In order to continue providing quality education, the College is being aggressive in its faculty development. It consists of 131 regular faculty members, of which 71 (54.20%) are holders of doctorate degree while the rest are Master’s degree holder. Just in 2022 alone, CSM recruited six new Ph.D. degree holders, sent two faculty members for Ph.D. studies abroad, and reinstated Dr. Anelyn P. Bendoy, who recently received her doctorate degree from Myongji University of South Korea. The number of doctorate degree holders is expected to increase further in the very near future as 12 faculty members are on full-time study leave, and 18 are now finishing their respective doctorate degrees while temporarily reinstated on active duty. On top of these, the MSU System Board of Regents approved the appointment of retired professors Dr. Olga M. Nuñeza and Dr. Arnulfo P. Supe as Professor Emeriti, allowing CSM to continue tapping their expertise in their respective fields of specialization. Furthermore, CSM has 18 staff to provide vital support to the faculty members and students.

Testament to its commitment to produce highly-competent graduates in response to the manpower needs of the country, during the 52nd Commencement Ceremony of MSU-IIT, CSM has produced 15 summa cum laudes, 94 magna cum laudes, and 83 cum laudes, out of the 227 graduates from the different baccalaureate programs of the College. Ms. Glendy Lou B. Duhaylungsod, a graduate of the BS Chemistry program, was the class valedictorian.

Research. Congruent with the new vision of MSU-IIT to become a research-intensive university, CSM, in close coordination with PRISM, serves as a prolific research powerhouse in Mindanao. In 2022 alone, the College recorded at least 120 Scopus-indexed or ISI-indexed journal publications, which is more than its publication output compared to any of the previous years. It is worth commending as well that Dr. Ivane P. Gerasmio co-authored a chapter on a book on “Basic crustacean physiology/biochemistry and applications to associated aquaculture technology development: A comprehensive guide” under the Fisheries Science Series. The increase in publications may be attributed to the successful inculcation of research culture in CSM, where at least 70% of its faculty is doing research, and research being an indispensable component of CSM’s academic programs. This is evidenced by the fact that around 12% of the total workload of the college is research load, with 50 (43 new, 7 continuing) internally-funded projects, and 15 externally-funded projects. Among these research projects, particularly worth praising is the CHED-LAKAS-funded research project led Dr. Arnold C. Alguno (Professor of Physics and Director of Research) with a budget of around Php 159M.

As a home of top caliber professors, several constituents of the College have received awards this year, most notably, Dr. Mylene M. Uy (Professor of Chemistry and Director of PRISM) as Outstanding Professional of the Year in the field of Chemistry as conferred by the Philippine Regulation Commission, and Dr. Mark Nolan P. Confesor (Professor of Physics) as 2022 Outstanding Filipinos by the Metrobank Foundation.

Extension. In support of the ongoing desire of the University to increase community engagement, the college implemented several extension projects including the re-launch of the Teaching Enhancement for Excellence Training (TExT) Program - an intensive mentoring program that provides content-focused training to up-skill and re-skill the junior and senior high school educators in science and mathematics. The college-wide program is implemented in coordination with the Department of Extension of OVCRE, and DepEd Iligan City and will run until the second quarter of year 2023. A number of clean-up, training in mangrove planting, and pagatpat (Sonneratia alba) outplanting have been done in the coastal areas of Iligan City. Raising community awareness on hazards in household chemicals, foods, and personal care products as well as the orientation on chemical security and safety in the academe has also been given attention by the College’s extension efforts.

Coastal Clean-up and Training on Mangrove planting at Bayug, Iligan City.

The various departments of the college have conducted a total of 36 webinars, conferences, and seminars at the regional, national, and international levels aimed to strengthen the programs offered by the college. The 2022 International Conference on Advanced Functional Materials and Nanotechnology (ICAFMN) and the 24th Samahang Pisika ng Visayas at Mindanao (SPVM) National Physics Conference was graced by experts from the USA, France, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Slovakia, South Korea, and the Philippines delivering plenary talks on the recent advances in the fields of materials science, nanotechnology, medical physics, biophysics, computational physics, theoretical physics, soft matter physics for complex systems, and allied fields of practical significance including functional physics education programs and pedagogy in physics teaching. The 3-day hybrid conference, attended by 160 participants, was hosted by MSU-IIT (through the Physics Department), and Holy Name University and held at Tagbilaran City, Bohol last October 27-29, 2022. Another hybrid conference, the International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 2022 (ICNN 2022), was also co-hosted by MSU-IIT (through the Physics Department), MSU-Naawan and Caraga State University gathering experts on the said field from the USA, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, and the Philippines. Both the ICAFMN 2022/24th SPVM National Physics Conference and the ICNN 2022 are supported by the CHED-LAKAS program.