WEEK #18: 2 – 8 May 2016
In this issue:
Announcements
Institute Advisory Board
Dear Members of the AIT Community,
I wish to inform you of the formation of an Institute-level Advisory Board (ILAB) according to the provisions in the AIT Bye-laws. The Institute-Level Advisory Board which is appointed by the President, provides advice to the Institute on strategic and policy related issues, including those concerning academic activities, developing linkages with the corporate world, strengthening partnership and developing synergies with alumni, and towards enforcing the gender-related goals in research and education activities at AIT.
The Members of the reconstituted AIT ILAB listed in alphabetical order, is as follows. The brief profiles are also provided:
1. Professor Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar, Vice Chancellor, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia.
2. Professor Tissa Illangasekare, AMAX Distinguished Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Director, Center for Experimental Study of Subsurface Environmental Processes, Colorado School of Mines, USA.
3. Dr. P.J. Lavakare, Senior Adviser, Institute of International Education (IIE-US) in India, India.
4. Professor Wang Li, Deputy Director, International Research and Training Center for Rural Education (INRULED), Beijing, China.
5. Dr. Za-Chieh Moh, Former Provost of AIT, Chairman of the Moh and Associates Group, Chinese Taipei
6. Professor Tso-Chien Pan, Former Dean of the College of Engineering, Executive Director, Institute of Catastrophe Risk Management, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
7. Mr. Ragnar Soegaard, Former Norwegian Seconded Faculty to AIT, Board Member and Senior Advisor, Clean Energy Group, Norway
8. Professor Charas Suwanwela, Former President, Chulalongkorn University, Former Interim President, AIT, Former Council Chair, Chulalongkorn University, and Council Chair, Prince Songkla University, Thailand.
9. Professor William C. Webster, Former Vice Provost, Professor Emeritus, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
10. Professor Prida Wibulswasdi, Former Member of the AIT Executive Committee, Former President of Shinawatra University, Fellow of the Royal Institute of Thailand, Thailand.
The first meeting of the ILAB will be held in October of this year.
Kind regards,
Professor Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai
AIT President
AIT Business Plan-A Strategic Framework (2016-2020) and Feedback
Dear all
The draft of the “AIT Business Plan-A Strategic Framework (2016-2020)” was presented to a special meeting of the Executive Committee on 28 January 2016, and at the 18th February 2016 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
A brief summary of the comments at the Board is as follows: The Board Chairman had commented that the “AIT Business Plan-A Strategic Framework (2016-2020)” is not a document that is cast in iron but an evolving one. The comments from Trustees covered various aspects ranging from the need to adapt the thematic areas according to the changes in the environment and to foster closer collaborations with the private sector looking at not just a 5 but 10 year or longer horizon; importance in further consolidating upon AIT’s niche areas which would also help improve upon its rankings; building an endowment fund which is key to AIT’s long-term sustainability; attracting high quality faculty with research potential and having in place adequate mechanisms that incentivize faculty; engaging students in entrepreneurship and leadership projects; strategizing better vis-à-vis China; further leveraging AIT’s alumni pool; reducing and consolidating the number of academic offerings with a focus on key areas for which AIT is known regionally; not missing out on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and importance for AIT to come up with a new resource mobilization strategy, among others.
In follow up to the meeting of the Board, the AIT Management further deliberated on the “AIT Business Plan-A Strategic Framework (2016-2020)” during its meetings in March, and was agreed that feedback from the AIT community be sought on the document. The “AIT Business Plan-A Strategic Framework (2016-2020)” will be further deliberated at the 14th July 2016 meeting of the Board of Trustees (and a status report made at the 25th April 2016 meeting of the Executive Committee).
I would accordingly like to invite you to provide your comments and suggestions on the “AIT Business Plan-A Strategic Framework (2016-2020)” at the link: https://drive.google.com/a/ait.asia/file/d/0B1V4JP6Pch6qVEl6Q2ZFb0xubDg/view?usp=sharing . For ease of reference and compilation, may I request you to please kindly indicate the section along with the page number, while submitting your comments. Therefore, please send your feedback, preferably not later than 24 May 2016 addressed to aitemployees@ait.asia . This is a group email id that has been created for interaction of both faculty and staff of AIT.
Thank you.
Prof. S. Kumar
Vice President for Academic Affairs
May 2016 AIT Newsletter released
The May 2016 edition of the monthly AIT Newsletter has been released by Media and Communications Unit (MCU).
