Asian Institute of Technology January 2011

INSIDE ISSUE.. .

Eminent scientist conferred honorary degree at AIT’s 114th Graduation

Recent News / Happenings at AIT...................... 2-4Backpage............................................................ 6

Photo Gallery.............................. 5

wo-hundredandtwenty-twostudentsfrom 20countriesandthreecontinentsreceiveddegrees at the 114th Graduation Ceremony oftheAsianInstituteofTechnology(AIT)heldon17December2010.Ontheoccasion,H.E.Prof.Atta-Ur-Rahman, Coordinator General of theCommitteeonScienceandTechnologicalCoop-eration(COMSTECH),Pakistan,andUNESCOScience Laureate, was conferred the honorary

degree of Doctor of Philosophy (HonorisCausa).Prof.SaidIrandoust,President,AIT,remarked that this honor was recognitionof his revolutionary contribution to highereducation in Pakistan. “AIT recognizes theimmense impact that visionaries like Prof.Atta-Ur-Rahmanhavehadonsociety,”Prof.Irandoustsaid.

H.E. Prof. Atta-Ur-Rahman at AIT’s 114th Graduation

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�Recent news / happenings at ait

US Advisor elaborates on Lower Mekong Initiative

AIT building its brand in Myanmar

Withplentifulopportunitiesexistingfor AIT in neighboring Myanmar,AITPresidentProf.Said Irandoustrecently led a team of AIT officials ona three-daypromotionalvisit toThailand’sneighborwheretheymetwith some of the country’s seniorhighereducationadministrators.President Irandoust began thevisiton 2 December 2010 by attendingtheInternationalConferenceonSci-enceandEngineering(ICSE)2010organized by universities underMyanmar’sMinistryofScienceandTechnology(MOST).Thepresidentusedtheoccasiontomeetwithhigh-ranking officials (including rectors oftechnologicaluniversities)underMOST,whichisheadedbyDirectorGeneral,Dr.KoKoOo.

Environmental and Energy Advisor in the UnitedStatesDepartmentofState,Dr.Mari-VaughanJohn-son,visitedAITon16December2010andelaboratedonthegrowingcooperationbetweentheUnitedStatesandtheLowerMekongcountriesofCambodia,Laos,

ThailandandVietnamundertheLowerMekongIni-tiative (LMI). Dr. Johnson stated that United StatesSecretaryofState,Ms.HillaryClinton, and foreignministersoftheLowerMekongCountrieshaveagreedtoenhancecooperation in theareasofenvironment,

health,education,and infrastructurede-velopment. She was accompanied byMr. Jacob Schultz, Environment, Sci-ence, Technology and Health Officer at theUSEmbassyinBangkok.Prof. Joydeep Dutta,Vice President forAcademicAffairswelcomedDr.JohnsonandMr.Schultz,andmentionedthatAITisattheforefrontoftechnology,develop-mentandeducation.“AITcanbeanidealplatform and partner in the Lower Me-kongInitiative,”Prof.Duttastressed.

IPM training workshop at Vietnam

Aneight-day-longtrainingprogramon“AreawideIntegratedPestManagement (IPM) of fruit flies in South and Southeast Asia” was organizedatTienGiang,Vietnamfrom7-14December2010.Inau-guratedbyDr.HguyenMinhChau,DirectorofSouthernHorticul-tureResearchInstitute(SOFRI),Vietnam,theworkshopwitnessedparticipationfrom35delegatesfrom11countries.

AccordingtoDr.PrabhatKumar,coordinator,AsianFruitFlyIPMProject, participants included representatives from departments ofplant protection, ministries of agriculture, private sector as wellasnongovernmentalorganizations.

Theworkshopwas jointlyorganized byAIT, VietnamNational IPMProg rammeand the Foodand Agricul-ture Organi-zation (FAO)RegionalIPMProgramme.

Dr. Mari-Vaughan Johnson (left) and Mr. Jacob Schultz (right)

�Recent news / happenings at ait

Sudan, Afghanistan delegations join training program at AIT

Nearly50delegatesfromthegovernmentsofSudanandAfghan-istanparticipatedinanInternationalTrainingProgramorganizedbyAIT.Welcoming theparticipants,AITPresident,Prof.SaidIrandoust,saidthatAITwashonoredtohostsuchadistinguisheddelegationfromthetwocountries.

