FINAL EXAMINATION ON 21 DECEMBER 2011




The final exam of PME-GEM students intake August 2010 was conducted on 21 December 2011 at AITVN, HCM city. The students present their research after 6 months  hard working. They will get the master degree in Geotechnical Engineering and Management on 22 December 2011.

MOA Signing Ceremony between FECON JSC and Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) for cooperation in training and research

Recent years, many problems caused for infrastructure development such as failures of foundation and settlement due to lack understanding of the underlying clay, especially soft clay layers, low quality of geotechnical investigation and design, application of appropriate technology.


In order to minimize those problems for sustainable development and protect people from risks of geological condition, the training of foundation design and construction team with international standard is needed. A team of design and construction professionals with modern construction technologies will help the infrastructure projects not only save cost and construction time but also safe and sustainable over time.

On December 16, 2011, Foundation Engineering and Underground Construction (FECON) signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand following two main contents:

1. AIT and FECON will provide a quality international training in Geotechnical Engineering for Vietnam and in particular for FECON staff – the Professional Master’s Program in Geotechnical Engineering and Management (PME-GEM). The program is conducted by a teaching team of well-known AIT faculties, professors from Japan, Canada, America, Thailand, Korea, etc with fulltime in Vietnam. It is designed for working staff to improve the knowledge without disturbing the working time.

2. AIT and FECON closely collaborate in research and application of technology and new technical solutions have been successfully applied in countries that have similar geological conditions to Vietnam for infrastructure development of our country, especially in foundation engineering, underground, and urban tunneling.

The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is an international institute of higher learning in engineering, science, technology and management, research and capacity building in the Region. School of Engineering and Technology (SET) of AIT has been providing Professional Master Programs to Vietnam in the field of Construction, Geotechnical Engineering, and Industrial Management. This is considered one of the highlight in the role of human resource development of AIT in Vietnam.

FECON Foundation Engineering & Underground Construction JSC (FECON), founded in 2004, is a leading company in providing comprehensive solutions for foundation projects in construction sector in Vietnam. FECON’s main activities include soil investigation, foundation testing, geotechnical consulting, soft soil improvement work, PH/PHC Spun pile designing, manufacturing and construction. With the aim to approach, study and apply new technologies in such fields, in early 2010, FECON INS (Foundation Engineering Institute) was established as a subsidiary of FECON, focusing on research, training and international co-operation.

Attending the signing ceremony were representatives of AIT, Associate Dean, School of Engineering and Technology- Dr. Noppadol Phien-wej; Coordinator, Geotechnical and Earth Resources Engineering Field study- Dr. Pham Huy Giao; and FECON, General Director, Foundation Engineering and Underground Construction JSC, Mr. Pham Viet Khoa, Director, Foundation Engineering Institute -Dr. Le Quang Hạnh, and other concerned officers from AITVN and FECON.

Visit TBO road project site on 10 December 2011

In the farmework of Foundation Engineering and Design course, Dr.Seah took students to visit Tan Son Nhat- Binh Loi Outering Road project site to show students the actual construction, especially on deep mixing method and pile installation (both bored and driven piles).







Instrumentation and Advanced Soil Testing Class at Technical World's Laboratory


On 26 November 2011, GEM students came with Dr.Seah to Technical World's Laboratory to study on advanced equipments for Lab and Field testing, their operation and parameters that those equipments may achieve.

ENGLISH TEST HINT

A few second of rules in the English essay:


1. Be straightforward (nói thẳng vấn đề), precise (ngắn gọn súc tích), giving details, evidences (cho ví dụ)

2. Using SHORT paragraph and SINGLE sentence

3. Clear format is important (line indent (thụt đầu dòng), paragraph spacing):

INTRODUCTION (1 paragraph)

BODY ( > 2 paragraphs)

CONCLUSION (1 paragraph)

4. Using bridge words for natural transition (Sử dụng từ nối cho bài van mạch lạc):

• To show addition (Thêm vào đó là):

Besides, In addition, Moreover, Furthermore, Equally important, [Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly, Finally/ Last but not least]

• To give examples (Vi dụ là):

For example, For instance, In fact, Specificially (Cụ thể là)

• To compare and contrast (Mặc dù, Tuy nhiên, ..):

