Thailand-United States Educational Foundation
STORIES OF FULBRIGHTERS' IMPACT Sharing Stories, Sharing Pride
Photo by icon0.com from Pexels
OUR BELIEF For seven decades, Fulbright Thailand have had a privilege to foster a network of smart and caring individuals who are agents of changes in our society. They are working in different places and in different areas but all together they help make the world a better place while flourishing friendship between Thailand and the United States. Their achievements regardless of the scale made significant impacts as they are ripples of the greater benefits. In the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Fulbright Program in Thailand, we would like to share with you some of the Fulbright stories, which, we believe could inspire many others.
IT START FROM A TINY SEED
Dr. Margaret McDonald, 1995 Fulbright Scholar from King County Library System, WA. to Maha Sarakham University (Storytelling) FROM A SEED GROWS…. Many year ago, a high school teacher in That Phanom, a small town on the Mekong, encouraged a young girl to apply for an American Field Service grant to go to high school in the US. From that tiny seed grew a Ph.D. from Drew University and a position in the English Department at Mahasarakham University for Dr. Wajuppa Tossa. In 1995 she was given Fulbright Scholar to help train university students in the art of storytelling. Her mission was to increase pride in the local cultures (Lao, Khmer, PhuTai and others) through storytelling. Local languages and cultures were being lost to the overriding Thai. In 1995 I spent three months training her students in storytelling techniques. In 1996 I spent three months touring with them to 19 school districts to perform the tales in local dialects and do workshops
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
for teachers. BECAUSE OF THIS: I brought four of her students to visit Seattle to tell stories in local schools and libraries. Then another four the next year. One graduate student came to live with me for six weeks to do research for her thesis. Another of our students went on to receive a Masters in Anthropology and wrote an insightful thesis examining the storytelling of three traditional village tellers in Isaan. Dr. Wajuppa has continued to train tellers in the years following. She organizes storytelling festivals, encourages other universities to organize storytelling festivals, and has toured extensively both in Asia and Europe telling stories and offer workshops.She and Kongdeuanne Nettavong from Laos wrote Lao Folktales, which I edited and placed with Libraries Unlimited. While a Fulbright Scholar, I presented at a library conference in Kuala Lumpur and was then invited to offer workshops in Ipoh, Penang, KL, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu. I also flew to Jakarta to offer workshops for Dr. Murti Bunanta. BECAUSE OF THIS: I returned many times to offer more workshops throughout Malaysia and Indonesia and wrote The Singing Top: Folktales of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei and edited Indonesian Folktales by Murti Bunanta. BECAUSE OF MY FULBRIGHT START: I have returned to SE Asia almost annually for many years, offering storytelling workshops and taking part in festivals. Dr. Wajuppa has visited Seattle many times to share stories and to retreat to my summer cabin in the San Juans to write. And my daughter and her husband, Jen and Nat Whitman…teachers at the International School of Bangkok…have visited Mahasarkham many times to tell at Wajuppa’s festivals, and have become a part of the SE Asian storytelling community, telling at festivals in Singapore, Penang, Songhkla and KL From a tiny seed….how much grows and grows. PAGE 01
GEOLOGY MADE SIMPLE
Israporn Sethanant, 2017 Thai Graduate Scholarship Program to Oregon State University (Geology) I believe people with different backgrounds have their own perspectives through which they view the world and I always wanted to show others how I view the world through my lens, geology—the study of the Earth and its processes. One winter in north Thailand, my friends and I went camping on a mountain ridge across the Doi Chiang Dao in Chiang Mai province. Apart from enjoying the beauty of Doi Chiang Dao, I cannot stop myself thinking of the geologic history of this mountain. Cartoon scenes of Doi Chiang Dao once hidden under the sea then emerged to the surface appeared in my head, as if I was an artist from an animation studio. Since then, I got inspired to project what I see through my geology lens to the people around me. The most important aspect for me, as a young geologist,is how I can make geology approachable and understandable for everyone. With this idea in mind, when I received the Fulbright Scholarship in 2017, I started sharing my geology-focused perspectives of the