Indian President’s ‘Rashtrapati Ashiana’ to demonstrate innovative AIT technologies

Royal Audience for AIT scholars

ADB officials interact with scholarship recipients

AIT to help enhance capacity building under World Bank’s Sindh Barrages Improvement Project

AIT and UNU sign WEMS licensing agreement

AIT Alumnus appointed President SCG Cement Building Materials

AIT Alumna appointed MD of Nepal Telecom

Condolence: Dr Prabhat Kumar

AIT Cultural Show: 17 September 2016

AIT Alumni Association (Thailand) donates 250 traffic cones to AIT

HGST donates 2 KUKA robots to AIT

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Indian Presidential Secretariat to demonstrate innovative AIT technologies

President Pranab Mukherjee (center) at the foundation stone laying ceremony at Ashiana, Dehradun, India.

The renovated ‘Rashtrapati Ashiana’, the historic Dehradun-based Presidential Secretariat of the Indian President will now have an AIT tag. The “Innovation Technology Demonstration Project” at the President’s Secretariat will now have 12 new dwelling units that will be based on technologies researched and developed at AIT.

H.E. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone of the 12 dwelling units on September 27, 2016 — an event attended by AIT partners Dr. Praful R Naik, Director and CEO of Prashak Techno Enterprises, and Dr. Siddharth Jabade. Technologies that will be the basis of the renovation include interlocking bricks developed by AIT's Habitech Center, and two sanitation technologies (Anaerobic Buffer Reactor, and Constructed Wetland) developed under the Naturally Acceptable and Technologically Sustainable (NATS) platform at AIT. AIT's Dr. Thammarat Koottatep and Mr. Gyanendra Sthapit, along with AIT Solutions, will take a lead role in this project.

Royal Audience for AIT scholars

Twenty-three recipients of His Majesty King’s Scholarships, Her Majesty Queen’s Scholarships, and Loom Nam Khong Pijai Scholarships, were granted a Royal Audience by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn at the Chitralada Palace on 28 September 2016. The scholarship recipients included students of the August 2014 intake, who had just graduated from AIT in May 2016.

The ceremony was attended by Dr. Subin Pinkayan, Chairman, AIT Board of Trustees; Dr. Sahas Bunditkul, Chair of the AIT Executive Committee; Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, President, AIT; Prof. Sivanappan Kumar and Mr. Surendra Shrestha, AIT Vice Presidents; Dr Surachet Pravinvongvuth, RTG Faculty Representative; Ms. Chalita Lertwinyu, Director, Office of Host Country Relations (OHCR); Ms. Wannapa Pliansri RTG Coordinator; Dr. Tenzin Rabgyal, Admissions; and Scholarships Coordinator, and Ms. Wilailuk Yooprem, Senior Administrative Office, OHCR.

In an informal conversation after the ceremony, HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who is herself an AIT Alumna, inquired about the current state of affairs of AIT. President Worsak briefly reported to the HRH on AIT’s current financial health, the progress of campus renovation, and the soft opening of the modernized library.

ADB officials interact with scholarship recipients

A delegation of two officials of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) visited AIT on 8 September 2016, and interacted with senior officials of the AIT administration as well as scholarship recipients.

Leading the delegation, Mr. Masashi Tanabe, Alternate Executive Director for Japan, ADB, said he was keen to know more about the progress of the Asian Development Bank-Japan Scholarship Program (ADB-JSP) scholarship program.“We would like to meet the students and obtain their feedback,” Tanabe said. He was accompanied by Mr. Tatsuya Kanai, Advisor, Office of Cofinancing Operations (OCO), ADB . Welcoming them on behalf of AIT was Prof. Kazuo Yamamoto, AIT’s Vice President for Administration.

AIT to help enhance capacity building under Sindh Barrages Improvement Project

From left: Dr. Jonathan Shaw, Prof. Worsak Kanok- Nukulchai, Mr. Aijaz Shaikh and Mr. Arshad Memon.

AIT has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Irrigation Department, Sindh, Pakistan to establish a framework of cooperation under the World-Bank funded Sindh Barrages Improvement Project (SBIP). The MoU was signed by Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, President, AIT, and Mr Aijaz Shaikh, Project Director, SBIP, Sindh Irrigation Department, on 26 September 2016.

The agreement will address five aspects of capacity building including technical assistance, project management and procurement, finance and administration, environment, and communication and social development. Mr. Aijaz Shaikh, Project Director, SBIP, stated that the overall objective of the five-year project is to improve the reliability and safety of the Guddu barrage and strengthen the capacity of the Sindh Irrigation Department to operate and manage the barrage.

AIT and UNU sign WEMS licensing agreement

Screenshot of WEMS software.

