AIT Alumns Stars in Sri Lankas First Satellite Launch

TRANSFORMING AIT

AIT at 60 years: Photography Competition by AIT Students Union

Dr. Roger Levermore named New Dean of School of Management

AIT Alumnus is President of Hung Yen University of Technology and Education

International Engagements

Seminars and Talks

News You Can Use

Coming Up

Social Media

Contact

AIT Alumns Stars in Sri Lankas First Satellite Launch

Ms. Dulani Chamika Withanage, an alumna of the Mechatronics program at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), is a key person associated with the development of Sri Lanka’s first satellite known as Raavana 1. Weighing 1.1 kilograms, the cubesized satellite was launched into space from the mid-Atlantic space station in Virginia on 18 April 2019.

Ms. Dulani Chamika paid tribute to both AIT and her faculty advisor Prof. Manukid Parnichkun. “AIT is my second home,” says Dulani, “and it is there that I grew up as

an independent person,” she adds. She credits AIT for laying the foundations for her research, particularly through the time she spent working in the Mechatronics laboratory

after completing her studies.

“It was a student project, and I became associated with the project during my further studies at the Kyushu Institute of Technology,” says Dulani. She joined the BIRDS-3

project, which seeks to take the first step toward creating a home-grown space program by designing, building, testing, launching, and operating the first satellites for participating nations. Led by Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology, it involves students from Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and Japan.

“My specific role in the project concerned the Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS),” reveals Dulani. “After deployment, the angular velocity of the satellite can be very high. This implies that we need to stabilize the satellite so that it can perform its mission properly and communicate with the ground station,” she explains.

TRANSFORMING AIT

This year is the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). In order to celebrate our past sixty years of illustrious history of contribution to capacity building research and academics, a number of actions and events are taking place all through the year. This celebration will involve students and staff and faculty and alums presenting the best of AIT in their own way, and these year-long events are designed not only to remember our legacy but to forecast the changes taking place at AIT as it enters the next 60 years. This is why the slogan for our 60th Anniversary is TRANSFORMING AIT. And a logo, designed by our internal graphic designer, gives an “action-oriented” dynamic feeling to symbolize the anniversary. This logo will be on our AIT literature and significant programs during 2019.

AIT’s 60th anniversary has already been launched with the publication of two brochures: An AIT Public Relations Brochure and an AIT 60th Anniversary Donation Brochure. Both sport the fresh new look of AIT, with the second describing the needs of AIT in terms of fundraising for the work of transforming AIT.

The first significant happening of the 60th Anniversary is the April 1 arrival of the new Vice President of Academic Affairs Professor Deepak Sharma and the new Vice President of Knowledge Transfer Dr. Naveed Anwar. On May 1, the new Vice President of Administration Mr. Russell Rein reports to duty. On July 1, the new Dean of School of Engineering and Technology Professor Dieter Trau arrives, and on August 1, the new Dean of School of Management Dr. Roger Levermore arrives. They will form the core of the new leadership team which, along with President Eden Woon, will work with our faculty, students and staff on transforming AIT to become more global, more innovative, more relevant, and more entrepreneurial, while continuing our focus on our social impact core strengths.

60th Anniversary is a significant milestone, and we hope you will join us at AIT’s 60th Anniversary activities. AIT is excited about its next 60 years, while being deeply appreciative to those who were such an important part of AIT in the past 60 years.

(This is an abridged version of an article that was published on the AIT website. Read the full article at this link: https://www.ait.ac.th/2019/04/transforming-ait/)

AIT at 60 years: Photography Competition by AIT Students Union

Dr Roger Levermore named New Dean of School of Management

Dr. Roger Levermore of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) will assume the post of Dean of School of Management on August 1, 2019. He will concurrently bear the title of Associate Professor. Dr. Levermore is presently the Associate Director of CUHK’s MBA Program and Associate Professor of Practice in Management, and prior to that he was the Associate Director of the MBA Program of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Associate Professor of Business Management Education.

Both MBA programs have been consistently ranked within the top 60 in the world in the past five years by the Financial Times. He moved to HKUST in 2012 from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. At Liverpool, he was Director of both MBA and undergraduate business programs. At all these institutions, Dr. Levermore has won prestigious teaching awards, excelling in teaching and extremely popular with students.

AIT Alumnus is President of Hung Yen University of Technology and Education

AIT Alumnus Dr. Bui Trung Thanh has been appointed the new president of Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, Viet Nam. He has been appointed for a term from 2019-2024. Prior to the appointment, he was serving as Dean, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering , and as Vice Dean for Research and Development at the Faculty of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the same university.

Dr. Bui Trung Thanh completed his Masters' of Engineering and PhD from AIT in 2005 and 2008 respectively. Prof. Manukid Parnichkun was his supervisor during his Master's and Doctoral research at AIT. Author of a book titled ‘Digital Electronics: Science and Engineering,’ Dr. Bui Trung Thanh has worked on robotics, advanced control engineering, evolutionary computation, and embedded systems and circuit design.

International Engagements

University of Washington

26 April 2019: Prof. Jeffrey M. Riedinger, Vice Provost for Global Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. In the photograph he is seen (extreme left) with Prof. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, Dr. Ekbordin Winijkul and Prof. Chongrak Polprasert.

Cornell University

29 March 2019: Prof. Kathryn J Boor, Dean of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In the photograph, from left to right are: Dr. Loc Thai Nguyen, Dr. Abha Mishra, Prof. Eden Y Woon, Prof. Kathryn J Boor, and Dr. Anil Kumar Anal.

USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism

26 April 2019: University of Southern California (USC) Associate Professor Patricia Riley. In the photograph, from left to right are: Prof. Deepak Sharma, Dr. Joyee S. Chatterjee, Dr. Patricia Riley, and Dr. Eden Y Woon.

Kathmandu University

19 April 2019: Vice Chancellor of Kathmandu University Dr. Ram Kantha Makaju Shrestha. In the photograph Dr. Shrestha (right) is seen with President Dr. Eden Y Woon.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

1 April 2019: Prof. Stefan Östlund, Vice President for Global Relations, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Prof. Stefan Östlund also delivered a talk on "KTH Royal Institute of Technology: A Leading Institution on Engineering Education, Research, and Collaboration."

Simon Fraser University

26 March 2019: Simon Fraser University (SFU) President and Vice Chancellor Prof. Andrew Petter. In the photograph Prof. Andrew Petter (left) is with President Dr. Eden Y Woon.

Seminars and Talks

Big Data for Power and Energy

1 April 2019

Dr. Juergen Bender, Bender-IS Co. Ltd.

Air Pollution Awareness Workshop on Impacts of PM2.5

Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP/AIT).

3 April 2019

Information Session on Fulbright Scholarships

3 April 2019

Ms. Preeyawan Sakornyen, US Embassy.

Studying STEM in the US

3 April 2019

Mr. Benjamin Dobbs, New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), New York, USA.

Seminar on Virtual Reality (VR) Technology

10 April 2019

Dr. Sirisilp Kongsilp, Thammasat University

Presentation by U.REKA Deep Tech Funding

17 April 2019

Saranporn Sornpisan

News You Can Use

RTG Fellowships at AIT

Read more: https://www.ait.ac.th/admissions/scholarships/rtg-fellowship/

Deadline: 20 July 2019

Coming Up

AIT Graduation: 17 May 2019

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Editor: Bajinder Pal Singh bajinder@ait.ac.th

Photos: Paitoon Tinnapong, Samphat Semathong, and  AIT Students Union

Contact: Office of Media and Communications omco@ait.ac.th