different places I visited through my personal social media platform. With just a phone and a pen as my tools, I illustrated the animations of the geologic histories onto the photos I take and highlighted the geologic features I observe. Instead of technical terms, I used simple Thai or English language to reach out to the general audience. My Fulbright experience exposed me to various locations with fascinating geology. Many geologic structures seem like they popped out of textbooks and they are such great realworld examples! I continued drawing and sharing geology contents without expectations of the impacts my posts will make. However, I received feedback that my posts have given the opportunity to my friends and family to learn about geologic features that may not be present in Thailand or ones that they have never seen before. Knowing my actions helped educate others and my posts even reached people outside my circle, my heart is filled with joy. I have fun explaining geology and my excitement of being around rocks is easily reflected through the photos. Not long until I realized that my posts were not just giving geology information but they were spreading positive energy to my friends. My friends told me they were inspired by the passion I had in geology and they felt encouraged to pursue what they love. These impacts were beyond my expectations! Throughout the two years as a Fulbrighter, I am glad to gradually bring awareness of geology to the society. I noticed the change of the people around me. They become more used to geologic perspectives and understand that this subject is accessible. This awareness is very important for future outreach. I wish to expand my geology contents to focus around natural hazards. I am excited to utilize the social media platform I created to spread words to locals about hazard preparedness, hoping the knowledge could be useful and eventually save people’s lives in the future.
PAGE 02
ENHANCEMENT OF EDUCATION LEADERSHIP
Dr. Philip Hallinger, 1992 Fulbirght Scholar from Vanderbilt University to Chiang Mai University (Education) When I came to Thailand on my Fulbright Visiting Scholar grant in 1992, the objective was to establish a Research and Development Center on Educational Leadership at Chiang Mai University. We did establish the Center which carried on for eight years, during which I split my time between Chiang Mai University and Vanderbilt University. Subsequently, in 2000 I left my professorship at Vanderbilt to stay in Thailand full-time. My decision was based on the belief that I could have a more meaningful impact on education (in Asia and the world) by being ‘here’ in Thailand than the USA. Reflecting on one’s own ‘impact’ seems like a questionable exercise, so I will simply offer some bullet points as to what I have done and accomplished in these past 28 years, all of which can be traced back to my Fulbright. Trained, in Thai, more than 15,000 school administrators in leading change, student-centered learning and education reform across every region of Thailand; Provided leadership development, in Thai, to more than 10,000 corporate managers; Served as an advisor to the Ministry of Education for 28 years; As Executive Director of the College of Management, developed the first ‘learner-centered’ graduate management education program (Master & PhD) in Thailand at Mahidol University (also published a book describing our design and use of a problem-based learning curriculum);· Conducted research on education and management topics in Thailand leading to publication of 29 Scopusindexed journals, books,and book chapters;· Developed the first PhD program in Thailand on ‘sustainable’ leadership modeled on King Rama the IX’ sufficiency economy philosophy; Mentored numerous university faculty and PhD students From the perspective of a ‘story’, I would like to share one of many. In 2008, the Secretary of Education asked me to help teach on a 5-day training workshop the Ministry was providing to school directors on education reform. She asked if I could teach the first day of the program – in Thai - on the topic of ‘Managing Change in Thai Schools’. After I said, ‘yes’ she added that the program would involve doing the ‘one day of training’ 18 times over the space of one month. Over the next month I travelled to Chiang Mai, Udon, Ubon, Songkla, and Bangkok providing an active learning workshop on change management in Thai to 120 school directors per 7 hour day. At the conclusion of each day’s workshop (18 times), I led the 120 school directors in singing the Thai song – ให้เธอ (give to you). I believe that the workshop had a special impact on the school directors. For me, while the project was exhausting, it had been a once in a career opportunity and was exactly what I had given up my tenured full professorship at Vanderbilt to do.
