AIT recently played host to the Research Colloquium of UNEP Asia Pacific Regional University Consortium (RUC)  on Environment for Sustainable Development. The two-day event on April 24 - 25 attracted academics (above) from  Australia, America, China, and Japan.

AIT’s own Professor Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology, was recently invited by the Professor Sung Woo Lee, President of the  Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea to present a keynote lecture at the International Symposium Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea, organized at Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, on 17 April 2008. The theme of the symposium was “The Next 20 years of Computational Structural Engineering”.  The symposium attracted more than 300 participants.

On April 9, 2008 AIT President Said Irandoust along with Professor Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Dean, School of Engineering and Technology (SET) and Dr. Joydeep Dutta, Associate Dean SET, met with Professor Gautam Dasgupta, Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, ColumbiaUniversity.

On 9 April, Mr. Stanley Li, CEO of Netswitch Technologies, which is headquartered in USA and has branch offices in Hong Kong and Thailand, visited AIT and explored possibilities of collaboration with AIT in Green IT. The Green IT concept proposed will basically utilize the 3R concept (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) such as simplifying data centers and networking structures by using virtualization and other technologies and the use of open source software, resulting in reduced power consumption and saving in IT costs.

On 17 April, AIT President Said Irandoust met with Dr. Sadakatsu Nishikawa, Vice President, Saga University, Japan; Mr. Isao Mitsutake, Chief of International Affairs Division; and Professor Kazunori Hokao who is a former AIT faculty, Saga University; who visited AIT for a MoU signing ceremony between AIT and Saga University, Japan.

Mr. Faisal Qureshi an announcer, producer and TV artist from Pakistan, visited Thailand during the first week of April.  He was introduced to AIT through Dr. Naveed Anwar, and has shown interest in making a documentary regarding Pakistani professionals and students in Thailand, and selected AIT as its focal point.

On 11 April, Ms. Pongtip Thesapu, Communications Director for Unilever Thai Trading Limited, paid an exploratory visit to AIT to discuss possibilities for multiple forms of cooperation between Unilever and AIT. Ms. Pongtip was received by Dr. Pritam Shrestha, Head of ERCO, who gave a presentation of AIT programs and activities and later escorted Ms. Pongtip on a short tour of the AITCommunitySchool.

On 7 and 8 April Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein, Vice-President Development and Resources along with Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe Director Fundraising Campaign visited Bangladesh. They met with Professor Engr Hannan, Rector of the  EngineeringStaffCollege, who is willing to provide the infrastructure to set up an AITCenter in Bangladesh.

Professor Peter Haddawy, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, organized a 2-day workshop on 6 and 7 April on Change Leadership for Teaching and Learning.  The workshop was run by Professor Lynne Hunt, Pro Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning at the University of Southern Queensland.

Students’ Photo Competition and Photo Gallery Exhibit Last Friday, on the evening of April 4th, the main atrium of the AIT Center was the conspicuous locale for a photo exhibit that was the culmination of a month-long photo competition for the students of AIT.In what was a true display of cooperation and organization between the Student Union (SU) Campus and Environment Committee and the office of the VP Academic Affairs, the temporary photo gallery shone a worthy spotlight on many newly discovered photographic talents evident on campus.