AIT Campus Bulletin

In this issue:

A. Announcements 

B. Events 

C. Classifieds (jobs)

A. Announcements 

1) New Language Center Director Appointed

Email from AIT President on 7 October 2021.

Dear AIT Family,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Emilio R. Paz, Jr. as the new Director of Language Center.

Mr. Paz earned his master’s degree in Language and Literacy Education and Diploma in Language and Literacy Education from the University of the Philippines. He holds a degree in Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Human Resources Development from San Beda College, Philippines. He also obtained Certificates in TESOL and TEFL.   

Mr. Paz is a qualified educator, teacher and has a substantial international work experience.  Before joining AIT, Mr. Paz was the Head of English Department at ULink College of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, China. He was also a College Instructor & Planning and Scheduling Supervisor for ten years at the English Language & Preparatory Year Institute in Saudi Arabia. On top of these, he has been to many other Schools and Colleges as a Teacher.

Mr. Paz is now on board and will report directly to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. I am confident that Mr. Paz can strengthen our Language Center by bringing in bright ideas from his experiences and will be able to serve the AIT Community particularly our students, working with our faculty 

Mr. Paz replaces M.L. Thanisa Teresa Choombala who departed AIT earlier this summer after 13 years of dedicated service.

Join me in welcoming Emilio to our AIT family and let us give him our support and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Dr. Eden Woon

President

2) Substitute Holiday for Chulalongkorn Holiday, 23 October 2021
Email from the Office of Human Resources Services on 5 October 2021.

Following the announcement of the Thai Government, AIT will observe Chulalongkorn Holiday on Friday, 22 October 2021 as a holiday instead of Monday, 25 October 2021.

Please be guided accordingly.

3) Positive Case and Updates from the AIT COVID-19 Task Force

Email from the Director, Office of Academic Administration on 5 October 2021

Dear AIT Family,

An AIT Staff Tested Positive for COVID-19 – We regret to inform you that one of our staff, along with their family, tested positive for COVID-19 on 4 October 2021 (last day on campus was 1 October) and are undergoing treatment at a community isolation facility off campus.  We wish our staff and their family a speedy and complete recovery. 

While there is a possibility that the staff did not contract the virus until Saturday, 2 October, after he was last on campus, we must err on the side of caution and treat this case as if he had been on campus after carrying the virus already.  Therefore, here is his timeline:  On 27 and 29 September, as well as on 1 October, between 8am to 12 noon, our staff worked at the Structural Engineering Laboratory and visited the AIT Cashier at 9am on 27 and 29 September, and the SET Janitor room at 8am on 1 October.  If any member of the AIT community has been to these places, please be careful and self-monitor yourselves closely for any symptoms.

The following immediate actions have been taken:

Based on contact tracing of this staff, the contacts identified were required to be tested (using ATK), self-isolate in their own homes off-campus for at least a week from the last interaction, and to monitor their health.

All the locations visited by the staff were accordingly informed so that they can take the necessary follow up precautionary measures.  These locations have undergone thorough cleaning.

Here, if anyone tests positive, we would also like reiterate that it is very important to please immediately provide the Task Force with your timeline of your previous week’s movement.  We still find getting this information to be too deliberate.  A quick known timeline will help us to undertake prompt contact tracing and containment efforts, before the virus spreads.  In addition, if you find out that you have come in contact with a COVID-19 infected person, please also immediately inform the Task Force, and self-isolate yourself, along with other members of your family, who may also have been in contact.  Whether you take a COVID-19 test because you do not feel well or you are suspicious you have been exposed, or as a requirement for flight departures, please self-isolate yourself until the results are out.

Reaffirmation of Work-From-Home – We would like to emphasize that the Institute is currently still on a Work-From-Home basis for non-mission-essential employees.  This WFH policy is to minimize contact during this period with only essential staff coming to work on a needs basis, but we have noticed units and individuals not adhering to this.  Therefore, please minimize coming to the office and reduce your contacts and interactions with people. Supervisors should take responsibility to ensure their office adheres to this WFH policy

AIT Organizational Quarantine (OQ) – According to the current policy, students, and AIT Employees at Level VII or lower, as well as their spouses, are allowed to stay in the AIT OQ for Phase 1.  From 15 October 2021 onwards and subject to the availability, ALL fully vaccinated AIT employees will be eligible to undergo their 7-day quarantine at the AIT OQ.  Spouses will need to undergo their OQ in separate non-air conditioned single-toilet non-smoking rooms, and not in adjoining units.  It is important for faculty and staff who wish to avail of the AIT OQ facility to consider that our OQ may not be as comfortable as an Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) hotel in Bangkok and decide accordingly.  We do emphasize that students remain our highest priority for occupancy at our OQ, and thus this policy may change as the student-demands dictate.

Update on Vaccinations – AIT is working hard to ensure that community members who received two doses of Sinovac earlier this summer receive a third dose.  Some are beginning to receive this third dose already (Astra Zeneca).  We will be gradually notifying individuals who are eligible in the coming weeks as more third dose opportunities become available.

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.  In view of many positive cases still occurring in Thailand, we caution our community to still be vigilant and not drop your guard because of “opening up” stories you may be reading.

Thank you for your cooperation.