·
PAGE 03
FIGHTING BKK LEGENDARY TRAFFIC
Krisada Kritayakirana, 2007 International Fulbright Science & Technology Award to Stanford University (Mechanical Engineering) Not only my Fulbright experience has improved me intellectually, the experience has helped me to gain a deeper understanding of US culture, as well as becoming more aware of Thai culture. Fulbright experience has shaped my thinking to solve one of the pressing issues in Bangkok, traffic. Traffic in Bangkok is impacting our economy as well as creating social issues (from pollution to stress). Many researches have shown that building more roads does not address this issue, and that public transportation is one of the keys to solve traffic. Although Bangkok is heading toward the right direction of expanding mass transit system, we still have a problem of connecting with mass transit system (first/last mile). Given that I do not drive to work, I constantly share this pain with other commuters for not being able to find a good first/last mile solution. Combining my knowledge and passion in automotive engineering, my friends and I founded Urban Mobility Tech (UMT) to solve first/last mile problem. Our solution is a mobile application where users can call our electric three-wheelers (tuk tuks) to commute to/from mass transit stations. To drive the cost down, we re-design and manufacture electric tuk tuks specifically Your day school can at to forfirst sharing andofuse an algorithm times be difficult. optimize sharing; thus, Remember creating a cheaper and safer first/last mile solution. to trust your instincts and just be yourself. We start our service in late 2018, and in one year, we have served over 230,000+ passenger trips with our 15 electric tuk tuks. We are now expanding our fleet to 100+ electric tuk tuks before the end of 2020. Without a doubt, Fulbright experience has significantly shaped this idea. Studying in a startup bubble at Stanford University pushes me to create impacts and changes. Research in autonomous vehicle well before it becomes mainstream enable me to understand how to work with advanced technology before it becomes mature. The experience also broadens my appreciation in Thai culture, making me become more self-aware and know when to leverage my learnings from Thailand and from abroad. Fulbright experience has driven me to create impact to the society that I live in.
PAGE 04
PROMOTING LOCAL HERITAGE
Manusanun Leelahongjudha, 2016 Open Competition Scholarship Program to MIT Sloan School of Management (Business Administration) There’s an old expression that each opportunity in life is a door that must be opened. I’m proud to share that as a direct result of Fulbright support, I found myself in the fulfilling position of becoming an open door of opportunity for various small farm holders in Thailand to move up the value chain! Between 2016 and 2018, I pursued an MBA at MIT with the explicit mission of starting a business to support the aforementioned small farm holders. I had the privilege of meeting and talking with over 20 of them from 8 cooperatives across 5 provinces over the two years of my study. Every single one of them shared a common issue: entrapment in a vicious debt cycle stemming from middlemen taking advantage of their low bargaining and pricing power during sales negotiations. This is where my business, Sudtana, comes in. These farm holder’s greatest strength is their fruits. Coconut, sesame, kaffir lime: these fruits hold cultural and historic significance in Thailand as herbal remedies that healed the mind, body, and soul before the time of synthetic medicine. My family’s lineage is intimately interlinked with herbal remedies, with my late grandfather himself being a village doctor. With these farm holders’ fruits as ingredients, I took my late grandpa’s ancient herbal hair remedy to MIT and lovingly enhanced it with 2 years of rigorous scientific trials to maximize its mind, body, and soul healing properties without compromising his legacy with any synthetic chemicals. Our vision at Sudtana is to bring herbal ancient remedies to the world by using modern science and sourcing ingredients directly from small farm holders in Thailand. Sudtana is currently sourcing from 8 farmers in 6 provinces of Thailand. Our products are sold to 44 countries across the world. We’re proud to share and provide goodness from Thailand to people around the world to promote a better, healthier, and sustainable lifestyle to balance the mind, body, & soul.
