AIT Campus Bulletin

In this issue:

A. Announcements 

B. Events 

C. Classifieds (jobs)

A. Announcements 

1) New Restrictions and Updates from the AIT COVID-19 Task Force

Email from the Director, Office of Academic Administration on 11 June 2021

Dear AIT Family,

Thailand Situation, Additional Restrictions and Implications for AIT –The Thailand Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has imposed a partial lockdown including curfew for Bangkok and nine other “Dark Red” provinces which includes Pathum Thani, where AIT is located, to combat surging virus cases and related deaths.  The curfew and the following restrictions will take effect from tomorrow, 12 July, and will be reviewed after two weeks:

• Work from home encouraged at maximum capacity

• Interprovincial travel discouraged

• Public transport must stop operating from 9pm to 3am

• Convenience stores must close from 8pm to 4am

• Malls closed except for food courts, pharmacies, supermarkets, restaurants, banks, financial institutions, and electronics shops, which can stay open until 8pm

• Restaurants, food stalls or cafés must close by 8pm

• Closure of spas, beauty clinics and massage shops

• Gatherings of more than five people banned

• Closure of all schools

• Curfew from 9pm to 4am

In light of the above, the following additional restrictions will apply for AIT with immediate effect:

Closure of Gate 1 from 9pm to 4am – The only gate in and out of AIT – namely Gate 1 – will now be CLOSED from 9pm to 4am, starting tonight.  While we have been told that AIT is a self-contained “development” and residents can be out of their homes during the curfew period within AIT campus, we urge you to also observe this curfew as much as possible.  We have not imposed a mandatory curfew at AIT yet because we do understand that some people may want to jog or walk late at night or do other (non-team) outdoor exercises early in the morning.  But if we detect any gatherings between 9pm and 4am or any violation of the physical/social distancing guidelines, this curfew may well happen at AIT.  Please note that the new measures announced by the Thai Government have now been published in the Royal Gazette, which states that if you violate the Stay-At-Home order between 9pm-4am, you will be violating the Emergency Decree which is punishable by up to 2 years in jail and/or up to 40,000 baht fine.

Food outlets – All food outlets on campus will only serve takeout during this time with no dining-in services available.  Additionally, the AITCC Dining Room will be closed at least for a week with immediate effect, due to positive cases detected there—see below.

Visitor/Guest Access – Please stop inviting your personal and professional guests/visitors from coming to AIT for any visit.  It is likely that a prohibition of entry into AIT by ALL visitors, except mission essential and service personnel, may be introduced to keep our campus safe.  Similarly, we urge you to please limit your trips off campus to ONLY necessary and essential errands.  Other casual day visitors (e.g. to buy take-out food, coffee, or deliver goods, etc) will have to make arrangements with the concerned establishment, which are allowed to ONLY make deliveries at the Main Gate.

Please be reminded that this also applies to the use of the sports fields and other sporting facilities, which are RESTRICTED for use by the AIT community only.  NO outside visitors will be permitted to use these facilities until further notice.  These sports that allow outside visitors and non-AIT residents to participate in sporting activities on the AIT campus will lose the privilege to use the facilities on campus.  It has come to our attention that non-AIT residents are participating in sporting activities on the AIT campus.

Staying Overnight at AIT if Travelled Elsewhere in Thailand – If you are a registered resident of AIT but have left the campus to stay elsewhere in Thailand for one or more nights, then on your return to live at AIT, you WILL be required to do a 7-day self-isolation, either in the AIT self-isolation dorm or in your own quarters, to be determined on a case-by-case basis.  The Task Force wants to minimize movement in-and-out of AIT, so those who have two residences MUST decide whether you wish to stay at AIT or stay off-campus.  We recognize that this additional expectation may be challenging, but given the critical and grave situation in Thailand and around the world, any transgressors may lose the privilege to continue to stay in AIT accommodation. 

The Task Force knows that for AIT to maintain its defense against COVID-19, we need to LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER.  We ALL need to support these measures of the Task Force for the sake of safeguarding our campus.  Please follow the Task Force requirements, restrictions, and expectations, and if you notice someone who does not, either dissuade these people courteously, or if they are uncooperative and do not desist, you can inform the Security Guards immediately.  Everyone needs to be cooperative for the good of the community – please help remind each other of maintaining physical/social distance, to exercise individually and responsibly, to practice good personal hygiene, to halt inviting visitors, and to uphold the expectations of the TF and your fellow members of the AIT family. 

