Leopoldo Abis

Leopoldo V. Abis is a jovial man who hopes to be remembered as an avid and passionate and a faithful educator. A recipient of the Most Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Engineering Award in 1995 and of the UP Alumni Association Professional Award in 1996, Abis spent fifty years as a researcher, teacher, project leader, project adviser, and administrator.

Dr. Abis graduated from UP with bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering and in Electrical Engineering in 1954. He earned his MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas in 1958 and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1969, also from the University of Kansas. He became an associate professor in UP in 1970. He served as chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the UP College of Engineering (UP CoE) from 1972 to 1979. He was also concurrently associate dean of the UP CoE from 1974 to 1979. As an academic administrator and teacher, he was also the program adviser of the Environmental Engineering Program, which aims to promote the awareness of undergraduate Engineering students on the relationship between technology and environment.

He takes pride in all his accomplishments. But Dr. Abis is especially proud of the National Engineering Center (NEC). When the law to establish NEC was implemented, Abis became its first executive director from 1979 to 1987. As NEC grew from occupying a modest third floor office in the COE building to being housed in its own building in 1981, he was there to oversee its growth.

Abis is currently president of the UP, Engineering Research and Development Foundation, Inc. (UP ERDFI) which manages endowment funds for the assistance of the U.P. College of Engineering.

His achievements have extended beyond UP. He has engaged in research projects in such areas as the utilization of solar energy for industrial and domestic purposes. He has been a consultant for World Bank-funded Metro Manila Solid Waste Management Projects and for the USAID/MHS-funded Olongapo City Solid Waste Master Plan.

“He was named Executive Director of Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC) in 1989 until he was designated Undersecretary for Regional Operations of the Department of Science and Technology in 1992. He was also a Mechanical Engineering Consultant and Resource Person in energy and materials conservation, engineering education, heat transfer and solid waste management, having this share of technical publications and reports published locally and internationally. Dr. Abis is presently Chairman of the Board of Test Consultants, Inc. and President of Lauds Technologies, Inc.”

He is often invited to be a resource person on various topics including energy conservation, utilization of solar energy and other indigenous sources of energy, and engineering education in seminars sponsored by both local agency and international bodies such as the UNESCO.

He joined FEATI University in 2003 and currently is Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.