NSRC, which had donated 250 wifi access points to AIT immediately
after the 2011 Thailand flood, added yet another gift of 250 more wifi
access points to help augment AIT’s network. The total NSRC donation to
AIT now touches USD 100,000.
Visiting AIT for the first time after the flood, he was greeted by
Prof. Kanchana Kanchanasut, AIT’s Vice President for Research, who
preceded Steven Huter’s induction to the Internet Hall of Fame by an
year. While Steven was inducted in the Internet Hall of Fame this year
(2014), Prof. Kanchana achieved that august status in 2013.
“It is heartening to see AIT rebounding after the flood,” Steven
remarked, who last visited the campus in 2008. He shared his moments of
anxiety when he saw photographs of AIT’s flooded campus for the first
time. “Our immediate task was to help AIT restore its connectivity,” he
remarked. Coordinating with Prof. Kanchana and her staff including Mr.
Viraphan Samadi, Training Manager, intERLab, Steven’s team shipped 250
wifi access points to AIT.
The restoration of internet connectivity at AIT was the subject of an
email that the NSRC team received from the AIT Student Union President.
“It was one of the finest emails that I have received,” Steven narrated
to an audience comprising of the AIT President Prof. Worsak
Kanok-Nukulchai, Prof. Kanchana, Prof. Kazuo Yamamoto, Vice President
for Resource Development, Dr. Gabrielle Groves, Head, External
Relations and Communications Office (ERCO), and Mr. Viraphan.
Prof. Worsak thanked NSRC and Steven Huter for their support to AIT,
as he elaborated on how the AIT library was being modernized. Steven
mentioned the “Digital Scholarship Center” at the University of Oregon,
which is used by students and faculty to create digital content. All
thesis are archived at this Center, which has also taken the lead in
archiving history and artwork of the native Americans, Steven added.
The Digital Scholarship Center also allows students to create their own
digital portfolio thereby enhancing their learning experience. He
expressed the possibility of Oregon’s Digital Scholarship Center
sharing insights its experience to help the modernization of the AIT
Library.
NSRC, which based at the University of Oregon, was established in 1992
to provide technical assistance to organizations setting up computer
networks in developing areas for collaborative research, education and
international partnerships. The NSRC is partially funded by grant from
the International Research Network Connections (IRNC) program of the
National Science Foundation and Google, with additional contributions
from dozens of public and private organizations.
More details about Steven Huter are available at this link: http://internethalloffame.org/inductees/steve-huter
More information about NSRC is available at this link:
http://www.nsrc.org/about.html