Positive Cases from Contractor Staff – We regret to inform you that there are new positive cases from among our contractor staff, i.e., two AITCC Dining Room contractor staff tested positive on 8 and 10 July (last days on campus were 5 and 9 July), respectively, and are undergoing treatment at their homes off campus.  They reside with their families off-campus, one of whom at the community along Khlong Nueng (Khunchon 10) that was mentioned at the most recent TF message as a risk area.  It has been determined that these contractor staff got infected from outside AIT.  Because on 28 June dining-in services were no longer available at this dining hall, which only serves take-out, these contractor staff have no close contact with others.  In addition, because of the earlier positive case of another AITCC contractor staff, all AITCC contractor staff have been very cautious and strictly complied with safety precautions.  The dining room was immediately sanitized by the technical team and is now closed for at least one week.

For your information, of the three other contractor staff who were in close contact with the earlier positive cases and awaiting their COVID-19 test results, two were already confirmed negative of COVID-19.  The last one is still waiting for the results.  All of them will continue their self-isolation at their homes off campus.  Our thoughts are with these staff, and we wish them a speedy recovery.

Vaccination for Students and Contractors – The first tranche of AIT students to be vaccinated are waiting for their scheduled time.  All students should be assured that AIT is working hard to obtain vaccines for them by exploring all possible channels.  Our Office of Thailand Affairs (OTA) is working closely with the concerned Thai authorities, and we hope to have steady vaccinations for our students soon.  As for our contractors, Thammasat University Hospital has agreed to vaccinate them in the near future.

Thai Government Advisory on Masks – The Thai Department of Disease Control has advised the public to wear two layers of masks to prevent the COVID-19 infection while in congested places.  People should wear a fabric mask on top of a surgical or medical face mask. The two layers of masks can prevent the spread of the virus up to 90%.  So, if people cannot avoid being in crowded places for a long time and cannot keep the proper distance or must get close to people with a high risk of getting an infection, wearing two layers of masks can help prevent the spread of the disease.

Other Policies – All the other earlier announced policies still stand and please check with the Task Force if you have any queries and also visit the Intranet page where all COVID-19 related information and updates from the Task Force are available.  Under the current tense circumstances, we urge you to continue to maintain a very high level of safety and hygiene measures, avoiding large crowds, and please visit the AIT Medical Center if you feel unwell.  We apologize for asking everyone to make sacrifices at this stressful time.  But please remain resolute and please stay healthy and thank you for your CONSCIENTIOUS support and understanding to keep yourself and AIT safe.  

Thank you for your cooperation.

AIT COVID-19 Task Force

2) The Webinar on COVID-19 & Plastic Plight

The United Nations Environment Programme (Regional Office for the Asia-Pacific) and Asian Institute of Technology (AIT, Thailand) is pleased to invite you to attend the Webinar on COVID-19 & Plastic Plight on 15 July 2021, 4:00 PM (Bangkok time).

This webinar will focus on the COVID-19 & Plastic Plight: A Reflection From One Year of the Pandemic.

We hope that you will be able to join us and actively contribute to this dialogue. Don't miss it!

To go directly to registration page, click this link

For more information please contact:
Ms. Pondchanok Piraintorn (Japan)
Project Coordinator
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)

3) Meet the Expert on "Strengthening & Repair of Existing Structures using External Post-Tensioning" by Mr. Dirk Bondy

We are pleased to invite you to the Meet the Expert by Mr. Dirk Bondy, President, Seneca Structural Engineering, Inc., USA on 22nd July 2021 (09:00 hrs Bangkok time).

Topic - Strengthening & Repair of Existing Structures using External Post-Tensioning

About the Speaker

Dirk Bondy received his BS degree from Cal-Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1988 and his MS degree from UC Berkeley in 1989. He is president of Seneca Structural Engineering, Inc. in Newport Beach, CA and is a registered structural engineer in the states of California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii. Mr. Bondy is also a licensed C-50 contractor in the state of California.

Dirk Bondy has been a practicing engineer since 1989. His professional interests and expertise are in the areas of post tensioned concrete, seismic design and retrofit. In addition to his structural design experience, Mr. Bondy teaches “Design of Prestressed Concrete '' at UCLA and at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He has also been an instructor at the University of California, Irvine and Cal Poly, Pomona where he taught courses on Reinforced Concrete Design, Pre-stressed Concrete Design, Structural Design, Seismic Design and Steel Design. He is the co-author of “Post-Tensioned Concrete Principles and Practice” and has also been published in numerous journals and conference proceedings.

To join, please register here

B. Events

Training Courses/ Conferences/ Workshops

1) Online Course "Certification Course on Lean Six Sigma Green Belt"

2) 100 Innovations x Entrepreneurs : What Drives the Future?