PAGE 05
FRUITFUL RELATIONSHIP
Professor James McCullough, 1997 Fulbright Scholar from Washington State University to Mae Jo University (Business) I received a Fulbright Teaching/Research grant to teach and do research at Maejo University near Chiangmai, Thailand in 1997-1998. This was the time the Asian Economic Crisis hit Thailand and created hardship for my Thai students in Thailand, for business programs aty many Thai universities and for Thai students studying for advanced degrees in the United States. Because of my interests in business and economics I was asked to visit and lecture at many business programs throughout Thailand.
Photo from Pexels
I had the opportunity meet many young Thai teachers and faculty members and recruited several join PhD programs at my home university in the USA. We have continued to work collaboratively on research projects and I continue to teach graduate students at several Thai universities. My students have become Deans and Deputy Deans at Thai business schools including Maejo University, Mahasarakham University, and Mahidol University, and one of these students is now a full professor with tenure at Bowling Green University in Ohio, USA. The Fulbright Program allowed my to expand my interests and activities in Thailand and build relationships throughout South East Asia including building programs and working in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. It was a wonderful opportunity that changed me, many of my students, and several institutions in Thailand and the region.
PAGE 06
EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
Prof. Dr. Siraporn Sawasdivorn, 1994 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program from Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health to Emory University (Public Health Policy and Management) With more than 20-year experience as a pediatrics and eight-year working at the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health as a director, I have seen the never-ending health problems in Thai children. Especially, 30% of children aged 0-7 years have long-term developmental delay. Their life skill, social skill, and learning skill are not at the satisfactory level. Such developmental delay is the result of bad parenting. I and my team then established an early childhood development center for integrated learning and the promotion of breast feeding at the Faculty of Medicine, Mahasarakham University. The center serves as service provider, learning resource, training hub, curriculum development center, and an incubator for qualified mentor teachers. It provides supports for children aged 3 months to 3 years in complementary to more than 350 existing child development centers for children aged 3 – 5 years in Mahasarakham and nearby areas. With a focus on “educare,eduplearn” (education plus parenting), the center adopts various child parenting philosophies and methods from around the world such as Montessori, HighScope, Brain Based Learning Executive Function, and Local Wisdom.
Photo from Pexels
The integrated learning and parenting adopted and adjusted by the center provides opportunities for children to learn form real lessons, imagination, provided materials, and choices of materials in one or two languages. The lessons could be private or in group through conversation and presentation with some elements related to their parents and communities. This is to equip them with skills and ability necessary for the 21st century including critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, teamwork spirit, and global citizenship. Two years after the establishment, the center have been actively promoting healthy development of children in its community. Thanks to my Humphrey experiences that inspire me to push forward this meaningful collaboration and to empower others working in the field of children health care.
PAGE 07
LOOKING AT THAILAND'S HISTORIC TOWNS: MY LONG-TERM FULBRIGHT PROJECT Dr. William Chapman, 1999 Fulbright Scholar and 2006 Fulbright Specialist to King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang and Silpakorn University in association with the Office of Archaeology and National Museums, Fine Arts Department (Architecture/Urban Planning) I’ve been coming to Thailand for nearly thirty years, now. I’ve always been interested in historic places and sites, and I have written two books on ancient sites on Southeast Asia—both direct byproducts of my Fulbright experiences in Thailand and Cambodia—and continue to participate in heritage efforts in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. I am also interested in the “living” heritage of Thailand. For urban places and smaller towns this usually means older houses and, especially, rows of shop-houses. These are where people actually live out—or at least once lived out—their days and nights, where they traditionally shopped, met their friends and created their memories. This is Thailand’s fast disappearing legacy and one I feel still needs more attention. The FAD has long had responsibility for designating historic sites. It has not had much power in “living” areas,however, which are subject to municipal governmental and district regulations more than the laws overseen by FAD. My