40 companies participate in AIT Career Fair

Japan’s Vice Minister for Global Environment compliments AIT

US unveils Thai-US Creative Partnership and Development Innovation Ventures

Maiden visit by Ambassador of Mongolia

National Housing Authority Governor inaugurates 2-day workshop on lowcost housing

School of Management cracks global top 250 in B-School ranking by Eduniversal

Thai Military delegations seek AIT partnership

Poster exhibition demonstrates student research at AIT

V-Watch awarded prize at IT Princess Awards Competition

Campus vignettes come alive at AIT Video Competition

AIT signs MoU with Thai TV Channel 3

Former faculty welcome invitation to be ‘Distinguished Adjunct Faculty’

AIT alumnus selected eleventh President of Khon Kaen University

AIT International Food Fair: November 2014

AIT-TU_NSTDA Marathon

“AIT Alive at Fifty Five” by AITAA Philippine Chapter

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Credits

40 companies participate in AIT Career Fair

A record 40 companies participated in the Career Fair organized by AIT on 5 November 2014. Participants included 15 companies who were attending the biannual event for the first time. Four of the 40 participating companies also held interviews to recruit AIT students.

AIT Vice President for Academic Affairs, Prof. Sivanappan Kumar stated that companies have the opportunity to recruit students from a wide range of nationalities at AIT. The Career Fair provides a platform for every student to achieve ‘gainful employment’.

Besides, it is an event for companies to forge alliances, initiate new projects and training programs, and offer internships. Ms. Joan Carla C. Gonzales, Coordinator, Career Center and Student Affairs, remarked that the participants included AIT alumni, who, not very long ago, were among the student volunteers who were helping organize the AIT Career Fair.

The AIT Student Union also organized a Research Exhibition in conjunction with the Career Fair (details on Page 5).

Japan’s Vice Minister for Global Environment compliments AIT

H.E. Mr. Soichiro Seki (left) at AIT.

Vice Minister for Global Environment, Ministry of Environment, Japan, H.E. Mr. Soichiro Seki visited AIT on 26 November 2014, and complimented AIT for taking the lead in organizing a forum on Climate Change in the run up to the Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris, France in 2015.

The Minister was accompanied by a high-level delegation including Dr. Hideyuki Mori, President of Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES); Dr. Daisuke Sano, Director, IGES Regional Centre, Bangkok; Dr. Kazuhiko Takemoto, Director, Institute for the Advanced Studies of Sustainability, United Nations University (UNU-IAS); and Prof. Emeritus Mario Tabucanon, former AIT Acting President.

US unveils Thai-US Creative Partnership and Development Innovation Ventures

Ms. Aine Shiozaki (left) and Mr. Steven Rynecki.

A two-member team representing the Thai-US Creative Partnership and USAID visited AIT on 24 November 2014 and unveiled various programs and offerings for possible partnership and collaboration.

Coordinator of Thai-US Creative Partnership, Ms. Aine Shiozaki, stated that the Creative Partnership initiative brings together business and government efforts in innovation; increases research and university exchange; and builds bridges between the private sector and academia.

Highlighting the “Development Innovation Ventures (DIV)” was Steven Rynecki, Regional Innovation Advisor, USAID Asia. DIV is an open competition which seeks to support breakthrough solutions and interventions, Mr. Rynecki said.

Maiden visit by Ambassador of Mongolia

President Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai (left) and H.E. Mr. Battumur Chimeddorj.

Mongolia’s Ambassador to Thailand H.E. Mr. Battumur Chimeddorj on his maiden visit to AIT on 12 November 2014 revealed that all qualified Mongolian student applicants to AIT who receive an offer letter of admission would now be eligible to avail of government-funded scholarship opportunities. The envoy was accompanied by Mr. Batbaatar Togtokhbayar, Counsellor, Embassy of Mongolia, Bangkok.

This announcement is a result of the meeting of a senior AIT delegation led by President Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, which met the Mongolian Minister of Education and Science H.E. Mr. Luvsannyam Gantumur on October 20 during their visit to Ulan Bator.

Later, on 24 November, the President of the Mongolian University of Life Sciences Dr. Tumurbaatar Kheruuga paid a visit to AIT.