AIT COVID-19 Task Force

4) The Webinar Series on Big Earth Data for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

5) International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 

Join us to Celebrate International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on 13 Oct, 2021 and share your thoughts on Climate Risk Reduction and Resilience.

Global communities are celebrating International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on October 13 every year to advocate and promote global practices of risk awareness and risk reduction.

Commemorating this very important day, Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management (DPMM) is organizing a special event on “Climate Risk Reduction and Resilience Pathways” corresponding to the quintessence and our stance in DRR and UN SDGs. The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is an opportunity to acknowledge the progress being made toward reducing disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods, and health. The special event will be co-organized with the EU-funded SWITCH-Asia Regional Policy Advocacy Component (RPAC) that is being implemented by UNEP to advocate the key global challenges.

Please feel free to circulate to your network.

Please register: https://bit.ly/2YAMD1s

 

 

6) Distinguished Institute Speakers Series by Mr. Jin Liquin

We are pleased to invite you to the Distinguished Institute Speakers Series jointly organized by AIT Belt & Road Research Center and AIT Centre for Global Challenges.

In this series, we would like to welcome our first speaker Mr. Jin Liqun, President and Chair of the Board of Directors, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on 15 October 2021 at 2:00 PM (Bangkok Time GMT+7).

Topic: Promoting Economic Development through Multilateralism

Venue: Zoom (online)

Speaker’s Profile

Mr. Jin Liqun, President and Chair of the Board of Directors, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Mr. Jin Liqun is the inaugural President and Chair of the Board of Directors. Before being elected as the Bank’s first President, he served as Secretary-General of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat tasked with establishing the Bank. President Jin has rich experience across the private and public sectors and with MDBs. He served as Chair of China International Capital Corporation Limited – China’s first joint-venture investment bank, Chair of the Supervisory Board of China Investment Corporation and Chair of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds. He previously served as Vice President and then Ranking Vice President of the Asian Development Bank and as Alternate Executive Director for China at the World Bank and at the Global Environment Facility. President Jin spent nearly two decades at the Chinese Ministry of Finance, reaching the rank of Vice Minister.

7) AIT Virtual Career Fair

We are pleased to inform you that the Fall 2021 Semester AIT Virtual Career Fair is scheduled on 27 October 2021 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

You are cordially invited to explore and uncover career opportunities offered by the companies that are joining the event, with twenty (20) organizations who have confirmed to join so far, namely:

1. ABB Power Grids (Thailand) Limited (www.hitachi-power grids.com)
2. Addwealth301 Co., Ltd. (www.addwealth301.co.th)
3. AIT Solutions (www.solutions.ait.ac.th/)
4. ASEAN CAREER FAIR with JAPAN Committee (https://asean-career.com)
5. Cattain Group Service Co. Ltd. (www.cattain.in/)
6. Codium Co. Ltd. (www.codium.co/home)
7. Gulf Energy Development Public Company Limited (www.gulf.co.th/en/)
8. Internship Union Co., Ltd. (www.internshipunion.com)
9. King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) (https://admission.kmutt.ac.th/)
10. Metric Consulting Engineers & Architects Co., Ltd. (www.metric.co.th/)
11. Michelin Siam Co., Ltd. (www.job.michelin.co.th)
12. My Internship Asia (Thailand) Ltd. (www.myinternshipasia.com)
13. Pandora Production Co., Ltd. (https://pandoragroup.com/ )
14. Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES) (http://www.rimes.int/)
15. Sony Technology (Thailand) Co., Ltd (https://www.sony.co.th/th)
16. Spiber (Thailand) Ltd. ( www.spiber.inc/en/thailand/)
17. Stockholm Environment Institute (www.sei.org/centres/asia/)
18. TEAM Consulting Engineering and Management PCL (www.teamgroup.co.th)
19. TechBerry Co. Ltd. (https://web.techberry.tech/)
20. Think Blue Data Co., Ltd. (www.thinkbluedata.com)

8)  The virtual 50th AITAA Governing Board Meeting and Global Reunion

The Asian Institute of Technology Alumni Association (AITAA) is inviting all AIT alumni and friends to join the virtual 50th AITAA Governing Board Meeting and Global Reunion with the 1st Global AITAA Symposium and Exhibition on 20-21 November 2021 to be hosted by AITAA Vietnam Chapter in partnership with AIT Extension. Please check all activities and register to reserve your slot by clicking this link AIT Extension (https://extension.ait.ac.th/page/50th-aitaa-governing-board-meeting-and-...) 

50th AITAA Governing Board Meeting and Global Reunion

1st Global AITAA Symposium and Exhibition 

Connect, Communicate, Collaborate, Contribute

… for a better tomorrow…

  20-21 November 2021

  Vietnam

The Asian Institute of Technology Alumni Association (AITAA) holds an annual Governing Board Meeting (GBM) for all its member chapters spread worldwide.  This year 2021, AITAA Vietnam Chapter hosts the 50th AITAA GBM for our AIT Family.  The 1st Global AITAA Symposium and Exhibition will be inaugurated to showcase solutions on key regional issues.  The Exhibition will be accessible globally 24x7 for 365 days.

B. Events

Training Courses/ Conferences/ Workshops

1) Certificate Course on Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

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