Professor Ram M. Shrestha of Energy field of study, School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD) has received a new research grant from the UNEP Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP) for a project on Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC), amounting to US$ 129,500. This will run up to 31 December 2008.
During the week AIT signed a new MOU with the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, Thailand (NECTEC) for the project coordinated by Professor Kanchana Kanchanasut, Director of intERLab, amounting to 1.9 million Baht entitled "Interconnectivity between Mobile Ad Hoc and Fixed Infrastructure Networks for Multimedia Disaster Emergency Communications".
AIT also signed an agreement for a Tsunami Science and Preparedness Program with the University of Washington, which is coordinated by Dr. Amrit Bart, from the Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources Management field of study, SERD. The total budget for the project that will run for one year is US$137,000.
Dr. Lal Samarakoon from the Geoinformatics Center, School of Engineering and Technology (SET) has received a new research grant from the Center for Spatial Information Science, University of Tokyo for the project entitled "Thailand Geographic Information System Development" with a total budget of 3.4 million Yen for 1.5 year duration.
Dr. Roberto Clemente, Dr. Mukund S. Babel and Dr. Sylvain Perret, from the Water Engineering and Management field of study, SET, have received a total of US$ 14,968 from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for their project on "Strengthening the Participatory Irrigation Management and Development Strategy" in Cambodia.
Professor Sudip Rakshit, Vice President for Research, who is also a faculty in the Food Engineering and Bioprocess Technology field of study, SERD, has received a grant of US$ 15,000 from FAO in support of a study on product and process innovation in the food industry in Thailand. Furthermore, Professor Rakshit has also received a grant in the amount of 20,000 Euros from the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) in support of his project on "Valorization of tropical perishable plant amylaces in South-East Asia".