Vietnam national Mr. Lai Nguyen Huy graduated from the Asian Institute of Technology on May 22, 2015.
But just a few weeks after earning his Master’s degree in Environmental
Engineering and Management, the newly minted alumnus received word in
the mail that his ‘student paper’ titled “Development of National
Industrial Emission Inventory for Vietnam” was selected as the 2015
winner of the prestigious West Coast Section of the Air and Waste
Management Association Student Paper Competition.
Huy, 25, explained that the paper was a part of his larger final
thesis. His study calculated the overall total of greenhouse gases
emissions in each of Vietnam’s 63 provinces. While still an master’s
student, he was able to precisely pinpoint the levels of the main
pollutants seeping into the air, such as Sulphur dioxide, carbon
monoxide, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, black carbon,
organic carbon and others.
His core findings were that the Red River basin area in northern
Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh metropolitan region in the south
experienced very high air-borne emissions compared to the rest of the
country. “After I calculated the inventory of GHG emissions, I
developed a method for modelling air quality," he said.
The Dong Nai province native is now employed as a research associate
in the Environmental Engineering and Management (EEM) field of study at
the AIT School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD.
As this year’s winner, Huy was invited to attend the association’s
annual conference and exhibition in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA on
June 22 – 25, and participate in the Student Poster Competition. But
due to work commitments, he was unable to travel to America to
participate at the ceremony.
He was, however, awarded a cash prize of US$ 500 from West Coast
Section A&WMA for his success, and will soon be presented with an
official award from his former academic supervisor Prof. Kim Oahn of
EEM, SERD.