Thai Students Find Michigan Tech Summers Chilly, Engineering Hot

Pradchaya Wattanaphan, a materials engineering student at Thailand’s Kasetsart University, came to Michigan Tech this summer hoping to improve her English. She got more than she bargained for. Working with a postdoc from China, she’s improving her Chinese too.

“It’s good luck for me,” says Wattanaphan, whose nickname is “Seagames.” Nicknames are a Thai custom, and they can be somewhat startling. “I knew a little Chinese, and now I am increasing my Chinese.”

Seagames is one of five Thai undergraduates from Kasetsart University who are at Michigan Tech doing two-month research internships this summer. The others are Akkhraphon Sakultawanpitak (Paul), Thanapha Srisawangwong (Praew), Kamonchanok Tongpul (Tarn) and Parin Puengprasert (Fight).

Seagames, Praew, Tarn and Fight are materials engineering students at Kasetsart, working in Tech’s Department of Chemical Engineering. Paul is a mechanical engineering student working on fuel cells with Kazuya Tajiri, assistant professor of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics.

Tajiri is impressed with his Thai intern. “He is hard-working and doing very well with his senior colleague,” Tajiri said. “Paul is working on the two-phase flow pressure drop measurement in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) flow channels. He first started this task with his senior colleague to learn the procedure. When his colleague had to go out of town to attend a conference, Paul was responsible for the measurements.” When Tajiri had to go away as well, “Paul carried out his task by himself, and sent me a progress report every day.”

Fight is working with David Shonnard, a professor of chemical engineering who holds the Robbins Chair in Sustainable Materials.  "Parin is an extremely valuable member of our biofuel research team, providing assistance to one PhD student and learning essential laboratory research skills," Shonnard said.  

Bangkok and Houghton

The link between Michigan Tech and Kasetsart—a leading university in Bangkok—was forged when Jennifer Donovan, director of news and media relations at Michigan Tech, spent a month at the Thai university as a Fulbright communications specialist and started working with Parinya Chakartnarodom (Prince), a Tech alumnus who now teaches at Kasetsart, and Intiraporn Mulasastra, then director of the Thai university’s International Undergraduate Programs, to develop exchanges.

Last year Komar Kawatra, chair of chemical engineering, hosted two Kasetsart undergraduate interns. This year there are five at Tech, four of them in chemical engineering.

“They speak excellent English and do quality work,” says Kawatra. “Most importantly, they have taken safety training and passed the safety examination at Michigan Tech. We are very pleased and fortunate to have them.” He is hoping to establish a similar internship program with a university in China.

The Thai students arrived in early June, on a typical late spring day in the Keweenaw. It was probably brushing 70 degrees. Tarn shivers just thinking about it. “It is too cold here for Thai people,” she says. Bangkok is unremittingly hot and humid, with temperatures often topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thai Student Association

The Thai Student Association (TSA) took them under its wing, helped them get Tech IDs and fill out International Programs and Services paperwork. The organization also came to their rescue when the interns unexpectedly had to leave their Daniell Heights apartments because the locks were scheduled to be changed. The TSA found them temporary quarters and new apartments even closer to campus.

“This is good chance to open eyes, open heart, learn American style of working, exchange cultures,” Seagames explains.   Tarn says she wants to practice her English “and see how foreign people work.”

Praew 's goals initially were to learn about the laboratory and to improve her English, but during her two months at Tech, she has discovered an unexpected benefit. “I learn about how to live by myself without my parents,” she explains. “I have to cook, wash my clothes, clean the apartment, go buy fresh food by myself. I didn’t do these much when I stayed with my parents. It’s a good chance for me to learn about many things when I am here.”

Fight also wants to practice his English and gain new experiences in a laboratory. He’ says he’d like to see snow too, but since the students are only here through July, that probably isn’t going to happen.

Praew also wishes she could stay until it snows. “I would like to try skiing,” she says.

Even if they can’t experience a UP winter, the visiting Thai students already have done quite a few new things. They marched in the Bridgefest Parade, made s’mores, watched fireworks. And they went kayaking. Tarn and Fight took to it right away. Seagames just rode in their kayak. Paul fell into the water. “I was not good at all,” he laughs.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.