WEEK #3: 15 – 21 Jan. 2018
In this issue:
(i) Presidential Report highlights key Institutional achievements
The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) has fully recovered from its worst crisis, and it is now ready to welcome fresh ideas that can take the institute to greater heights.
This was the sentiment expressed by AIT President Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai is his report presented to the Board of Trustees during the meeting held on 11 January 2018.
President Worsak highlighted five key steps that had helped AIT reach this stage — regaining trust of the Royal Thai Government and improving employee morale, achievements in international ranking systems, rejuvenation of campus facilities and environment, reorganizing of academic structure, and the implementation of n incentivized Responsibility Center Management (RCM). His report can be downloaded from this link ( Presidential Report to the Board).
The President also presented key indicators including faculty and student trends, operational performance, research output and quality, and 48 key indicators of institute’s performance. The presentation is available at this link ( Key Figures & Trends for Stakeholders).
(ii) New Director of the Geoinformatics Center (GIC)
Email from AIT President: 12 Jan. 2018
Please be informed that with effect from 1st January 2018, Dr. Manzul Kumar Hazarika has assumed the position of Director of the Geoinformatics Center (GIC). Dr. Hazarika will carry out the coordination and administrative responsibilities of the Geoinformatics Center.
On behalf of all members of the AIT community, I wish to express my appreciation to Dr. Lal Samarakoon for his efforts and valuable contributions made during his 14-year term of office as the Director of the Geoinformatics Center over the past 20 years of dedicated service to the Institute. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) for seconding Dr. Lal to AIT for the past 14 years. It has been a pleasure to have worked with him in his capacity as the Director of the Geoinformatics Center. I am confident that we will continue to benefit from his good services as a colleague.
At the same time, we congratulate Dr. Hazarika on his new assignment, and wish him every success in this challenging endeavour. I am grateful to Dr. Hazarika for having accepted to assume additional responsibilities, and look forward to continue working with him in this new capacity. I also encourage everyone to offer their full support and cooperation to the newly-appointed Director of the Geoinformatics Center in the best interests of the Institute.
Prof Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai
President
Asian Institute of Technology
(iii) Revised Personnel P&Ps (PA-1-1-1 and PA-1-3-3): Employee Benefits and Welfare
Email from Director, Office of Academic Administration: 10 Jan. 2018
This is with reference to the President's 8 January 2018 message to the AIT community.
At the 18 December 2017 meeting of the AIT Management, on the endorsements of the Finance & Resources Committee and AIT Management Team, the President approved the following revised Institute P&Ps:
§ (revised) PA-1-1-1 Employment of Faculty: General Work Regulations
§ (revised) PA-1-3-3 Employment of Staff: General Work Regulations
• Revised Benefits and Welfare (section VI.; Annex 3; and Annex 4) [see attached document for details of revisions] with effect from 1 January 2018
These P&P statements are Intranet-published at (PA) Personnel Affairs,
(iv) Announcing the AIT Student Blog Contest (Jan 2018)
Message from OMCO: 12 Jan. 2018
Dear Students,
What happened when you entered AIT for the first time? Were you excited or overwhelmed? Was it challenging or fascinating? Or was it a combination of all these feelings? And how did AIT treat you during the subsequent days (or conversely how did you treat AIT?
Pen your thoughts, and give it a catchy headline. Write a blog post, attach a few photographs and send it to us.The best entry will win a cash prize of 3000 THB, while the second and third entries get 2000 THB and 1000 THB respectively, The best entry will also be posted on the AIT website.
The ideal post ranges between 300-600 words, but we not penalize if creativity demands that you violate these parameters.
As a guide, we are providing the link to the entry that won the first prize during the previous semester. https://www.ait.ac.th/2017/10/first-days-ait/
The contest is open to all AIT students, though we specially encourage freshly enrolled students to apply.
Deadline: 31 January 2018 (midnight).
Send your entries to omco@ait.ac.th .
Please write "Blog Contest" in the subject heading.
(v)Library orientation for January 2018 semester
Email from Library: 9 Jan. 2018
AIT Library will arrange library orientation for January 2018 semester from 15th - 19th January. The morning session begins at 9.00 a.m. and the afternoon session at 13.00 p.m. Please select the date and time convenient to you and send e-mail to Khun Watcharin at watcharin@ait.ac.th. She can also be reached at Tel. extension - 5853.