research took me to many parts of the country. Specific targets included Phetchaburi, Nong Khai, Lopburi, Hua Hin, Lampang, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Chachoengsao, Amphawa in Samut Songkhram and, of course, many neighborhoods of Bangkok. I was helped throughout my projects by my associates and my students. Some should be recognized here: Worawit Ongkrutraksa, Waralum Boonyasurat, and Anguntip and Charnnarong Srisuwan in Chiang Mai; Duang-ngern Poonpol in Phetchaburi; Thirachaya Chaigasem and her family for an exploratory trip to Nongkai; Vitul Lieorungruang for sharing his knowledge of Lampang. At the Fine Arts Department Dr. Pornthum Thumwimol, Architect Pichya Boonpinon and Architect Manat Wajvirsoot were my special hosts. At Silpakorn University my sponsor was the late Dr. Trungjai Buranasomphob, a wonderful friend and supporter for many years; at KMITL, I first made the acquaintance of Dr. Yonthanit Pimosathean, who I later sponsored in Hawai‘i as a Fulbright visitor. I was helped as well by several former students, many now professors at Thai universities: Dr. Kreangkrai Kirdsiri, Parinya Chukaew, and Dr.Tiamsoon Sirisrisak—himself a Fulbright scholar in the U.S. Thai people are increasingly awakening to the value of their historic places. Amphawa has experienced a noticeable revival since the time I first visited in the 1990s. There have been fresh efforts in Chiang Mai and
PAGE 08
other northern towns to preserve their historic cores. Much has been done to further the revitalization of the old city of Rattankosin area, notably the areas around Tha Tien and Tha Chang. Although fantasy places, such as Asa Teakand the recreated talat nam at the shopping mall at Icon Siam, stretch the idea of heritage, they nonetheless provide inspiration for continued efforts to keep important reminders of the past.
PAGE 09
NURTURING VOLUNTEERING SPIRIT
Diyaporn Wisamitanan, 2011 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program from Taksin University to Pennsylvania State University (Educational Administration, Planning, and Policy) What Fulbright gave me I am a Fulbrighter under 2011 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship. For the past eight years, I have always reminded myself that I am one of the Fulbright family. I took classes on Higher Education Administration from Pennsylvania State University and gained a lot of experiences especially in volunteerism, which is considered normal daily practice there. Helping one another is indeed common. I was surprised with the thinking. Comparing with the practices back at home, many volunteer opportunities are ad-hoc or one-time events. While in the United States, I joined almost all kinds of volunteer activities I was interested in or thought they could be adapted at my communities. These included elderly care and visit, activities with autistic kids, university’s environmental project, talks on Thailand, activities at children’ science museum, food runner service on sport day, used clothes project for charity, etc.
What I have done in the past eight years Returning from the United States, I have pioneered a number of changes I wish to see in my university. I wish my students develop social consciousness. Each month, I launched various kinds of volunteer activities for students to choose e.g.homework support tutoring, story reading at children shelter, and beach cleaning (Trash Hero Songkhla) which is a monthly event at Samila Beach, Songkhla. Returning from the United States, I have pioneered a number of changes I wish to see in my university. I wish my I like to see my students applying their knowledge and skills to help others. I frequently encourage them to join me in many volunteer activities. We volunteered as teachers, translators for international artists for wall painting project at Songkhla Rajanagarindra Hospital, translators for international artists at South Fest Thailand, translators for American medical team providing free health service for local elders, assistants for foreign tourists at beaches, and guides at Southern Thai Studies Museum. I feel proud every time as my students feel happy with their volunteering. They told me they wish to do it again. What I gained from the United States and my Fulbright experience is this – the volunteering spirit, which grows inside me. I wish to nurture this spirit in our youths. The saying “the more we give, the more we get” is so true to me.
PAGE 10
STUDENT EMPOWERMENT
Jenny Flaumenhaft, 2019 English Teaching Assistantship Program to Chiang San Wittayakom School Happy 70th anniversary. I am fresh and currently living my “Fulbright Story”. It is evolving everyday here in Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai. I came to Thailand with a mission to bring student-directed, trauma-informed learning into the classroom. Back at my University in the States, I worked to develop an outdoor, student-empowered curriculum for rural schools in Maine. My goal was to bring the theories of this curriculum to Thailand. I wanted to listen to students, to show them that they are experts of themselves, and therefore their own learning. I knew I needed the students’ investment to make class a safe and fun learning environment.
