May Angelu Madarang

Featured on July 14, 2024

Here to light our way through July is Pinoy Scientist May Angelu Madarang, a research trainee at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) School at the University of Science and Technology (UST).

May completed her Bachelor’s degree in Physics at the University of the Philippines, graduating Cum Laude. While there, she began her work with nanomaterials, studying the separation of graphene oxide and thermally reduced graphene oxide via electrophoresis. She spent some time at the University of the Philippines Baguio as a science research specialist under a project studying carbon nanotubes for use in microbolometers. May made her way over to Korea in 2022 to study at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology School, University of Science and Technology, taking up her Master’s in Nanomaterials Science and Engineering.

At the moment, May is completing her Master’s degree while working as a research trainee at the KIST Center for Opto-electronics Materials and Devices. Her research deals primarily with device fabrication and testing, specializing in tunnel junction and solar cell fabrication.

Some fun facts about May:

• She got admitted to UP Baguio not as a Physics major but actually as a BA in Communication student (she wanted to be a journalist). In her first semester as a comm student, her block had a general course on “Introduction to Physics” which she found so fun and intriguing that she shifted to the Department of Physical Sciences the following semester.
• She is a pastor’s kid (PK). Finding the intersection between science and faith wasn’t a walk in the park but her dad met her in the middle and they are in a very good place.
• She cannot dance to save her life. She has two sisters who are great dancers but she drew the short straw for this particular skill. She loves singing though, and since she’s currently residing in Seoul, her mediocre singing skills are a hit in 노레방 (karaoke) – Filipino singing (lol) pride.