AIT and United Nations University (UNU) have signed a formal l i c e n s i n g agreement for implementation of the project that assists in monitoring, trafficking and illegal wildlife crime. Licensing rights for the software platform, “Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System” (WEMS) have been granted to AIT on a non-transferable, royalty-free basis.

The agreement, which was signed by UNU Vice- Rector and Executive Officer Mr. Max Bond, and AIT President Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, seeks to bring together national enforcement institutions to a common data and reporting mechanism. This shall be an important component of the WEMS-Asia Secretariat at AIT which is being established under the aegis of AIT Solutions.

intERLab hosts Asia Pacific School of Internet Governance

APSIG participants at AIT.

Thirty-seven participants from 19 countries participated in the 2016 Asia Pacific School of Internet Governance (APSIG) organized by intERLab from 12-15 September 2016 at AIT.

Hailing from top organizations including the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), Com First (India), Korea University Open Net, Asia Pacific Institute for Digital Economy, and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), participants represented governments, international organizations, civil society, and the business sector. “The Asia Pacific School on Internet Governance (APSIG) serves several hundred Internet governance experts and leaders in Asia through courses on the Internet Governance,” Prof. Kanchana Kanchanasut, Director, intERLab said.

AIT Alumnus appointed President SCG Cement Building Materials

Aree Chavalitcheewingul

AIT Alumnus Mr. Aree Chavalitcheewingul has been appointed the next President of SCG Cement Building Materials Company Limited. The decision was taken by the Board of Directors of the Siam Cement Public Company Limited, and it shall be effective from 1 January 2017.

He has been serving as Executive Vice President at SCG Building Materials Co., Ltd. since July 2012. Mr. Chavalitcheewingul received his Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical, Honors) from Chiang Mai University (CMU) in 1985, Master of Engineering in Industrial Engineering and Management from AIT in 1992, and

Advanced Management Program (AMP) from Harvard Business School (2011).

AIT Alumna appointed MD of Nepal Telecom

Kamini Rajbhandari

AIT alumna Ms. Kamini Rajbhandari has been appointed as the new Managing Director of the state-owned telecom enterprise, Nepal Telecom. Her appointment was announced following a meeting of the Nepal Council of Ministers held on 22 September 2016. The first woman to hold this position, she was earlier serving as Chief Technical Officer (CTO) in the same company.

She was also awarded “Outstanding Woman Engineers’ Award” by the Nepal Engineers Association (NEA) on Engineers Day 2073. A graduate of Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, India (Electronics and Electrical Engineering, 1985); she completed her Master’s from AIT (Management of Technology, 2001).

Condolence

Dr. Prabhat Kumar

Condolence meeting at AIT.

Dr. Prabhat Kumar, Director of the Asian Center of Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (ACISAI) and Regional Coordinator of SRI-EC Project, passed away on 17 September 2016, at a hospital in Hyderabad, India.

An AIT alumnus (Agricultural Systems, 1996), he served as a Research Associate in Agricultural Systems Engineering (ASE) in 1996-1997, and left AIT to pursue his doctoral degree in Germany. He returned to AIT in 2006 to serve as a Research Specialist and became the Director of ACISAI in 2013. He is survived by his wife,

Dr. Abha Mishra and two daughters, Tanvi and Vagisha.

A condolence meeting was held in his memory at AIT on 23 September 2016.

AIT Cultural Show

Photos courtesy: Dharmana Harish Naidu and Mishkat Ullah.

AIT Alumni Association (Thailand) donates 250 traffic cones to AIT

Mr. Manat Supasirilu, Executive Secretary, AITAA (Thailand), and Mr. Paitoon Jiranantarat, Managing Director, Siam Yamato Steel Co. Ltd., donated 250 traffic cones to AIT on behalf of AITAA (Thailand). The gift was received by AIT’s Vice President for Administration, Prof. Kazuo Yamamoto; Dr. Surachet Pravinvongvuth, Mr. Wanchai Sophonsakulrat,and Ms. Sitahng Puttha.

HGST donates 2 KUKA robots to AIT

Prof. Manukid Parnichkun at the Western Digital donation ceremony.

H G S T (Thailand) of the Western Digital group has donated two sets of KUKA Robot, KR-16 model to AIT. Prof. Manukid Parnichkun attended the donation ceremony on 30 September at the Western Digital group in Bangpa-in Industrial Park, Ayutthaya.

Blast from the Past

When AIT conferred Honorary Doctorate on Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
When AIT conferred Honorary Doctorate on Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

From our November 1991 archives.

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Editor: Bajinder Pal Singh bajinder@ait.asia

Photos: Paitoon Tinnapong, Dharmana Harish Naidu, and Mishkat Ullah

Contact: Office of Media and Communications omco@ait.asia