The first sentence I taught my students was “I like _______” and “I want to know ________”. I wanted to know what they wanted to learn, what they cared about, and why they cared about it. During the first weeks we talked about what makes us happy, who makes us happy, and why. We wrote thank you notes to the people who made us happy. We practiced gratitude. This unit culminated in a Thanksgiving celebration where we shared thanks, food, and love (and an important discussion about colonization). One student handed me a thank you note that said, “teacher, you are not like teacher - you are like big sister”. That thank you note was a wish come true. It meant maybe I had successfully handed over the power of learning to my students. I could be a guiding presence as they taught each other. This last month, I presented at Thai Tesol Conference about how to bring student-empowered learning to Thai classrooms. Another educator had the brilliant idea of beginning every class with “I can”, “you can”, “we can”. Before every class my students now close their eyes and whisper, “I can”. Then they make eye contact with someone in class and say “you can”. After we all scream, “we can!!” One student wrote this chant on the bottom of her assignment. It was as if this sentiment was pushing her work along, driving the effort she brings to class. These students need to feel that we teachers believe in them. I am far from leading a perfect class. Sometimes my students are too loud, don’t listen, or don’t show up at all. The theories I wanted to bring to Thailand look really different in practice. Yet, the students are learning to ask questions. They are curious. What I’m most of proud of is the connection I am making with my students. On the basketball court, during sing-a-longs in my office, and playing uno at lunch. The students are the heart of my story. They deserve to feel loved. I am grateful for every moment of this experience. This program deserves to be celebrated as do my wonderful students and new home,
PAGE 11
FULBRIGHTER'S IMPACT
Peeriya Pongsarigun, 2018 Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program from Chulalongkorn University to University of Pennsylvania “Do you write or translate everyday?” “No, not really.” “Why not?” “...” “People don’t care if you are busy. If you want to be successful, you just have to do it.” When I applied for the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Scholarship, I wrote in my application I translated Thai books, mostly children’s books, into English and I wanted to do more of it. Besides teaching Thai and studying courses at Penn, bringing Thai literature to the USA was my mission. In Fall 2018, I took two courses: Literature for Children and Adolescents and Writing for Children. Those courses laid the foundation for my deep understanding of trends of books around the world. I learned what people would look for in a book and how to write a good, compelling story. In Spring 2019, I met Professor Lorene Cary, who made a big impact on my life. She is an author, a lecturer, and an activist. She paid attention to each student. She had us read our stories to children at Formative Years Preschool Inc., so we got sincere feedback to improve our writing. She took us to The Cool Jobs so that we learned about accessible paths to cool jobs and observed children’s reaction when they discovered creative jobs existed. We submitted many drafts and got constructive comments from classmates and Cary. She Photo by Stas Knop from Pexels always made sure we wrote publishable quality work and in the end, all of us got published on the Safekidsstories Website. That was what we did in class. In fact, I saw Cary every week to talk about my work and passion. We talked in her office and in the park. I told her she was inspiring yet intimidating. Whenever I saw her, I felt like I was a high school student, a good one who was worried she would disappoint her teacher. So, I put a lot of effort into my work. She pushed me hard and inspired me to look for opportunities and get connected with people and organizations. I started to participate in writing events and reached out to people. John Viano, my co-translator, and I joined the BKKLit poetry translating competition and won the third prize for When I’m Back by Wanit Charungkitanan. I presented the poem on Valentine’s Day at Penn Language Center. Moreover, I shared my teaching techniques—using Thailand’s provincial slogans in teaching poetry writing--with the faculty members. John Viano and I submitted a manuscript of the translation of Baimai Thi Hai Pai or The Missing Leaf by Chiranan Pitpreecha to DoubleSpeak, poetry translation magazine of the University of Pennsylvania and got published in the Spring 2019 issue. Lately our translation of Suphasit Son Ying or Preaching to Women got accepted to be published in Spring 2020.
