Asst. Prof. Nikki Heherson A. Dagamac, Dr. rer. nat. of the Department of Biological Sciences was named the 2022 National Academy of Science and Technology Outstanding Young Scientist for Biology, as communicated by NAST President Acd. Rhodora V. Aranza on May 27, 2022.
Dagamac, who became a Balik Scientist in 2021, is beginning his career in his alma mater, where he now teaches. His contributions that were recognized dwelt “on the biodiversity, distribution, and ecology of tropical myxomycetes, in particular, the discovery of 13 new records of myxomycetes that updates the number of species known in the country and in the development of the first bioclimatic distribution model of selected myxomycetes species in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia, in providing endemism as biogeographical evidence for global protists, and on the impact of disturbances on myxomycete communities.” In an interview with the Communications Bureau, Dagamac advocated for interdisciplinary researches, arguing that “an approach to address research problems is best understood if there are more sectors and branches that can work together.” Currently, Dagamac is working on several government-funded projects, including “the ecology of wildlife species with a specialized focus on the endemic Tamaraw of Mindoro using camera trapping and habitat suitability modeling.”