Location (during time of takeover)
School/Institution
| Undergrad | University of the Philippines Diliman Geodetic Engineering |
|---|---|
| Masters | University of the Philippines Diliman Geodetic Engineering (majoring in Geographic Information System) |
| PhD | Swinburne University of Technology Computer Science |
Featured on December 7, 2025
Serving as our eyes from above, this week’s Pinoy Scientist is Dr. Therese Anne Rollan-Soriano, a Geospatial Solutions and Partnerships Specialist working with the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) as a Postdoctoral Researcher.
Therese completed her Bachelor’s degree in Geodetic Engineering in 2014, graduating magna cum laude from the University of the Philippines (UP). She remained at the university and immediately jumped into her Master of Science in the same field majoring in Geographic Information System (GIS). During her degrees, she held a number of research positions for a variety of projects. She was a Science Research Analyst for the UP Typhoon Housing and Damage Assessment project and a Science Research Specialist-turned-Senior Science Research Specialist for the Phil-LiDAR 2 Program. For both, she performed geospatial image analysis and developed remote-sensing workflow. She was also a Geospatial Simulation Engineer for the university, studying and modelling seagrass. Therese moved to Melbourne, Australia in 2019 to take a PhD in Computer Science at Swinburne University of Technology. She also completed a Graduate Certificate in Research and Innovation Management, all the while working for CSIRO as a Postgraduate Affiliate Geospatial Software Engineer for disaster management research.
Therese completed her PhD two years ago, but has since remained for CSIRO as a Postdoctoral Researcher and Senior Data & Software Engineer for the Space Optic Team. There, she works on bushfire and algal bloom detection and monitoring.
Some fun facts about Therese:
- She wasn’t a huge space fan growing up, but after entering the space industry in 2023, she’s been hooked ever since (and yes, she now collects anything space-themed)
- She loves karaoke — very Filipino of her. Her freshman year in UP Baguio even kicked off a short band era. Shout-out to UPB Set-up!
- She used to draw a lot, and even auditioned for the Philippine High School for the Arts before life steered her towards engineering instead