PAGE 12
DO-IT-YOURSELF BRAIN
Piya Kerdlap, 2013 Fulbright Student Program from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to King Mongkut University of Technology Thonburi (Energy and Environment) If you want to run a successful and impactful education event somewhere in Thailand, the team you want to partner with is Fulbright Thailand TUSEF from start to finish. Back in 2016, three years after my Fulbright research fellowship in Thailand, my cognitive science friend from the U.S. had an idea. He wanted to teach students in Thailand about do-it-yourself science and technology. Basically, he could show how simple demonstrations and experiments using low-cost equipment could be used to learn about how the human brain works. I was not a cognitive scientist or a teacher. However, I did care about generating greater scientific curiosity among young Thai people and motivating them to carry out experiments beyond the walls of a school or university. I agreed to push forward with this idea. However, there was no way I could do this in Thailand alone. I needed a venue. I needed students. I needed educators. My friends at Fulbright Thailand helped me acquire all three and more. Two months later, we ran a two-day “Do-It-Yourself Cognitive Science and Innovative Thinking Workshop” at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang. We had 33 bachelor and master’s degree students, with 50-50 gender representation, from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Chulalongkorn University, Burapha University, Khon Kaen University, and Huachiew Chalermprakiet University. There were even a few professors from these universities who attended the workshop as participants. My friend and several professors from Burapha University ran demonstration stations where all the students and professors got to learn scientific theory and construct hardware for EEG (Electroencephalogram) and eye tracking. The participants were able bridge the gap between theory and practice of EEG and eye tracking from rotating through the different activity stations. By working at these stations, the participants were able to see how the knowledge and experiences in the scientific theory station were important for the equipment building station and vice versa. Another unique outcome of this workshop was that the professors and students worked cooperatively during the activities, specifically in the equipment building stations. This is an element that does not often show itself in conventional education in Thailand. What helped enable this was that some of the professors who were participants did not have any background knowledge on building the low-cost EEG headsets or eye trackers. This therefore put them on a level playing field with the students in learning how to build the equipment. All the respondents expressed that they would attend this type of workshop again if there was another opportunity. They enjoyed gaining new knowledge and experiences, learning how to think about creating innovative products, and working in an environment that allows for open and creative learning. Without the people and programs at Fulbright, I would have never been able to carry out impactful work both in scientific research and education in Thailand.
PAGE 13
BRAVE THE WORLD
Ronnakrit Rattanasriampaipong, 2018 Thai Graduate Scholarship Program to Texas A&M University (Ocean Cilmate) Travel without a map: from a merchant’s son to a self-searching student of ancient climate change I believe we can travel to new destinations easily at the fingertips. Just typing names of the destination on any application like Google Maps or Apple Maps, we then know which road has traffic congestion, which route to be avoided, and which is the fastest way to reach our destination. Living life, however, is not as easy as driving with driving assistant applications. I believe life has been a trial and error. We try doing something new to see whether we like it or not – good at it or not. It would be wonderful if we can have Google Map for Life Assistance. If so, we could have found what we searched for quickly and did not have to waste time or opportunity from trial and error. For 29 years, I have lived my life by trial and error with both right and wrong choices. From kindergarten to university, I have been learning by myself. I grew up in a middle-class family. My parents are merchants. They did not have university education. All advices on both academic and university life I received are from my lecturers. Although my parents could not give me such advices, they taught me to be patient, persistent, and not discouraged by
Photo by Paul IJsendoorn from Pexels
challenges. Like many other’s parents, they wish their son to receive the highest education possible and to have a secure job. I was lucky that they allowed me to choose my own study plan despite their own wish that I would become a doctor or an engineer – the popular choices at that time.
My first trial and error: from a merchant’s son to an undergraduate in Geology at Chulalongkorn University I chose to study Geology at the Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, without knowing what to do next. I had no idea of any relevant careers or even what were the subjects to study. This, however, is the beauty of trial and error with no expectation. With this thinking, I was opened for every lesson taught. I had opportunities to travel around the country to observe, analyze, and interpret the ancient environment from topography and rock samples. For example, when limestone is found, we know the area was once a shallow sea. Finally, I realized that I have a passion for geology.