- Although, Even though, Despite : Mặc dù

- However, nevertheless: Tuy nhiên

- On the contrary: Ngược lại

- On the other hand: Mặt khác

• To show time:

After, Afterward, As long as (Miễn là), As soon as (ngay khi), At last/ Finally, Meanwhile (trong khi đó), Subsequently (kết quả là), Later, Then (rồi thì)

• To indicate logical relationship (vì vậy):

Accordingly, So, hence, As a result, because, Consequently, Therefore, Thus

• To summarize (nói túm lại):

All in all, In conclusion, In other words, In short, In summary, On the whole, Therefore, To sum up

5. Paragraph

Each paragraph should have a topic sentence, then comes three or five supporting sentences

The opening ceremony the third intake of the PME-GEM program in HCM city

Asian Institute of Technology in Vietnam (AIT-VN), combined School of Engineering and Technology (SET) - Asian Institute of Technology (AIT-Thailand) has contributed to fostering human resources and sustainable development in engineering and technology in Vietnam as well as the Region.


17h00 on 10 September 2011 at the Hotel Majestic, 01 Dong Khoi St., Dist. HCM, AIT-VN and SET organized the opening ceremony of the 3 rd intake of the Professional Masters program in Geotechnical Engineering and Management and other two Professional Masters programs with the presence of: Dr. Amrit Bart, director of the Asian Institute of Technology in Vietnam (AITVN) Dr. Hadikusumo, Dr. Pham Huy Giao representatives of School of Engineering Technology, Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand (AIT), Dr. Neckle Kattan, director of Nestle Vietnam project; Hoang Don Dung, General Director of SaiGon Construction Quality Control; more than 30 alumus from the AIT’s professional master programs and PhD, and more than 60 new students of the AIT’s professional master programs and PhD in 2011.

School of Engineering Technology (SET) of the AIT has been offering the Professional Masters programs at the AIT-VN. It is considered one of the inportant role in human resource development of AIT in Vietnam with the following fields: Professional Master of Engineering in Geotechnical Engineering and Management (PME-GEM), Geoexploration and Petroleum Geoengineering (PME-GEPG), Project Management in Construction (PME-MPM), Industrial Engineering and Management (PME-IEM) ... and many training and certificate programs.

With a comprehensive and flexibility training program taught in English within a year, convenient class times ( after working hours and weekends) and diplomas issued by AIT and internationally recognized team qualified faculty from AIT (Thailand) and other prestigious universities around the world such as Stanford and Oklahoma (USA), Tokyo and Kyoto (Japan), Bremen (Germany), Heriot-Watt (UK), ... AIT-VN is currently a leading training in the fields of Engineering, Technology and Management.

FACULTIES

Noppadol Phien-wej
Associate Professor, Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering.
Associate Dean, School of Engineering and Technology, AIT.
MSc, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA).
Rock Mechanics, Tunneling, Engineering and Applied Geology.

Dennes T.Begado
Professor of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, AIT
M. Eng., Asian Institute of Technology;
Ph. D., Utah State University (USA).
Soil mechanic, Ground improvement techniques,
geosynthetic engineering, geotechnical disaster mitigation,
and probabilistic/numerical methods in geotechnical engineering

Pham Huy Giao
Associate Professor,
Coordinator, Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering Field,
School of Engineering and Technology, AIT.
MSc. Bucharest University (Romania);
ME & D.Eng., AIT (Thailand). Geophysics,
Geosystem Engineering and Exploration,
FEM Groundwater Modeling and Artificial Recharge.

Pham Van Long
General Director of Vina Mekong Engineering, HCMC
MEne & D.Eng. Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand).
Soil engineering and design. Ground improvement and geosythetics. Soil structure.

Yoichi Watabe
Head, Soil Mechanics and Geo-environment Laboratory and Leader,
Soil Mechanics and Geo-environment Research Group,
Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI), Japan
M.Eng, Ph.D., Tokyo Imstitute of Technology (USA).
Geotechnical Testing and Advanced Site investigation.

Hiroyasu Ohtsu
Prof. of Kyoto University,
ME & DEng Kyoto Univ.,
Rock engineering, Asset Management

Yusuke Honjo,
Professor of Gifu University;
MEng, Nagoya Univ., PhD, MIT;
Geotechnical engineering, Probilistic and Risk analysis,
Numerical Computation in Geomechanics

Seah Tian Ho
MAA Geotechnics Co. Ltd,
PhD, MIT.
Laboratory and Field Testing. Foundation Engineering.
Site investigation and Management of Geotechnical mega-projects.

