U Aung Khin and U San Tun

by Hla Min

Updated : June 2025

Sayagyi U Aung Khin

Brief Bio

• He enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Rangoon in 1950. At that time, one must pass the I.Sc. with good grades to pursue engineering courses.
• He left the Third Year B.Sc. (Engg) class in 1952 upon being selected as a State Scholar to study at Lehigh University in the US.
• He received B.S.M.E. and M.S.M.E. degrees and returned in 1956 to join the staff at the Faculty of Engineering as an Assistant Lecturer.
• He was promoted to Lecturer & Head of Mechanical Engineering.
• He was awarded the Colombo Scholarship in 1962 to pursue post-graduate studies at Toronto University. He received the M.A.Sc. degree and returned in 1967 to continue teaching at Rangoon Institute of Technology.
• He served as Professor and Head of Mechanical Engineering.
• In 1976, Saya resigned from the Institute in 1976 and emigrated to Canada.
• He retired in 1998 after working for twenty one years in Canada.
• His post-retirement sojourns can be found in the article written for SPZP-2000 (Special Issue).
• One his trips was taken with Saya U San Tun to China and Myanmar.

• He stays fit by playing tennis and golf.

Visits

• Saya’s visits to the SF Bay Area had tremendous impact.
• One visit resulted in the formation of BAPS (Burmese American Professional Society) — a merger of BEA (Burmese Engineers Association) and BASTS (Burmese American Science and Technology Society).
• Another visit resulted in a dinner meeting where the Bay Area Alumni Group led by Saya Allen Htay decided unanimously to hold the First Ever Grand Reunion and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe on October 28-29 week end.
• In 2012, Saya U Tin Htut (M60) invited Sayagyi to his house in Los Angeles. After spending some quality time with former colleagues and students, Sayagyi and Saya U Tin Htut flew to Yangon to attend SPZP-2012 and the opening of a Mechanical Chapter of MES.
• In 2015, Sayagyi hosted my spouse and I during our visit to Windsor, Canada. He cooked Mohinga and ah kyaw အကြော် for Ko Ivan Lee (M69), Ko Frederick Thetgyi (M69), my spouse and I. He also gave us souvenirs.
• Later, Ko Ivan organized another trip. Three cars of RIT sayas and alumni drove to Windsor to pay respect to Sayagyi.

Saya U Aung Khin’s Posts

• Mechanical Engineering Post 1950
• Tribute to U Tin Hlaing
• On the road to the Millenium
• Introduction to the article about Sayagyi U Ba Hli
• Brief History of Mechanical Engineering Department

Saya U San Tun

• Graduated with B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Rangoon University in 1959.
• Joined the Mechanical Engineering Department as an Assistant Lecturer.
• Received Masters from MIT, USA in 1962.
• 1962 – 1964 Assistant Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, RIT
• 1964 – 1968 Lecturer in Mechanical/Automobile Engineering, RIT
• 1968 – 1974 Contract Engineer, Cone Company, Burlingame, California
• 1974 – 1999 Bechtel Corporation, San Francisco, California
• Retired in August 1999

Editor’s notes

• U San Tun served as Head of Automobile Engineering (sub-department of Mechanical Engineering).
• He kept in contact with Sayagyi U Aung Khin. They went on some trips including the one to China where Saya U Kyaw Myint (M 65) was working on UN assignments.
• Saya U San Tun invited me to his birthday party and to the wedding reception of his son.
• Saya attended the Retirees’ Lunch Gathering organized by Maurice Chee.
• Some time back, Saya had a stroke. He is now recuperating.