My second trial and error: from a CU undergraduate to a petroleum geologist With self-realization on my personal passion, I then asked myself, “what kind of work I would like to do? – an academician, a lecturer, or a business employee?” Because I did not have a clear vision on this by the time I graduated, I opened for all opportunities that came to me. After university, I started my work at Chevron Thailand as a petroleum geologist. For five years at Chevron Thailand, I had not only explored natural gas reserves in the Gulf of Thailand for the country’s electricity generation but also learned how an
PAGE 14
international organization works in terms of research, business administration, and teamwork. Luckily, I had chances to work with a number of smart peoples, both expats and Thais, my seniors and juniors from university, geologists from different universities, as well as Thailand’s top petroleum geologists and engineers. However, I found that working with a petroleum company is not my ultimate dream. So, I looked for something else while asking myself, “what I really want to do?”
My third trial and error: from a petroleum geologist to a doctoral candidate in Oceanography In 2017, I was introduced to the Fulbright Thai Scholarship (TGS) Program, a scholarship for a master or doctoral degree administered by the Thailand-United States Educational Foundation (TUSEF/Fulbright Thailand). I decided to apply, thinking that I had nothing to lose. If I did not get it, I could still work at the petroleum company. Going through a one-year process of application, shortlisting, and interview in 2018,
Photo by Lucian Petronel Potlog from Pexels
I was selected as one of the seven successful candidates. If I had compared benefits between continually working with the petroleum company and doing a doctoral degree in an unfamiliar field, I would have declined the scholarship. Nonetheless, I decided to leave Chevron Thailand considering that this would be the first opportunity for studying abroad. It was to fulfill my childhood dream and, at the same time, open a new door for self-searching in research area. I am currently a doctoral candidate in oceanography at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, U.S.A. and doing research in paleoclimatology and paleoceanography. To make it simple, I am studying climate and ocean in the ancient world by using chemical compositions of marine sediments as climate proxies to identify how much warmer or cooler our today world differs from the ancient one. An opportunity for the road not taken This year (2020), I was recruited to join the International Ocean Discovery Program or IODP for the Expedition 388 together with 28 scientists from 11 countries. The program aims to study tectonic evolution from rifting and seafloor spreading in the Atlantic Ocean to understand factors affecting climatic evolution and biotic evolution in the past. The IODP program studies environmental changes of the ancient world from marine sediments and oceanic crusts. It receives funding from three major organizations – the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Japans Ministry of education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT), and European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD) with research funding from five-member governments. The project 388 has a two-month timeframe (from late June to late August). We have to dig out sediment cores from Southern Equatorial Atlantic by R/V JOIDES Resolution [RR1] drillship. Under the plan, we are expected to have 2-to-3-kilometer sediment layers dating from today back to oceanic crusts of around 100 million years ago. These sediment layers record stories from the age of dinosaurs to the present day. Micropaleontologists, sedimentologists, and geologists from different branches use scientific knowledge on sediment conditions, chemical compositions, and tiny fossils to interpret natural processes of the past.
PAGE 15
For over five decades, since the first Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) was launched in 1968 in the Gulf of Mexico, leading scientists from more than 50 countries have been promoting knowledge and understanding of the global climate change through the study of sediment layers around the world. If I did not live by trial and error, I would not have a chance to join this international scientific expedition project. Besides, being the first Thai member makes me so proud of myself and aware of my own value. I consider myself a representative of Thailand and will do my best not only as a Thai but also as a Fulbrighter from the very special 2018 cohort, which was deliberately recruited in remembrance of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great.
PAGE 16
21/5 Thai Wah Tower 1, South Sathorn Road, Bangkok 10120 Tel. +662 285 0581-2 Email tusef@fulbrightthai.org www.fulbrightthai.org
PAGE 17