K-water visit speaks of further collaboration
On 20 June 2006, Dr. Kyul-Ho Kwak, former Korean minister of Environment and currently president of Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) delivered a speech on the direction of environmental policies in the Republic of Korea as part of an ongoing lecture series, in the Milton Bender Auditorium. This lecture was jointly organized by The Korea Water Corporation, Thailand and AIT.
After the lecture, Dr. Kyul-Ho Kwak, president, K-Water; Mr. Yang-Soo Yoo, director-general of Water Resources Research Institutes; Dr. Ick-Hwan Ko, director of Water Resources and Environmental Research Center and Mr. Byunghoon Yune, manager/representative, K-Water office in Bangkok had a discussion with AIT President Said Irandoust; Prof. Vilas Wuwongse, vice president for external relations; Prof. Sudip Rakshit, vice president for research; Prof. Sivanappan Kumar, dean of the School of Environment, Resources and Development; Dr. Joydeep Dutta, associate dean of the School of Engineering and Technology; Prof. Jie Tae-Hong, visiting professor, School of Management; Dr. M. S. Babel, associate professor, SET; Dr. Oleg Shipin, associate professor, SERD; Mr. Tenzin Rabgyal and Ms. Hnin Aye Lwin, program officers from the External Relations and Communications Office.
K-water representatives expressed an interest in faculty visits to K-water and K-water representative visits to AIT, short-term programs, professional programs, enhancement of staff skills and joint research projects.
Possible K-water collaboration could involve the Asian Development Bank, UNESCAP and AIT's Integrated Water Resources Management field of study.
Prof. Irandoust welcomed K-water's suggestions and comments on the institute's five-year strategic development plan, and he welcomed K-water to join the new ownership model.
K-Water is one of the largest water resources companies in the world. AIT is working with the company toward closer collaboration, including an internship program that is currently hosting 14 AIT students in South Korea. The internship program, which started 1 June 2006, will train AIT students from various fields in the three schools and six nationalities: Bangladesh 1, Myanmar 2, Vietnam 1, Thailand 4, Lao P.D.R. 3, Nepal 3. The team leader is Zaved Hossain Khan from Bangladesh.