2007 Graduate Catalog and 2006 Annual R & D Report - Sirindhorn ...

2007 Graduate Catalog and 2006 Annual R & D Report
Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT)
Department of Common and Graduate Studies
Faculty Members and Research Interests, 2007
Dr. Alice Sharp
Assistant Professor
B.Sc. in Biology, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
M.Sc. in Environmental Risk Assessment, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
M.Sc. in Natural Resource Management, Hiroshima University, Japan
Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management, Hiroshima University, Japan
Areas of Specialization: Community based natural resource management, Environmental Impact Assessment,
Pollution monitoring.
Research Interests:
Community Based Environmental Protection
(CBEP)
CBEP is a new approach to environmental protection.
Traditionally, environmental protection programs have
focused on the command and control approach,
which have been very effective at reducing point
source pollution and improving environmental quality.
However, some environmental problems, such as
non-point source pollution are less amenable to these
programs. CBEP will supplement and complement
the traditional environmental protection approach by
focusing on the health of an ecosystem and the
behavior of humans that live in the ecosystem’s
boundaries. This study is aiming to 1) comprehensively
identify local environmental concerns, 2) set
priorities and goals that reflect overall community
concerns, and 3) develop comprehensive, long-term
solution to environmental problems.
Products Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is used to quantify the
environmental inputs and outputs of a product or
process, from the mining of raw materials, through
production, distribution, use and reuse or recycling, to
final disposal. There are two main stages of LCA:
inventory analysis and impact assessment. Inventory
analysis involves the quantification of environmental
inputs and outputs throughout a product or process’s
lifetime. The inventory analysis is aiming to identify a
list of pollutants that may have an impact on the
environment. The purpose of the impact assessment
is to aggregate and evaluate the potential
environmental impacts identified in the inventory. This
study will be focusing on particular kinds of waste
which have high potential to be a major environmental
problem in the future, mobile phone and its batteries,
as an example in order to develop waste
management plan and minimize the amount of waste
before hand.
Waste Management
Waste management is one of the major long-term
problems in our society. Cost-effective, environmentally
sound management of wastes continues to
be an unstable issue, the solution of which must
integrate science, technology, individual awareness,
and policy. Waste management begins with
understanding the complete and detailed physical,
chemical, and biological characteristics of the waste
in question. This understanding is crucial to
successful utilization or environmentally sound
disposal measures. Additionally, waste management
enables us to predict what is in a material, how much
is there, how it may leach out, and how it will
ultimately impact the environment.
Dr. Jeffrey Frank Webb
Assistant Professor (Joined SIIT in October 2006)
B.Sc. (Honors) in Applied Physics, Portsmouth University, England, UK
Ph.D. in Physics, University of Strathclyde, Scotland, UK
Areas of Specialization: Theoretical studies of bulk and thin-film properties of ferroelectric materials; Linear
and non linear optics of ferroelectrics, Nanotechnology and nanoscience: Theoretical studies and modelling of
nanostructures such as quantum dot and wire structures; Nanoscale device modelling.
Research Interests:
Ferroelectric Materials
Phenomenological studies of ferroelectric materials
using Landau-Devonshire-Ginzburg theory: The basis
of this theory is that the free energy can be expanded
in powers of the order parameter (often taken to be
the polarization). Bulk properties are easily handled
with this approach, and by adding a gradient term to
the free energy, finite size effects can also be studied.
For example, the way that a thin-film ferroelectric
influences the ferroelectric properties can be studied.
This is of increasing importance technologically
because of the use of thin-film ferroelectrics in
ferroelectric random access memories.
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