The SEATO Graduate School of Engineering was inaugurated in 1959 in Thailand by Prime Minister Sarit Thanrat. Some critics believed the new school would not succeed and would become part of an existing university, as there was no precedent for its type of international graduate institute. In 1973, King Bhumibol Adulyadej opened the new campus of the Asian Institute of Technology in Pathum Thani Province, Thailand. The Prime Minister visited the AIT campus in 1980. Over the decades the AIT has had various board chairs and presidents who have helped guide the international institution.

1. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai
28 December 2015
1
2

2. At a colorful ceremony attended by
the diplomatic corps, the SEATO
Graduate School of Engineering was
inaugurated by H.E. Field Marshall
Sarit Thanrat, Prime Minister of
Thailand, on September 8, 1959.
3
4

3. 5
Prof. Thomas Evans was greeted by H.E. Pote Sarasin on arrival
at Bangkok, 1959, to launch the Graduate School of Engineering.6

4. 7
8

5. 9
10

6. 11
12

7. 13
“Some critics believed the Pote Sarasin
and the USA dream was simply an
experiment that could not succeed and the
new school would become a part of
Chulalongkorn University. There was no
precedent for such an institute anywhere in
the world.”
14

8. 15
Dr Thanat Khoman
(RTG Foreign Min)
16

9. 17
18

10. 19
20

11. 21
22

12. 23
24

13. On February 14, 1973, H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej opened the new AIT
campus in Klong Luang District, Pathumthani Province. 25
Their Majesties were guided by the Board Chair Puey Ungphakorn and
President Milton E. Bender to view the new facilities of the new AIT campus. 26

14. Prime Minister of Thailand, H.E. General Prem Tinasulanonda is welcomed
by AIT President, Prof. Robert B. Banks and Vice President for Development,
Prof. Ricardo P. Pama on his visit to AIT in September 1980. 27
28

15. 29
30

16. 31
At AIT Day 2010
32

17. AIT Board Chairs : Top – Puey Ungphakorn (1968‐73),
Oscar Mapua (1973‐75). Bottom – Thanat Khoman
(1975‐96), and M.L. Birabhongse Kasemsri (1996‐2000)
33
AIT Board Chairs : Top – Anand Punyarachun (2000‐2006),
Tej Bunnag (2006‐2012). Bottom – Nopadol Gunavibool
(2012‐2013), and Subin Pinkayan (2013‐present)
34

18. 35
AIT Presidents : Top – Charas Suwanwela (1998‐1999), J.L.
Armand (1999‐2004), and Mario Tabucanon (2005).
Bottom – Said Irandoust (2005‐2013), and Worsak Kanok‐
Nukulchai (2013‐present) 36

19. AIT Hall of Fame
37
38
Acknowledgements. Most photos were reproduced from the Final Report to USAID: “The
Asian Institute of Development – Creation and Development”, by Maurice L. Albertson.
Wallace E. Peterson, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, June 1975.