HRH PRINCESS MAHA CHAKRI SIRINDHORN TO INAUGURATE TOURISM DESTINATION MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn will preside over the opening ceremony of a major international conference on Sustainable Community Tourism Destination Management, to be held on 27-29 November at AIT.

The Princess' inauguration of the event and the support of many regional and international partners are an honour for the AIT-based Canadian Universities Consortium Urban Environmental Management Project (CUC UEM).

The November conference is the first of its kind to be organised with a specific focus on sustainable tourism and community destination management.

Maximizing the Benefits of Biotechnology
'Modern biotechnology is not a silver bullet for achieving food security, but, used in conjunction with traditional or conventional agricultural research methods, it may be a powerful tool that should be made available to poor farmers and consumers in the fight against poverty.

AIT/AIM MoA signed

AIT signed a a two-year MoA with the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) on November 14, establishing co-operation programs to foster advancement in teaching, research, cultural understanding, as well as to enhance the international reputation of both institutes, through the exchange of postgraduate students, faculty members, and academic information and materials and by undertaking joint training programs in business and industry operations, research programs, conferences and other academic exchanges.

FACULTY PROMOTIONS

Upon the recommendation of the Academic Senate and endorsement of concerned Deans and the Provost, I have approved the promotion of the following faculty members from the rank of Assistant Professors to Associate Professor, effective 1 January 2001.

Dr. Kensuke FUKUSHI, School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD)/Urban Environmental Engineering and Management Program
Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim OANH, SERD/Urban Environmental Engineering and Management Program
Dr. Manukid PARNICHKUN, School of Advanced Technologies (SAT)/Industrial Systems Engineering Program
Dr. R. M. A. P. RAJATHEVA, SAT/Telecommunications Program

On behalf of all of us, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank them on this well-deserved recognition of their services to our Institute.

Visiting AIT in November

On November 1, Dr. Heinrich Geiger, Head of Asia Department, KAAD (German Catholic Academic Support Service for Foreign Students), visited AIT and met with AIT President, Prof. Jean-Louis Armand, and Prof. Mario T. Tabucanon, Provost.

NEW SERD PROJECT

The Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) Research Council has approved support to the 'Asian Regional Research Programme on Environmental Technology (ARRPET)' for three years from 01 January 2001 to 31 December 2003. Total support amounts to SEK 24 million.

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR VIETNAMESE NATIONALS

The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), Vietnam, is offering Doctoral degree scholarships with priority given to Vietnamese university lecturers and Vietnamese government civil servants. Interested applicants should apply in the following priority fields: Informatics, Biotechnology, Electronics; Social Sciences, Humanities; Natural Sciences; Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing; Economics, Management; Medicine, Pharmacheutical; and Art (Fine Arts). The GPA requirement is 3.5.

Interested Vietnamese Master's students, who are qualified and interested to pursue their Doctoral studies at AIT, may apply directly to their respective school Deans.

Who's Seating for Final Exams

Ms. Wilai Chiemchaisri (EVD978406), a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Technical
Science in the field of Environmental Technology and Management, Urban Environmental Engineering and Management
Program on Tuesday, 28 November from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. in room W117 (UEEM Seminar Room). Her dissertation is entitled Experimental Investigation of Nutrient Requirements, EPS Production and VOC Inhibition on Methane Oxidation in Tropical Landfill Cover Soils.

Year End Time Sheets

The Director of Finance would like to inform all staff that staff salary for December 2000 will be paid on 20 December. Time sheets, as usual, should reach the Payroll Section no later than 12 December.

Employees who work overtime or take leave during 12-22 December are required to submit an extra time sheet to be attached to the January 2001 time sheet.

Celebration of International Education Week and Fulbright 50th Anniversary

A symposium on 'Roles of Environmental Education in the Third Millennium'
was held on 15 November at AIT in observance of International Education Week and
the 50th anniversary of Fulbright.