Thanu Harnpattanapanich
Panya Consultants Co.,
MSc & PhD, Minessota,
Engineering Geology, geotechnical investigation and analysis for dam, tunnel and foundation, paleoseismology.

Tran Tan Van,
Vietnam Inst. Of Geosciences& Mineral Resources (VIGMR),
Min of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE).,
Dipl.Ing. Baku Techn. Uni., ME, AIT., PHD Nagoya, Rock engineering.


Nguyen Anh Minh,
CB&I UK Ltd, 
MEng, AIT, PhD, Imperial College London.
Geotechnical Engineering, Soil Mechanics, Soil engineering and design.
Specialist software for geotechnical design.

Phung Duc Long,
Senior Consultant, WSP Vietnam.
Ph.D, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Foundation Engineering, tunneling, ground improvement

Guidance of thesis format

This guide is not meant to replace published manuals of style. It provides only guidelines on matters of layout and style with which thesis writers at AIT often have questions or difficulty. Layout refers to the "look" of a page and concerns such matters as margins, font and line spacing.
http://www.ait.ac.th/education/LanguageCenter/ait-writing-services/style-guide/index.htm

Seminar on "Geotechnical in context of Climate change "

The seminar organized by the PME-GEM program at AITVN, HCM city on 29 March 2011. Prof. Hiroyasu Ohtsu from Kyoto University and Dr.Pham Huy Giao from Asian Institute of Technonoly are two speakers of the seminar. We were pleasure to welcome 28 participants from well-known companies and organizations in Ho Chi Minh city such as Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology,  Postcoast Consultant Company,  Hoa Binh Wisdom Consultant Company, SCQC, VINACONEX JSC, Urban Upgrading Project Management Unit of People's Commintee of Ho Chi Minh city, Construction Consultancy & Design JS Company-Construction Corporation No.1, HCMC Institute of Resources Geography Vietnam, Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), Gia Doan Consultant Company, Ho Chi Minh city University of Transports and Communication, and Nam Khang Consultant Company.

After a short introduction speech about AIT and AIT in Vietnam by Ms. Lan Anh- the presentative of AITVN in HCM city, Prof. Hiroyasu presented a research on "Monitoring and early warning of landslide" applied for some locations in Thailand and Japan, it was interesting lecture that attracted many participants, especially the participants from Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology. The discussion took place during the presentation shortening the  Q and A section in the end of the Seminar's agenda.

"The difficulties in Detection of natural and man-made underground cavities" was presented by Dr.Pham Huy Giao. In this research, he talked about the causes of the formation of the underground cavities or hole in some locations in Thailand and Vietnam. The "deadhole" term found in some roads in Ho Chi Minh city that seen in some news or papers was well discussed and pointed out that it is just sinkholes causing by some nature or man-made. The advantages and disadvantages on applying the Geophysical methods in detection of the underground cavities such as Ground Penetration Rada , GPR or Electric Imaging, EI (the combining of Electric Profilling and Vertical Electric Sounding) were presented. Dr.Pham Huy Giao suggested that before applying these methods in the field, a forward modelling should be generated to be able to choose the suitable array or antena for the equiments.

Dr.Pham Huy Giao ended his talk by a short introduction on the Proffesional Master Program in Geotechnical Engineering and Management, the program establised by his idea to bring a strong program in geotechnical education and training to help develop a highly qualified human resources in this field for Vietnam. The program started on April 2009 and the third bath of the program is going to opened on September 2011. The flexible program designed for working staffs and it is improved after each runing intake.

The success of the seminar is also contributed by the Q and A section that started by the questions from participants interested in applying to PME-GEM program and ended by the sharing of the study experiences and achievements from AIT alumni (Mr.Hau from Upgrading Project Management Unit) and PME-GEM student (Mr.Binh from Gia Doan Consultant Company).

The coming seminar will be organized with the success of this seminar. More geotechnical problems will be discussed in addition to build up a network of sharing and solving problems for subtainable development of infrastructure in Vietnam.