On 29 January 2008, Professor Sudip K. Rakshit, Vice-President for research, received a visit from Dr. Gabriel de Taffin, outgoing Regional Director for Continental South-East Asia, and Dr. Jean-Claude Maillard, the new Regional Director for Continental South-East Asia as of 1 February 2008, both from the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (CIRAD). This meeting provided an opportunity to introduce AIT to Dr.  Maillard and to take stock of current and prospective collaborations between AIT and CIRAD. During their visit, Dr. de Taffin and Dr. Maillard also interacted with Prof.

Following the long collaboration between AIT and the University of Tokyo, Prof. Chongrak Polprasert of School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD), was invited to attend the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) annual meeting held at MIT, USA during 28 January - 1 February 2008. He co-chaired the session on "Sustainability for all: Implications of New Pathways for the Developing World" and presented a keynote address on "Sustainable Water Environment Management in Asia" highlighting the success of human resource development through collaboration between AIT and University of Tokyo and other donor agencies.

 
AIT, Global Carbon Project (GCP), and National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) jointly organized an International Symposium on "Urban Energy and Carbon Management: Challenges for Science and Policy" on February 4, 2008 and an International Workshop on "Urban Energy and Carbon Modeling" on February 5-6, 2008 at the AIT Conference Center.

A group of faculty members from School of Management (SOM) and School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD), with support from the Vice President for Academic Affairs Professor Peter Haddawy, submitted two pre-proposals to ProsperNET for possible funding.

AIT President Said Irandoust along with Dr. Kunnawee Kanitpong, Transportation Engineering, field of study Coordinator and Dr. Mukand Singh Babel, Water Engineering and Management field of study Coordinator, from the School of Engineering and Technology, visited Indonesia during 3-6 February 2008, highlights of which are provided below.

AIT recently played host on February 8th to a special lecture by Mr. Emaduddin Ahmad, Executive Director, Institute of Water Modelling (IWM), Bangladesh on the “Use of Mathematical Hydraulic Models to support IWRM in Bangladesh”. The event was organized by the AIT Golden Jubilee Fundraising Campaign under the leadership of Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein, AIT Vice President for Development and Resources and the faculty of the Water Engineering Management Faculty (WEM).

Mr. Emaduddin Ahmad has a professional career that spans thirty-six years in the planning and management of water resources.

AIT recently received grants for research, projects, training, and conference from various organizations as follows:

AIT has signed a new contract agreement with Poyry Energy Ltd (Switzerland) for a research project on Hydraulic Model Test of La Confluencia Hydroelectric Drop/Surge Shaft coordinated by Mr. Arturo Roa of Water Engineering and Management Field of Study, School of Engineering and Technology (SET). This project will run for 3 months with a total budget of 1 Million Baht.

On 31 January 2008, AIT President Said Irandoust met with Mr. Siizkhuu Sainbileg, Second Secretary from the Embassy of Mongolia, who accompanied the journalists from the Mongolian National Television. The television crew is making a documentary about Mongolian students studying at AIT, which will be broadcasted in the second half of February 2008. AIT President was also interviewed by the TV crew as part of their coverage on AIT.

On 31 January 2008, AIT President Said Irandoust met with Mr. Stephen B. W. Sim, CEO of ST International Co. Ltd., Taiwan, who is the Institute’s DBA program marketing representative in Taiwan, on how to further strengthen our collaboration. There are already a few students enrolled in Taiwan both in the regular and DBA programs, and they also discussed issues related to strengthening of the administrative processes and the quality of the program.

On 31 January 2008, AIT President Said Irandoust met with AIT alumnus Dr. Satya Priya (95 'AFE), who is currently the Assistant Vice President, Risk Management Solutions, based in India. Dr. Priya's work in the private sector entails high-end consulting with multilateral and bilateral funding agencies such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNDP, ISDR, IGES, and more.