The PDF and EPUB versions are attached with this email. Mobile and Tablet users can download the EPUB and open in the file in their preferred reader (eg. iBooks for iOS, Google Play Books/Aldiko/Cool Reader for Android).
The Newsletter can also be downloaded from these links:
PDF: http://goo.gl/g1ryb6
EPUB: http://goo.gl/IUpO6b
MOBI: http://goo.gl/sWH3m7
Toyota Foundation: AIT Visit on 11 May & Call for Proposals
The Toyota Foundation has recently launched its Call for proposals for its International Grant Program for the Fiscal year 2016. The Sponsored and Contracted Projects Unit is pleased to announce the visit to AIT by Mr. Hideo Tone from the Toyota Foundation on Monday, 11 May 2016.
The International Grant Program of the Toyota Foundation continues the fourth year of its pilot program “Cultivating Empathy Through Learning from Our Neighbors: Practitioners’ Exchange on Common Issues in Asia,” focusing on countries in East and Southeast Asia.
Faculty and staff who would be interested in applying for funding from the Foundation are invited to attend the consultation session with Mr. Hideo Tone.
Date: 11 May 2016
(Times) 12:30 - 1:30 pm Presentation by Toyota Foundation
(Times) 1:30 - 2:00 pm Consultation session
Venue: AIT Boardroom, Administration Building
Call for Papers for International Journal of Exploration in Science & Technology (iJEST)
International Journal of Exploration in Science & Technology (iJEST)
Call for Papers - Vol. 1 Issue 1 (June - 2016) - Introductory Issue
iJEST is intended to facilitate a forum for academia, technocrats, industrial professionals, researchers and scholars around the globe to share innovative ideas, experiences, practices and research outcomes in science and technology that serves as a catalyst for the academic development. The first issue of Journal will be launched in the month of June. The Journal publishes original research of high quality to attract contributions from the relevant local, regional and international communities. All the accepted papers will be published quarterly, available online.
Research work related to the field of Electronics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Basic and Applied Sciences will be accepted and published.
All the submitted papers will be peer reviewed and checked for plagiarism before publication.
Faculty, students, and researchers are invited to submit your next article of your research/review/study in engineering & science research area for publication FIRST issue of iJEST.
Author Benefits:
- Reliable, easy, transparent & rapid publication process.
- Paper will publish online.
- Indexing of papers will be done in all major online bibliographic journal databases (under process).
- Open Access Journal Database for High visibility and promotion of your article.
- Author Research Guidelines & Support.
You may submit manuscript for review through Email at chiefeditor.ijest@gmail.com , There is NO PUBLICATION FEE.
Last date of article submission - 31 MAY 2016
Author Notification - Within TWO weeks
Issue Publication - June 2016
For more details visit: http://ijest.webs.com
Campus Updates
Travel Click moves to new location
Travel Click (Thailand) Co., Ltd. will move to a new location at the Administration Building (next to Hom Krun Coffee Shop). The grand opening of the new office will be presided over by AIT President Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai on May 3 at 11:00 a.m.
AIT staff and members are invited to join the Open House for the whole day.
Additional AIT Official Holidays on Friday 6 May 2016
With reference to the Thai Government has announced that Friday, 6 May 2016, has been declared a public holiday to boost tourism.
The AIT President advised that in cooperation with our host government. AIT shall consider Friday, 6 May as an additional AIT Official Holiday.
Therefore, Coronation Day on Thursday, May 5 and Friday, May 6 are holidays.
Clarification on May 6 holiday
Dear AIT Community,
The President has clarified the Announcement of Additional AIT Official Holidays on 6 May 2016 to be read as follow:
"With reference to the Thai Government has announced that Friday, 6 May 2016 has been declared a public holiday to boost tourism.
The President advised that in cooperation with our host government, we shall consider Friday, 6 May as additional and AIT Official Holidays"
This additional holiday will be "granted" only to the cases that would not cause any impact on prescheduled activities such as the exams. In the past, in the same situation, the exam schedule would remain and the concerned party would need to take the responsibility. No compensation was granted for any incurred cost.
Please be guided, accordingly.
Thank you.
Jiraphong Bumpenyoo
Imterim Head, Human Resources office
AIT Library Closing Dates
AIT Library will be closed on the following dates:
Thursday, 5 May 2016 (Coronation Day)
Friday, 6 May 2016 (approved by the Institute as holiday)
Pizza Promotion at AITCC
The AIT Conference Center (AITCC) welcomes AITians to join its "Pizza with special more cheese" Promotion starting 11 April 2016 until further notice.