National Housing Authority Governor inaugurates 2-day workshop on lowcost housing

Mr. Krisda Radsakul

Mr. Krisda Radsakul, Governor, National Housing Authority (NHA) of Thailand, inaugurated the twoday workshop on “Technology solutions for low-cost housing” on 27 November 2014. The Governor stated that NHA’s focus is on reducing the construction time and cost of inputs, while increasing the efficiency of operations.

Dr. Naveed Anwar, Executive Director, AIT Consulting, stated that participants in the workshop came from Myanmar, Laos, Philippines and Thailand. He added that AIT had been working on the issue of infrastructure, construction and low-cost housing ever since its inception.

School of Management cracks global top 250 in B-School ranking by Eduniversal

School of Management.

The AIT School of Management (SOM) is a close runner-up to Chulalongkorn University’s Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration as the best business school in Thailand, according to the 2014 ranking of the world’s top 1000 business schools by Paris-based Eduniversal.

For the sixth year in a row, SOM was ranked in the top echelon of the nation’s business schools. The results placed the School of Management in the top 250 business schools worldwide, according to the ranking released in Istanbul in October. Seven business schools in Thailand were ranked, this year. SOM was one of only two institutions to be extended ‘4 Palmes of Excellence’ as a “top Business School with significant international influence.”

Thai Military delegations seek AIT partnership

Thai Military Research and Development Centre (MRDC) delegation at AIT.

Thailand National Defence College (NDC) delegation at AIT.

Two senior military delegations from the Thai Military Research and Development Centre (MRDC), and the Thailand National Defence College (NDC) visited AIT in November seeking collaboration with AIT.

On 4 November 2014, a ten-member delegation of the MRDC led by its General Director, Rear Admiral Sahapong Kreupetch, visited AIT seeking to tap into AIT’s research-based programs. Ambassador Pradap Pibulsonggram, Member, Board of Directors, TEAM, also participated in the AIT-MRDC deliberations.

On 17 November 2014, a six-member NDC team led by its Director, Lt. Gen. Surasit Thanadthang also sought AIT’s expertise and collaboration.

Poster exhibition demonstrates student research at AIT

Students at the Research Poster Exhibition.

The Student Union Research Exhibition organized on 5 November 2014 not only demonstrated the research capability of AIT students, but also attracted interest from private companies. The array of 18 research posters that adorned the display boards at the AIT Conference Center exemplified the focused research being carried out by students at AIT. A student-led affair, the one-day event coincided with AIT’s biannual career fair.

Says Muhammad Shafiq, Chairperson of the AIT Students Union Academic Committee, whose team organized the event, “The research exhibition had a three-fold purpose — to foster a research environment involving students and AIT administration, to provide a platform for AIT students to display their research, and to attract the

interest of private sector.” Based on the posters, three AIT students were approached by private ompanies who wished to learn more about their research.

V-Watch awarded prize at IT Princess Awards Competition

From left: Mr. Jednipat Moonrinta, Dr. Matthew Dailey, and Dr. Supakorn Siddhichai.

AIT’s Vehicle Watch System (VWatch), a project developed by a team of researchers from Computer Science and Information Management and Industrial System and

Engineering, recently received a prize at Thailand’s 9th IT Princess Awards Competition in the category of Embedded Applications and Tools.

Over 200 software developers participated in the competition organized by the Foundation for Research in Information Technology (FRIT). The AIT research team

received a 100,000 Thai Baht cash prize. The research team consisted of Dr. Mongkol Ekpanyapong (Principal Investigator), Dr. Matthew Dailey (Co-Principal Investigator), and team members Jednipat Moonrinta (Engineer and Research Associate in Computer Science and Information Management, AIT), Ramesh Marikhu (Engineer and Senior Research Associate in CSIM, AIT), and Vasan Timtong (Engineer and Research Associate in ISE, AIT). Dr. Supakorn Siddhichai of the National

Electronics and Computer Center (NECTEC) also served as a Co-Principal Investigator.

Campus vignettes come alive at AIT Video Competition

Screenshot of one of the videos.

