Math Research Project Might Save The Philippine Eagle

While most of us are looking for the next great opportunity, a student from Davao City seems to have found his.

At age sixteen, Jovani S. Tomale has already contributed to the preservation of the precious Philippine Eagle. With the help of a statistician and a research consultant, he has devised a computer-based mathematical model to determine the bird’s gender before it reaches maturity.

(Through my own web search, I learned that the gender of a Philippine Eagle can only be determined if it has fully grown.)

This is indeed a significant step in preserving the endangered bird. Before this project came into fruition, gender determination was a trial-and-error process as done in the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) in Malagos, Davao City.

Should PEF utilize this computer program (which they seem to be interested in), the guessing game of trying to breed the eagles will be replaced by a method that is measurable and scientific.

Tomale has received numerous raves and citations for his research project on the Philippine Eagle. He won second place in the 2009 DepEd – Intel Philippine Science Fair in Subic when he first entered this project during his last year in Davao City National High School.

Recently, he bagged the 2nd Special Award from the American Statistical Association, through the International Science and Engineering Fair held in Nevada. He is currently an Accountancy student at the Ateneo de Davao University.

Kudos to Jovani, for sharing his talents and intellectual whizbang to save the eagle’s existence.