Mr.SherMohammadJamiZada,DeputyMinisterofEconomy,IslamicRepublic ofAfghanistan,who led thedelegation fromAfghanistan, spokeabout the commitmentof theAfghangov-ernmentontheissueofgendermainstreaming.Hestatedthatthethree pillars of gender mainstreaming inAfghanistan included

inofferingdualdegreecourses.TheMin-isterwelcomedtheproposalofProf.SaidIrandoust, President,AIT, to establish anAITsatellitecampusinPakistan.Hepro-posed that student and faculty exchangesbe initiatedbetweenAITandCOMSATSInstitute of Information Technology. TheMinister sought AIT’s expertise in help-ing Pakistan commercialize research anddevelopment activities.TheMinister alsoappreciatedAIT’sgestureofinductingDr.Shamsudin M. Qureshi, anAIT alumnusandformerChairmanofPakistan’sUniver-sityGrantsCommission (UGC), toAIT’sHallofFame.Latertheministeraddressedmembers of the Pakistan Students Asso-ciation(PSA),whereheexhortedstudentstowards achieving excellence. Pakistan’sAmbassador toThailand H.E. Mr. SohailMahmood accompanied the HonorableMinisterduringhisvisittoAIT.

School of Management MBA program ranked Eighth in Asia BasedonanasurveyconductedbyBestMBA,AIT’sSchoolofManagement(SOM)MBAprogramhasbeenrankedasnumberoneinThailandandnumbereightinAsia.

TheonlineMBAnetworkconducted thesurveyofworldwiderankingofbestbusinessschoolsandMBAprogramsandrankedthem based on objective data such as MBA program returnoninvestment(ROI),whichevaluatesthecostof theprogramcompared to theaverageMBAsalary increase,andsubjective

securityforwomen,ruleoflawandhumanrights,andsocioeconomicdevelopment.

Dr.AmaniMohamedElkhatimAbdAllah,Academic Coordinator, Public Health In-stitute,FederalMinistryofHealth,Sudan,thanked AIT for organizing the trainingprogram.

data such as the satisfaction scores andperceived brand of key stakeholders in-cluding industry, recruiters, students andfaculty.

Further details on the ranking methodo-logy are available at these links below:http://www.bestmba.org/bestonlinemba_asia.htm

http://www.bestmba.org/bestmbaranking-methodology.htm

If it was not for AIT’s contribution, I would not be here: Pakistan Minister

“AsianInstituteofTechnology(AIT)hasbeenadrivingforceandhaditnotbeenforitscontribution,IwouldnotbevisitingAITtoday.”ThiswasstatedbyH.E.Mr.MuhammadAzamKhanSwati, Federal Minister for Science andTechnology, PakistanduringhismaidenvisittoAITon8December2010.TheministerdescribedAITasa“marvelousinstitute,”andPakistanasa“longhaulpartner”ofAIT.H.E.SwatistatedthatPakistanislookingforwardtowardsanenhancedpartnershipwithAIT,particularly

Mr. Sher Mohammad Jami Zada Dr. Amani Mohamed Elkhatim Abd Allah

�Recent news / happenings at ait

AIT to offer Professional Master’s program in Sri Lanka

AITwillofferaone-yearProfessionalMaster’sprograminSri Lanka in the fields of Telecommunications, Technology Management, Information Security, Banking Security andNanotechnology. This follows a Memorandum of Under-standing(MOU)signedbyAITwiththeEPICLankaGroup.

The MOU was signed by Prof. Said Irandoust, President,AITandMr.NayanaDehigama,ChairmanandManagingDirector,EPICLanka.Apartfromtheone-yearProfessionalMaster’sprogram,theMOUisaimedatcapacitybuilding

andtrainingofprofessionalsinSriLanka,andwillincludeexchangeofacademicmaterials,publicationand informa-tion.AITwillberesponsibleforcurriculumandqualityas-suranceoftheprogram.TheMOUfollowsmeetingsheldbyDr.NitinV.Afzulpurkar,Dean,SchoolofEngineeringandTechnology (SET) and Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe, DirectorFundraising(AIT),withMr.NayanainColomborecently.

Packaging is creating a new revolution in the food industry

Packagingiscreatinganewrevolutioninthefood industry, andnationswill have to adapttonewreusableandbiodegradablepackagingmaterialstobeabletocompeteglobally.ThiswasstatedbyDr.TipvonParinyasiri,DirectorFoodControlDivision,FoodandDrugAdmin-istration(FDA),Thailand,whiledeliveringthekeynotespeechatthe“5thInternationalCon-ferenceonInnovationsinFoodandBioprocessTechnology”,organizedat theAsian InstituteofTechnology(AIT).