If these dates (15th -19th January 2018) are not convenient for you, library orientation for a small group can be arranged. Please make an appointment with Khun Watcharin.
(vi) Winners of Auxiliary Services Concessionaires Survey 2017 Raffle
Email from Auxiliary Services: 4 Jan. 2018
We would like to thank the AIT Community for providing us your valuable inputs & suggestion by participating in the Auxiliary Services Concessionaires Survey during December 2017.
As a gesture of appreciation to those who took their time in participating in this survey, a raffle draw was held and the winners are as follows:
1st Prize 2 (Two) Winners of a Power Bank
shrsubina@ait.asia
st119360@ait.asia
2nd Prize 2 (Two) Winners of a Bluetooth Speaker
st118764@ait.asia
thaniya@ait.ac.th
3rd Prize 2 (Two) Winners of a 64 GB Thumb Drive
boonjira@ait.asia
st119193@ait.asia
4th Prize 3 (Three) Winners of 32 GB Thumb Drive
st119632@ait.asia
st20000739@ait.asia
prakash@ait.ac.th
Consolation Prices 10 (Ten) Winners of Hom Krun Coffee Beverage coupon for 2 persons
st119466@ait.asia
st119336@ait.asia
st119528@ait.asia
st118392@ait.asia
st119424@ait.asia
chiu@ait.asia
st118211@ait.asia
st20001098@ait.asia
suwaree@ait.asia
st119434@ait.asia
May we request the winners to claim their prizes at the following:
Office: Office of Facilities and Asset Management (OFAM)
Building: Physical Plant (2nd Floor)
Room: 207
Contact Person: Ms. Churairat #5026
Period of claiming: 8- 19 January 2018 only
Time : Office hours only
(vii) ERP Offline
Please be informed that ERP is offline every day, January 2-31, 2018
From 11:30 - 13:00 during offline period finance has to process the transaction
of Y2017 (Due to Year-end closing).
(viii) AIT Official Holiday 2018
Email from Office of Human Resources Services: 23 Nov. 2017
AIT Management Team has approved AIT Official Holiday 2018 as follows:
January
1 Mon New Year's Day
March
1 Thu Makha Bucha Day
April
6 Fri Chakri Memorial Day
13 Fri Songkran Festival
16 Mon Substitute for Songkran Festival
May
1 Tue National Labor Day
29 Tue Visakha Bucha Day
July
27 Fri Asalaha Bucha Day
30 Mon Substitute for H.M. the King's Birthday
August
13 Mon Substitute for H.M. the King's Mother Birthday
October
15 Mon Substitute for H.M. late King Bhumibol Memorial Day
23 Tue Chulalongkorn Memorial Day
December
5 Wed Birthday Anniversary of H. M. late King's Bhumibol
25 Tue Year-End Break
26 Wed Year-End Break
27 Thu Year-End Break
28 Fri Year-End Break
29 Sat Year-End Break
30 Sun Year-End Break
31 Mon Year-End Break
(ix) Vacant Seats Available for Staff Vans
Email from Office of Human Resources Services: 9 Jan. 2018
Kindly be informed that the available seats for AIT Staff Vans are indicated as follows:
Route 1: Latplakaow - Ramintra - Sapanmai - Phaholyothin km. 27 - AIT, still has 3 seats available (from 4 seats left 1 seat for relaxing space )
Route 2: Sathorn - BTS Morchit - Vibhavadi - AIT , still has 4 seats available ( from 5 seats left 1 seat for relaxing space )
Route 3 : Nonthaburi - BTS Ministry of Public Health - Pongpetch - Laksi - Vibhavadi - AIT, still has 3 seat available (from 4 seats left 1 seat for relaxing space)
Route 4: Thonburi- The Mall Tha-pra - Pinklao Intersection- Rama VII Bridge -Vibhavadi - AIT, still has 4 seat available (from 5 seats left 1 seat for relaxing space)
For further communication and reservation, please contract Khun Jirada at ext.5018 or jirada@ait.asia .
(i) LECTURES / SEMINARS / CONFERENCES
(a) A Special Lecture by Prof. Maria Elektorowicz, Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada: 15 Jan. 2018
A Special Lecture (Monday, January 15 from 2-3 pm) to be delivered by Prof. Maria Elektorowicz, Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
LECTURE: “Sustainable decentralized system for recovery water from wastewater using membrane electro-bioreactor (MEBR)”
Date: Monday, 15 January 2018
Time: 14.00-15.00 hrs.
