On Friday, 23 May, AIT received Professor Pierre Lunel, former
President of the University of Paris 8, currently inter-ministerial
delegate to student guidance, and Professor Jacques Gelas, former
President of the National Superior School of Chemistry of
Clermont-Ferrand, currently delegate for international relations of the
Conference of Directors of French Engineering Schools, both members of
a mission nominated by the French Government to study international
student mobility.

On 20 May, AIT received H.E.
Professor Tissa Witharana, Minister of Science and Technology,
Government of Sri Lanka; H.E.
Professor J.B. Disanayaka, Ambassador Sri Lanka to Thailand and
also AIT trustee; and Professor
Sirimali Fernando, Chairperson, National Science Foundation Sri
Lanka.

On Wednesday, 21 May, President Irandoust met with Mr. Syed Monzur Hussain Bokhari,
President of the AITAA  Bangladesh Chapter who was accompanied by
Mr. M.A. Sobhan, Managing
Director, Design Planning and Management Consultants Ltd. and Mr.
Sobhan, who is an AIT alumnus.

The annual consultation between the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MFA) and AIT was held on 20 May 2008 at AIT. The meeting was
held to review the progress of activities of the Norwegian-AIT
Cooperation Programme for 2007 as well as to receive an update on AIT
academic and administrative matters.

To
promote an atmosphere of research, acknowledge and showcase outstanding
research conducted by its students, the Institute conducts an annual
theses competition.  The 3rd AIT Masters Theses Competition was
conducted last 14 May 2008 among AIT masters students graduating this
month in seven categories, namely: civil engineering, development,
energy & environment, industrial systems engineering, information
& communications technologies, management, and resources.

“Try not to follow
where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and
leave a trail.”
                         
                                     
- AIT President Said Irandoust, 22 May 2008 

Graduation day at AIT! For the hundreds of students awarded
graduate degrees at the 109th Graduation Ceremony of the
Asian Institute of Technology, the above remark by AIT
President Prof.

The AIT community joined together on Wednesday, 21 May, 8:00 p.m. 
at Korea House for an interfaith candle-light vigil to pay its utmost
respects to the many thousands of people who lost their lives in the
recent disasters in Myanmar and China.

AIT offers its condolences on the tragic
loss of life, including that of school children, resulting from the
major earthquake in China’s
SichuanProvince. The
magnitude of the disaster has been extremely hard to comprehend and the
close ties AIT enjoys with China render
this loss even more poignant.

In a well-deserved victory, two
graduating students from the School of Engineering tied for the much
coveted first prize award in AIT’s inaugural video competition
highlighting research.

[v]thesis, AIT’s newest initiative from
a joint effort by the office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
(VPAA), the Student Union (SU) and the Promotional Support &
Services Unit (PSSU), was launched on 20 May 2008 at the Milton Bender
auditorium.

AIT Extension have the following programs scheduled:- A course on implementing of ERP application and management from 21April to 2 May 2008 for participants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lankafor a total budget of 382,800.- The 2nd AIT-ACIAR (Australian Centre for InternationalAgricultural Research) professional development program on deliveringquality extension services from 28 April to 9 May 2008.  This ACIAR-financedprogram for participants from ACIAR’s Smallholder Agribusiness DevelopmentInitiative (SADI), Indonesia has a total budget of Baht 1,197,419.- ACIAR also sponsors a professional development program onagribusiness development and management from 28 April to 10 May 2008 forparticipants from ACIAR’s Smallholder Agribusiness Development Initiative(SADI) and from Jember University, Indonesia.