Institute for Research and Development in Teaching Profession for ASEAN, Khonkaen University
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Policy and operation
Major work outcomes of Khon Kaen University
1. Prevention and Warning for PM 2.5 in Khon Kaen
During February 2019, the Department of Pollution Control reported its finding on PM 2.5 content in the air in the Khon Kaen Town area to be beyond its maximum tolerant limit. To prevent its ill effect on people in the KKU community, safety masks were given to all members in the KKU to protect themselves. Information on how to look after health during such crisis was also given to the public.
2. Sensor for the detection of Pollutants and PM 2.5 in the Air
KKU has developed a sensor innovation for the detection of Pollutants and PM 2.5 in the Air using the IoT technology. The Smart Sensors were installed in 15 locations inside the university and in down town Khon Kaen. Followings are the sites: Faculty of Nursing, Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, Faculty of Education, College of Local Administration, Faculty of Business Management and Accounting, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Si Than Water Reservoir, Science Park, Office of the Khon Kaen Governor, Bueng Kan Nakhon, Raja Mankala Isan University of Technology, and Northeastern University.
3. Sustainable Corrective Measure for PM2.5
The meeting was on October 4, 2019, under the banner “3 Powers for the Land” with the objective of bringing administers and their working staff from 3 universities to meet with each other so that they can exchange idea and experiences. In this meeting the experience in solving PM 2.5 were shared. This is just a beginning step of doing research initiated by the government to have a sustainable solution for the PM 2.5 problems.
4. Green Building to Reduce PM2.5 Problem
To raise awareness in students on the environmental preservation issue, Faculty of Architecture put up a contest in designing a way to improve the look of KKU Botanical Garden and its surrounding, having 4th Year Students as contestants. A similar contest but in an exterior designing of the area around the Food and Service Center was also set up for 5th Year Students. Appreciation for the environment is a very important attitude that should be implanted in people of new generation because they will have to face with unpredictable and harsh environment, such as high content of PM2.5 in the air, global warming, and so on, in their life-time.
5. Innovation for Pollution Monitoring and Reducing its Effects on People
This is a cooperative project between KKU and the government initiated under the CKDNET Project. Its objectives are to create an innovation that can solve pollution problems affecting people health and to treat the natural media that are sources or carriers of the pollutants.
6. Sensors for Measuring Air Quality Index and PM2.5 Content in the Air
The project is run by Mr.Chavis Srichan, Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering in cooperation with the Nano-electronics and Biomedical Innovation Center. The project together with the students in Embedded System Course, Faculty of Engineering have made a connection between the sensor and an application that can make a real-time reading either on mobile phone or a reader installed in a bus or drone; so that the air quality index can be measured everywhere the bus or drone go. This operation will give an overall picture of the pollution problem.
7. Sensor for Measuring Water Quality and Detecting Cyanobacteria
Asst. Prof. Chatchai Waisurasingh from the Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering; and the Country Defensive Technology Institute have been using drones to map the polluted area where water samples can be collected for the analysis. This innovation has made the water quality assessment fast and economical using the application on a mobile phone. With the application, water quality and number of Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae can be evaluated and compared with the reference values. Cyanobacteria is a known cause of acute and chronic kidney diseases, therefore, if they are detected, water from that source can be treated and the disease is prevented.
8. Environmental Friendly Soap Pellet
This is an innovation of students from the Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering. It won an award from the National Research Council of Thailand in an exposition organized at Bitech Convention Center, Bang Na, during 5-6 February 2019. The exposition aims to create and develop young innovators/inventors, giving them inspiration to become quality inventors and help boosting up country’s economy.
9. Green Innovation: PM2.5 Smart Sensor with IoT technology
This is one of the innovations in the Khon Kaen Smart City Project of the KKU Library. It was developed from the prototype created by the Bureau of Information Technology; by students specialized in this particular subject. The innovation was presented to the Khon Kaen Governor in November 2019 and, subsequently, was put in the KAN application where everybody can use.