Two menus are available for serving - Hawaiian and Chicken Ham.
Buy 1 Get 1 Free!
Price: 129 Bht. at the restaurant; 149 Bht. For take away.
Events
AIT’s 125th GRADUATION
Morning Ceremony
School of Environment, Resources and Development
School of Management
PROGRAM
Academic Procession
* Introduction by the Vice President for Academic Affairs
* Graduation Message by the President
* Graduation Address by Dr. Doulaye Koné, Deputy Director, WASH Program
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
* Installation of Emeritus Professors
* Installation of Professors
* Conferment of Doctoral Degrees
* Message by a Doctoral Graduate
* Intermission
* Conferment of Master Degrees (SERD) and Awarding of Prizes
* Conferment of Master Degrees (SOM) and Awarding of Prizes
* Conferment of Bachelor Degrees (SERD)
* Message by Dr. Tong Ki Woo, Governor of Education, Daegu Metropolitan City, Korea and AIT Prominent Alumnus
* Message by the Most Outstanding Master’s Graduate
* Academic Recession
125th GRADUATION
Afternoon Ceremony
School of Engineering and Technology
PROGRAM
Academic Procession
* Introduction by the Vice President for Academic Affairs
* Graduation Message by the President
* Graduation Address by H.E. Mr. Jesús Miguel Sanz, Ambassador, Head of Delegation European Union, Thailand
* Installation of Emeritus Professor
* Installation of Professor
* Conferment of Doctoral Degrees
* Message by a Doctoral Graduate
* Intermission
* Conferment of Master Degrees and Awarding of Prizes
* Conferment of Bachelor Degrees
* Message by Dr. Suleeporn Choopavang, Director of Foreign Affairs Department
Office of the Chaipattana Foundation and Prominent Alumnus
* Message by the Most Outstanding Master’s Graduate
* Academic Recession
Collaboration for Innovation
AIT is hosting an AIT Solutions event under the theme Collaboration for Innovation, on 12-13 May 2016 at the AIT Conference Center to highlight its expertise in providing integrated solutions and services to the industry and community, apart from providing a platform for collaborative innovation.
More details: http://www.ait.ac.th/news-and-events/2016/events/consultation-for-innovation/#.Vv3l48v-IdU
http://collaborationforinnovation.solutions.ait.asia/
AIT Research Competition 2016
Call for Ideas: AIT Research Competition 2016
Do you have a research / business idea that has the potential to be a scalable solution?
Join the AIT Research Competition, a platform for AIT researchers to develop their research/ business idea to scalable solutions by working with industry experts and venture capitalists. Winners will have the opportunity to access adequate funds, technical assistance, and guidance required to bring your innovative ideas to life.
More details at these links : http://collaborationforinnovation.solutions.ait.asia/download/Poster_event.pdf
http://www.ait.ac.th/news-and-events/2016/events/ait-research-competition-2016/#.VwHXKcv-IdU
Faculty and Staff Travel
Serena Amatya / Kathmandu, Nepal / 18 October 2015 – 29 February 2016*
Dr. Kyoko Kusakabe / Luang Namtha, Laos PDR / 15 – 24 December 2015*
Ms. Colleen Curran / Suva, Fiji / 24 April – 5 May 2016
Dr. Kyoko Kusakabe / Seoul, Korea / 27 April – 2 May 2016
Mr. Shahin Hossain / Pattaya, Chonburi / 30 April – 1 May 2016*
Prof. C. Visvanathan / Istanbul, Turkey / 30 April – 5 May 2016
Dr. Shabhakar Dhakal / California, USA / 2 – 7 May 2016
Dr. Peeyush Soni / Yangon, Myanmar / 3 – 4 May 2016
Dr. Supat Wangwongwatana / Nagoya, Japan / 3 May – 11 May 2016
Prof. Nazrul Islam / Hanoi, Vietnam / 4 – 7 May 2016
Mr. Shawn P. Kelly / China / 4 – 7 May 2016
Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai / 4 – 8 May 2016
Ms. Wannapa Pliansri / China / 4 – 8 May 2016
Prof. Mukand Singh Babel / Hanoi, Vietnam / 8 – 10 May 2016
Dr. Sangam Shrestha / Hanoi, Vietnam / 8 – 12 May 2016
Dr. Nguyen Hoang Duc / Hanoi, Vietnam / 8 – 12 May 2016
Prof. Kanchana Kanchanasut / Geneva, Switzerland / 9 – 13 May 2016
*(Staff or faculty member travelled and returned to AIT prior to documentation received for publication)