Place: S-101 (SERD Meeting Room)
SPEAKER’S PROFILE
Dr. Maria Elektorowicz is a professor in Environmental Engineering in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering at Concordia University located in Montreal (Quebec), Canada. Beside Concordia University she has been professionally active at McGill University (Canada), Flinders University (Australia), University of Constantina (Algeria), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland) and others.
ABSTRACT
Centralized wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) consist of many operation units, while each unit is dedicated to the removal of a distinct wastewater component recognized as a pollutant of environment. Subsequently, existing wastewater treatment facilities have a large footprint and use a significant amount of energy. On other hand, the access to clean water declines due to development of megacities, pollution of water resources, an excessive usage of water for food production - to mention a few factors among many. A newly developed technology called Membrane Electro-Bioreactor (MEBR or SMEBR) is a sustainable technology which permits on water recovery directly from wastewater in centralized and decentralized WWTPs. Then, it can be applied in megacities as well in remote locations.
(b) Pedagogical Workshop: New paradigm of Smart Learning – Flip Learning: 16 Jan. 2018
A workshop of Flipped Learning will be organized by Dr. Malay R Dave of JIS Group, Kolkata (India) on 16 January 2018 from 09:30-17:00 hours at the AIT Conference Center.
More details: https://www.ait.ac.th/event/workshop-flipped-learning/
(c) A special talk on "Machine Learning, Cognitive Engineering and Applications in Radar": 17 Jan. 2018
A special talk on "Machine Learning, Cognitive Engineering and Applications in Radar" by Dr. Amit K. Mishra, Electrical Engineering Department, University of Cape Town will be held at AIT.
Date: Wednesday, 17th January 2018
Time: 13:30 - 15:00 hours
Venue: Room TC102, Telecom building
Abstract:
Data processing is one of the major components of radar system design. A major effort from any radar engineering firm is spent in processing the data so as to extract information of value from that. Mostly, till the date, radar data or signal processing has followed a “Generative Model”. A generative model is one in which we follow the classic Bayes way of looking at data and extracting information from the same. This has been the major way to extract information and to make decisions in radar systems. As opposed to the generative model, there is the competing Discriminative Model which endeavors to estimate the posterior probability directly. This uses the wealth of algorithms known as Machine Learning to do the job.
In this talk, we shall explore both these models. Then we shall look at the taxonomy of machine learning algorithms. Then we shall have a quick introduction to deep-learning and cognitive architectures. We shall also discuss some of the results we have obtained using these new set of tools.
Biography:
Prof Amit Kumar Mishra finished his PhD from University of Edinburgh in 2006. Since then he has been working as an academic in various reputed organizations like IIT, ANU, and currently in UCT. His main area of expertise is in radar system design, VLSI design and applied machine learning.
(d) Thanat Khoman Lecture Series: 20 – 22 Feb. 2018
Tue Feb 20th 11:00am - 4:00pm
Thanat Khoman Lecture Series will be organized in February 2018. It will be delivered by Dr. A R Chamberlain, Former President, Colorado State University (CSU).
The first lecture will be held at the AIT Auditorium on 20 February 2018, followed by two lectures on 21 February 2018 at the Chulalongkorn University, and on 22 February 2018 in Bangkok.
(ii) COURSES / TRAININGS
(a) Thai, Chinese and French Courses for Beginners
Email from Language Center: 8 Jan. 2018
The Language Center is pleased to announce the opening of language courses.
• Survival Thai Course for Beginners
· 22 January – 7 March 2018
· Monday and Wednesday
· Time: 17:00 – 18:30
· Total of 20 hours
· Course Fee: 2,000 baht
• Chinese Course for Beginners
· 22 January – 7 March 2018
· Monday and Wednesday
· Time: Group 1 (17:00 – 18:30) Group 2 (12:00-13:00)
· The course fee is 1,000THB due to the kind support of the Chinese Government through the Confucius Institute. (Refunds are not available.)
• French Course for Beginners
· 31 January – 16 March 2018
· Wednesday and Friday
· Time: 17:00 – 18:30
· Total of 20 hours
· Course Fee: 2,000 baht
Register and make a payment at the Language Center, Room 216.
