VSU Civil Engineering faculty wins Best Presentation at International Seminar on Sustainable Soil Innovation

Engr. John Allan A. Gulles, faculty member of the Department of Civil Engineering at Visayas State University (VSU), earned the Best Presentation Award during the 4th International Joint Student Seminar on One Health, One World (OHOW) held at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand on July 31, 2025.

Representing both VSU and AIT, where he is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Geotechnical and Earth Resources Engineering, Engr. Gulles presented his ongoing research on Comparative Study on the Shear Strength Improvement for Soft Clay Using Microbial and Traditional Stabilization Methods.

His presentation stood out among participants from across Asia, which included students and researchers from Japan, Thailand, and other countries working in diverse fields such as disaster prevention, transportation systems, and infrastructure engineering.

The research explores a new and more eco-friendly way to strengthen soft and weak soils using a process called Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP). This method uses good bacteria that naturally produce calcium carbonate, the same material found in seashells, to bind the soil and make it stronger. Traditional methods use cement or chemicals that release a lot of carbon into the atmosphere, but MICP is a cleaner and greener alternative.

This is especially important for countries like the Philippines, where soft clay soils are common in coastal areas and floodplains. If successful, this method could be used to build safer roads, buildings, and other structures in areas that usually suffer from ground instability, without harming the environment.

Engr. Gullies took to Facebook and said that “this method is more sustainable and eco-friendly as we are using biomaterial, away from the conventional additives with high carbon emission contributing to global warming.”

“This is a growing trend in Geotechnical Engineering and I am excited to venture into this field and I am hopeful to apply this in our country," he added. 

His pioneering work, developed under the guidance of Dr. Kuo Chieh Chao from AIT, Prof. Louis Ge, and Dr. Yu Syuan Jhuo, both from National Taiwan University, places VSU at the frontier of green engineering solutions especially in infrastructure development in coastal and flood-prone areas of the Philippines.

The seminar, jointly organized by AIT’s RNUS Office and the University of Tokyo’s OHOW initiative, promotes transdisciplinary exchanges between environmental health, engineering, and policy. 

This article is aligned with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Quality Education; SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities; SDG 13: Climate Action, and; SDG 15: Life on Land.

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