News

Above from left: Dr.
Andras Vedres, IFIA president and
Dr. Siriwan Suebnukarn

An AIT and Thammasat University collaboration on the
intelligent clinical training system named COMET, recently bagged the
gold medal during the world competition of Computer Implemented
Invention (CII). The competition was organized by the
International Federation of Inventors' Association
(IFIA) and took place at the International Invention
Exhibition, Su Zhou, China on 16-19 October
2008. 

This project was jointly developed by an AIT
alumnus Dr. Siriwan Suebnukarn who is now an
Assistant Professor at Thammasat University’s Dental School and
an AIT adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of
Engineering and Technology, together with Prof.

 Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh  Environmental Engineering and Management Asian Institute of Technology P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand Tel: +66-2524-5641Email: kimoanh@ait.ac.thDr. Nguyen Phoc DanFaculty of EnvironmentHo Chi Minh City University of Technology268 Ly Thuong Kiet St., Dist.

On 13 October 2008, AIT signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with
Ethiopia's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD). The
agreement underlines providing postgraduate studies opportunities at
AIT for staff members of MoARD as part of their capacity building
initiatives.

On 17 October 2008, the AIT Conference Center Auditorium was packed
with students from the AIT Community School in national costumes to
observe and celebrate UN Day on 24 October 2008. Parent, school
teachers and the rest of the AIT community joined in the event which
carried the theme “Environmental Sustainability: An Essential Tool for
Poverty Alleviation”.

According to Dr. R.K. Padam, the AITCS
principal, approximately 300 students from 34 nationalities donned
their national costumes in the spirit of the UN Day.

Mr. Uttam Shrestha (pictured above, left), an AIT alumnus
from Nepal, was recently awarded the Nepal Bidhya Bhusan Padak-Kha
(Nepal Academic Excellency Award – B) at the World Literacy Day and
National Education Day, organized by Nepalese Ministry of Education on
8 September 2008.

The award was presented by the President of Federal Republic of Nepal.

On the tenth of October, the formal inauguration of the AIT-Balkh
University (BU) project office took place at AIT. Acting Chairperson of
the AIT Board of Trustees, H. E. Mrs. Merete Fjeld Brattested (fourth
from left) , Ambassador of Norway to Thailand, who was the guest of
honor, was invited to perform the honorary and symbolic ribbon cutting.

October 9 marked the AIT Institute Forum held at the AIT Conference
Center Auditorium. The event attracted a large number of concerned
faculty, staff and students of the community.
 
During the Forum, Prof. Said Irandoust, AIT president, provided an
overview on the financial performance of the Institute, comparison
vis-à-vis the outcomes over the past 3 years, student enrolment trends
and the key elements of the AIT Strategy 2013. He also touched upon
some of the hot topics such as outsourcing, upgrading of AIT
facilities, performance evaluation and employee benefits, fundraising
and AIT Golden Jubilee preparations.

On October 9 2008, Prof Said Irandoust delivered the welcome and
opening address at the fifth follow up workshop on the Greater Mekong
Subregion Energy and Environment Network (GMSEENet) Knowledge
Management Toolkit Project, which took place at AIT. This activity was
organized by the Greater Mekong Subregion Academic and Research Network
(GMSARN) including the efforts of Professor Vilas Wuwongse, Vice
President External Relations; Dr. Weerakorn Ongsakul, GMSARN Secretary
General, and Dr. Paul Janecek, Coordinator of the Computer Science and
Information Management Field of Study.

H.E. Mr. Anand Panyarachun, former Chairman of the
AIT Board of Trustees, and former Prime Minister of Thailand, had a
public lecture on “Sustainable Democracy’ which he delivered in
Brussels on 24 June 2008, as part of the Amartya Sen Lecture
Series on Sustainable Development in association with Cambridge
Society, Oxford Society and Harvard Club, of Belgium.

AIT President Said Irandoust’s interview
with the “The Nation” newspaper was published on Saturday, 4 October,
titled: "AIT's agent of change".  This was based on the 17
September interview by The Nation newspaper’s Senior Editor, Mr.
Nophakhun Limsamarnphun, which was arranged by Mr. Shawn Kelly, AIT
News and Media Specialist and Ms. Natnipha Vimuktanon, Assistant
Information Officer, from the Promotional Support Services Unit.