazar

Photos courtesy of Alfie Peña

Header photo: Christiane Oriana