Obituary Prof. Fumio Nishino

Prof. Fumio Nishino, who enthusiastically served the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Tokyo for nearly 40 years and who served as Professor and Vice President for Academic Affairs of the Asian Institute of Technology from 1984-86, passed away peacefully on Sunday, 6 May 2007 at the age of 71 years old.
Prof. Fumio Nishino received his B. Eng. and M. Eng. Degrees from the University of Tokyo, and Ph.D. at Lehigh University (USA) in 1964.
During his career he extensively researched in the fields of structural mechanics and steel structures.
At AIT from 1984 to 1986, he and his colleagues with counterparts at the University of Tokyo established the East Asian Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction (EASEC), a move that led to the first EASEC conference in Bangkok in January 1986. The EASEC has become a premier conference series in Asia, moving from city to city 10 times already.

After his retirement, he joined the Graduate School of Policy Science of Saitama University as a Professor in 2001 and later found the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. He then participated in a number of development projects including a key role in establishing the Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology at Thammasat University. During the past ten years, he was extensively involved in putting up the APEC Engineering Framework for Mutual Recognition of Professional Engineers. The past five years also gave him the opportunity to serve as Vice-Chairperson of the Committee of the Japanese Government for the Promotion of Private Finance Initiative.