AIT opens Nanotechnology Center of Excellence, laboratory
A ceremony today marked the opening of a Nanotechnology Center of Excellence at the Asian Institute of Technology focusing on the application of nanoparticles. The center is jointly supported by Thailand’s National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) of the National Science and Technology Development Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology and AIT.
The occasion also officially opened AIT’s nanotechnology laboratory.
NANOTEC Director Wiwut Tanthapanichakoon and AIT President Said Irandoust cut the ribbon on AIT’s nanotechnology laboratory.
The Center of Excellence will address the creation of knowledge in areas relevant to Thailand, its industries and its people. Activities proposed include joint research with other local and international universities and institutes, education and training personnel in the field of nanotechnology, technology transfer and promotion of public and industrial awareness of nanotechnology.
“AIT has always adapted to changes in the past from a highly technical civil engineering to system and industrial engineering, to management of environment and resources, to business management and entrepreneurship and then on to high-end technologies,” said Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, dean of the School of Engineering and Technology. “In the years to come, Informatics, Biotechnology and Nanotechnology have been identified by AIT as the three key focal areas to have a great potential for competitiveness and sustainable growth of countries in this region.”
Work in the field of nanotechnology has been taking place at AIT’s School of Engineering and Technology for more than three years. Nanotechnology group leader Dr. Joydeep Dutta said research began with limited funds and a borrowed table. Even up to today, the researchers have been using very basic equipment to produce some high-tech results.
“This is coffee-cup technology,” Dr. Dutta said at the laboratory’s opening. “All our experiments are inexpensive and use simple technology, but we try to do interesting things.”
Some of the ongoing projects include tsunami early warning sensors, the use of nano-particles to rapidly detect bacteria and printed electronics using nanoparticle-based conducting inks.
“Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary science and technology that requires immediate attention from diverse conventional fields of knowledge,” AIT President Said Irandoust said. “The academic diversity of this emerging field going through the entire gamut of cross-disciplinary subjects require exactly the approach taken at (AIT).”
Under the agreement, AIT and NANOTEC may share faculty or staff, and NANOTEC will support the center at 5 million baht each per year for five years matched by AIT in cash and kind. The center of excellence will be part of a nationwide network of nanotechnology centers at an ultimate total of seven universities.
“It is expected that this will lead to the development of human resources in Thailand,” said Prof. Wiwut Tanthapanichakoon, director of NANOTEC. “I’m looking forward to the contributions of the Center of Excellence to see the birth of new products in Thailand.”