From the swimming pool to the laboratory; from the endless assignments and tests to playtime; and from late study hours to the international culinary delights at AIT - these were some of the aspects about campus life covered by AIT students in the videos screened at the AIT Short Film Festival.

The creative talents of AIT students were on full display during the screening of six videos during the AIT Short Film Festival and Prize Distribution organized on 12 November 2014. Based on the theme “A day in the life of an AIT student,” students competed against each other to prepare short videos on their daily life. The six-video playlist can be viewed at this link: http://goo.gl/ULTxYC

AIT signs MoU with Thai TV Channel 3

Prof. Pennung Warnitchai (left) at the MoU signing ceremony.

AIT along with several organizations have jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Thai TV Channel 3 for sharing academic information, knowledge

sharing and news telecast.

The MoU was signed on 13 November 2014 between AIT and other partners including the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth); The Sustainability of Well-being for Thai People; World Health Organization - Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability (VIP) Center; National Institute for Road Safety Thailand; Thai

Roads Foundation; Thailand Road Safety Network; National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC); Road Accident Victims Protection Co., Ltd.; and BEC News Bureau Co. Ltd. Prof. Pennung Warnitchai of AIT’s School of Engineering and Technology (SET) signed the MoU on behalf of the AIT President.

Former faculty welcome invitation to be ‘Distinguished Adjunct Faculty’

AIT President Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai’s recent invitation to all ex-faculty members of AIT to re-engage the institute as ‘Distinguished Adjunct Faculty’ has been

extremely well received, based on the high volume of positive replies received from around the world.

In late October he invited all exfaculty “who had AIT in their heart” to complete a survey indicating the form of professional support they could offer. Central to President Worsak’s plan is that former faculty can maintain their professional affiliation with AIT by using AIT’s ID, business card and email address. In addition, AIT would provide a common office space with full-time secretarial support, whenever former faculty are present at AIT, the president pledged.

He writes: “Although the association will be based on a voluntary basis, ‘Distinguished Adjunct Faculty’ can be remunerated based on specific services to be rendered to AIT Schools, research projects or other fund generating units, by providing course teaching, research, outreach, consulting and developing new academic curricula.”

AIT alumnus selected eleventh President of Khon Kaen University

Dr. Kittichai Trairatanasiricha (right) being congratulated on the announcement.

An AIT alumnus, Dr. Kittichai Trairatanasiricha, has been reappointed the president of Khon Kaen University. The selection was formalized at the meeting of the Khon Kaen University Council held on 2 November 2014.

The announcement was made by Dr. Narongchai Adornseranee, Chairman of the University Council, after listening to the vision statement and presentations of three candidates. Dr. Kittichai received his Master’s in Engineering (Agricultural Machinery) from AIT in 1985.

AIT International Food Fair: November 2014

AIT-TU-NSTDA Marathon

A marathon was organized by AIT, Thammasat University and the National Science and Technology Development Agency on 14 November 2014.

“AIT Alive at 55” by AITAA Philippine Chapter

43rd AITAA (GBM) in Manila one for the ages

“AIT Alive at 55”, a new commemorative book documenting AIT during its 55-year history, was launched last week in Manila by the AIT Alumni Association (AITAA) Philippine Chapter. The publication’s release took center stage at a special welcome dinner on November 21 to kick-off the 43rd Governing Board Meeting (AITAA) from 21-24 November 2014.

Unveiled in the presence of the Thailand’s Ambassador to the Philippines H.E. Mr. Prasas Prasasvinitchai, Chairman of the AIT Board of Trustees Dr. Subin Pinkayan, AIT President Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, and AITAA President Mr. Thanin Bumrungsap, the book was  signed by former President of the Philippines H.E. Fidel V. Ramos. “AIT Alive at 55” is the brainchild of Editor-in-Chief Mr. Joseph Paul Sianghio, who championed the book along with Ms. Fe Nuestro-Ferriols and Mr. Dell Santos.” AIT Hall of Fame member and Filipino alumnus Prof. Ricardo P. Pama is a major contributor to the book.

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Credits

Editor: Bajinder Pal Singh bajinder@ait.asia

Photos: Paitoon Tinnapong

Contact: Media and Communications Unit at AIT mcu@ait.asia