(b) Training Programme on Economics of Climate Change Adaptation: 12 – 23 Mar. 2018
The Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific at the AIT, in cooperation with UNDP and USAID Adapt Asia-Pacific, will organize the second run of the training course on the Economics of Climate Change Adaptation under the Climate Change Asia initiative from 12 – 23 March 2018 in Bangkok (exact location to be confirmed)
More details: https://www.ait.ac.th/events/
(i) New AITCC Annex & renovation of car park near Arcade
A new AITCC Annex building will be constructed opposite to AIT swimming Pool/AIT Solutions. The construction work will start from 1 October 2017 and expected to be completed by April 2018. To prepare the area for construction, the car park area opposite to swimming pool/AIT Solutions will be demolished partially and a new sewage line will be laid from Arcade area.
During the process of this work, the area will be barricaded and there might be some disturbance as well as noise.
Please be also informed that currently partial section of car park area opposite to Arcade is being renovated. It may take a week to complete the work and the area will be closed.
Dr. Oleg Shipin / Ayuthaya, Chainat, and Nakhon Sawan, Thailand / 1 – 3 August 2017*
Dr. Vilas Nitivattananon / Ayuthaya, Chainat, Nakhon Sawan, Thailand / 1 – 3 August 2017*
Miss sirinapha Srinonil / Ayuthaya, Chainat, Nakhon Sawan, Thailand / 1 – 3 August 2017*
Dr. B.H.W. Hadikusumo / Vietnam / 4 – 8 January 2018*
Dharma Raj K.C., Nabil Tahmidul Karim, Sanjana Jain / Chiangmai, Thailand / 7 – 10 January 2018
Dr. Vilas Nitivattananon, Ms. Sirinapha Srinonil, Ms. Saniwan Buaban / Nakhon Pathom and Kanchanaburi, Thailand / 9 – 10 January 2018*
Dr. Indrajit Pal / Raiganj, India / 9 – 12 January 2018*
Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe / Singapore / 11 – 13 January 2018*
Dr. B.H.W. Hadikusumo / Myanmar / 12 – 15 January 2018
Prof. Kyoko Kusakabe / Yangon, Myanmar / 12 – 16 January 2018
Dr. Sanit Arunplod / Fuzhou, China/ 14 – 18 January 2018
Prof. Mukand Singh Babel / Ranchl, India / 16 – 18 January 2018
Dr. Atitaya Panuvatvanich / Shanghai, China / 17 – 19 January 2018
Ms. Pantaporn Sittplangkoon / Shanghai, China / 17 – 19 January 2018
Ms. Wilailak Yooprem and Ms. Kanchana Wilailak / Phitsanulok, Thailand / 19 January 2018
Prof. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh / Louisiana and San Francisco, USA / 11 December 2017 – 22 January 2018
*(Staff or faculty member travelled and returned to AIT prior to documentation received for publication)
Position: Administrative Staff (Webmaster) (Office of the Media & Communications)
Ref. No. 51/17
Deadline: 15 January 2018
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/485
Position: Administrative Staff (Social Media and Promotions Coordinator) (Office of the Media & Communications)
Ref. No. 52/17
Deadline: 15 January 2018
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/486
Position: Administrative Staff (IT Officer) (Internet Education and Research Laboratory)
Ref. No. 01/18
Deadline: 26 January 2018
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/491
Administrative Staff (IT Officer) (Internet Education and Research Laboratory)
Ref. No. 02/18
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/492
Deadline: 26 January 2018
Position: Director/PRINCIPAL for AIT INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (AIT International School)
Ref. No. 50/2017
Deadline: 31 January 2018
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/483
Position: Administrative Staff (Accommodation Manager) (Office of Facilities and Assets Management )
Ref. No. 53/17
Deadline: 31 January 2018
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/487
Position: Administrative Staff (Accommodation Clerk/Assistant Accommodation Officer) (Office of Facilities and Assets Management )
Ref. No. 54/17
Deadline: 31 January 2018
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/488
Position: Administrative Staff (Cafeteria Supervisor) (Office of Facilities and Assets Management )
Ref. No. 55/17
Deadline: 31 January 2018
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/489
Position: Receptionist / Operator (Office of Facilities and Assets Management )
Ref. No. 56/17
Deadline: 31 January 2018
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/490
Position: Technical Staff (Technician) (School of Environment, Resources & Development)
Ref. No. 45/17
Deadline: 31 January 2018
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/477
Faculty Position (School of Engineering & Technology)
Ref. No. 04/2017
Deadline: 15 February 2018
http://www.hro.ait.ac.th/job/show/484