MBB summa cum laude from Marawi to deliver valedictory speech at UP Diliman graduation

A graduate of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology with Maranaw roots has been selected to deliver the valedictory address at the University of the Philippines-Diliman graduation rites on Sunday.

Arman Ghodsinia will graduate summa cum laude from the UP College of Science after obtaining a General Weighted Average of 1.176.

In its announcement, UP Diliman said Ghodsinia hails from Marawi City, the center of ongoing clashes between government troops and the Maute local terror group.

Ghodsinia’s thesis adviser and mentor, molecular biologist Rey Garcia, told GMA News Online they found out about this last week. It was officially announced at the University Council Meeting earlier on Monday.

Garcia said his student was one of the 13 summa cum laude candidates who “auditioned” for the chance to deliver the valedictory speech.

“They had to give a six-minute speech before a panel that then nominates who should deliver the speech on graduation day. Si Arman ‘yung napili,” he said.

Ghodsinia, the class valedictorian of UP’s National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology this year, has presented his undergraduate thesis in three international conferences, including in Japan and Korea, Garcia said.

He, along with fellow summa cum laude Ryan Timothy Yu, was shortlisted for the Sanger Institute Prize in Cambridge, United Kingdom, an outreach competition for undergraduate students from low- and middle-income countries, which gives the winner a three-month internship “to experience the very cutting edge of genomic research.” 

Ghodsinia was also cited for “best presentation” at the Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists and Molecular Biology (FAOBMB) conference this year, and is headed on a two-month internship in Academia Sinica in Taiwan after his graduation, Garcia added. —JST, GMA News