AIT President Said Irandoust congratulated AIT alumnus Yu Xiaogang on
being honored with the prestigious Magsaysay award. “It is only
befitting that an alumnus of AIT should be bestowed this award on the
occasion of the Golden jubilee celebrations of the institute’,
President Irandoust said. This is the second time that the AIT has been
associated with the Magsaysay Award, the President said, adding that
the AIT had received the Magsaysay Award for International
Understanding in 1989.
While announcing the award to Yu Xiaogang from China, the citation
from the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) mentions the role the
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) played in shaping the personality
of the award winner.
“His (Yu Xiaogang) interest in the environment was cultivated during a
stint in the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, and was further
deepened when he attended the Asian Institute of
Technology, where he earned a master's degree in watershed
management”.
Yu Xiaogang studied Chinese Literature History at Yunnan University in
China and earned a Masters degree in Natural Resource Management and
Planning at AIT, Thailand. He was also a doctoral candidate in
Watershed Management at AIT. Yu Xiaogang was employed by the university
from 1993 to 1994 as a research associate in Gender and Development
Studies. He was enrolled as a doctoral candidate in the same field of
the School of Environment, Resources and Development.
When Yu Xiaogang won of the Goldman Environmental Prize (USA), while
he was still enrolled as a student of AIT and was featured in the AIT Alumni
Newsletter Issue 2, Volume 5. April 2006
Yu Xiaogang is the founder director of Green Watershed , an NGO
involved in Watershed Management.