Speaking at the conference, Prof. Said Iran-doust,President,AIThighlightedtherolethatAIT was playing in the field of food and biopro-cess technology. Prof. Sudip Kumar Rakshit,VicePresident-Researchpresentedafuturisticscenarioinhistalk“Bio-fuelsandfoodsecurity-movingforward”.Prof.AthapolNoomhormofSchoolofEnvironment,ResourcesandDe-velopment(SERD),wastheconferencechair.

AIT hosts eight nation cricket tournament

AsianInstituteofTechnology(AIT)playedhosttotheeightnation2010AsianCricketCouncil(ACC)TrophyChallengechampionshipsheldfrom4-11December2010.

“The lush grounds ofAIT were the venue of six matchesincludingThailandversusIran,IranversusQatar,Iranver-susMyanmar, theseventhpositionplayoffmatchbetweenBrunei and Myanmar, the semi-final showdown between Thailand and SaudiArabia, and the third place playoffbetweenQatarandThailand.”

TheeightteamsweredividedintoGroup‘A’comprisingofQatar,Thailand,IranandMyanmar,whileGroup‘B’com-prisedofSaudiArabia,Maldives,ChinaandBrunei.Two

finalist teams, Maldives and Saudi Arabia, qua-lified for the elite International Cricket Council (ICC) qualifying tournament. The World Cupfinals will be jointly hosted by Australia and NewZealandin2015.

�photo galleRy

114th Graduation: Highlights in pictures

I wish the entire world was like AIT: Graduation speaker

TheworldwouldbeabetterplaceifitweremoreliketheAsianInstituteofTechnology(AIT).TheharmonyanddiversityincultureandideaswitnessedatAIT,isarolemodelfortheworldtoemulate.TheseweretheremarksofMr.DavidL.Hulse,RepresentativeoftheFordFoundation,Indonesia,whiledeliveringtheGraduationaddressatthe114thgraduationatAITon17December2010.

Congratulatingthegraduates,Mr.Hulseexhortedthegraduatesto“keepingthespiritofAITalive”byre-mainingopentotheoutsideworld,welcomingadiversityofthoughtsandideas,andmaintainingfriendshipswithpeoplefromdifferentcountriesandleanings.“Bearolemodelforothers,”washissuggestiontoallstudents.“Youhavetobecitizensnotjustofyourhometownorcountry,butbecitizensoftheworld,”heremarked.

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Editor:BajinderPalSingh

MediaSpecialist,AITbajinder@ait.asiaGraphic Design:

ChittrawineeWichiansonPhotos:

PaitoonTinnapong

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iNexus 2010 held at AIT

The“HighSpeedTeam”representingRajamangalaUniversityofTechnologyIsanNakhonRatchasimaCampusandcomprisingofMr.JarukKidrobe,Mr.KrisadaSanidpoj,andMr.RatchanonMa-hachaiwerecrownedchampionsattheiNexus2010competitionorganizedatAsianInstituteofTechnologyon3December2010.

The competition sponsored by Western Digital (WD) Thailand,

Bali School Makes Sustainability a Way of Life“Inthemidstofthelush,steamingjungleofBali,alongapittedroad,pastscatteredchickensandsingingcicadas,GreenSchoolhastwodozenbuild-ingsmadeofgiantbamboopoles.Therearenowalls,andthereisnoair-con-ditioning. Just gracefully arched roofs, concrete floors and bamboo furniture. Thereisabig,grassyplayground,completewithgoalpostsmade--yes--ofbamboo;abamboobridgeacrossarock-strewnriver;vegetablepatches;andamud-wrestlingpit.But there is also a computer lab, a well-stocked library and an array ofcoursesdrawnfromaninternationallyrecognizedcurriculumandtaughtinEnglish.”

ReadmoreintheNewYorkTimesatthislink

the National Electronics and ComputerTechnologyCenter(NECTEC),andtheThaiRoboticsSociety(TRS),broughtto-gether21teamsofengineeringstudentsfrom universities and colleges acrossThailand.Theundergraduateswerechal-lengedtobuildautonomousmachinesthatcouldperformtechnicaltasksoftheirown,againsttheclock,andforthereviewofpro-fessionaljudges.

“TeamC2R”fromKasetsartUniversity,Kampangsaen Campus came second,whilethethirdprizewasbaggedby“Ban-grachanTeam” fromSingBuriTechni-calCollege.Thebestdesignawardwentto“TheLimited”fromDhurakijPunditUniversity. Winners will now travel toIndia to compete at Techfest being or-ganizedbytheIndianInstituteofTech-nology(IIT)Bombayfrom7-9January2011.

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