Category: RIT

• During our younger days, three sayas — Dr. Hla Shwe (Boon Chiong, First in Burma in 1953 from Yegyaw Methodist), Dr. Tin Maung and Dr. Tin Aung — came back after completing their doctorate in Physics from the USA.
  Dr. Hla Shwe and Dr. Tin Maung founnd their way back to the USA.
  Dr. Tin Aung stayed.
• He served as Professor and Head of the Physics Department at RU.
  
• During the 8-8-88 movement, Saya was in the USA as a member of the Education Delegation (with U Tun Aung Chein, Professor of History).
  Saya might not be aware that he was made a Patron (in absentia) by the “Boycott / Strike Committee” of Sayas and Sayamas of the various Universities and Institutions.
  
• Upon his return, Saya attended the meeting of the Department Heads of RU.
  I was present at the meeting as a Proxy for my Head of Department.
• Sometime later, we had the sad news.
  Saya was asked to resign effectively immediately.
  
• Saya’s health was reasonably good except for his need of a Pace Maker.
  A couple of years back, he had to replace the Pace Maker.
  His former students worldwide donated for his medical expenses.
  
• One photo is from the RU Centennial Facebook Group.
• Two photos are from Sayama Daw Thida (who helped publish the RU Physics Centennial Book).
• Shwe Than Thida wrote : Dear Saya U Hla Min,Thank you very much for your valuable compilations.

RIT Electrical Engineering Sayas

Seated

• U Soe Paing
• U Thein Lwin (GBNF, Passed away in Singapore)
• U Tin Swe (GBNF)
• U Sein Hlaing (GBNF)
• U Kyaw Tun (GBNF)
• U Sein Win (GBNF)
• U San Tint (GBNF)

Standing

• U Soe Min (GBNF)
• U Chin Way (GBNF, Passed away in USA)
• U Win Tin
• U Ba Myint
• U Nyi Nyi (was in UK)
• U Moe Aung
• U Sein Maung

Absent in the photo

• U Myo Kyi (On deputation)
• U Ba Lwin (On deputation)
• U Tin Maung Thein (On deputation)
• U Khaing Oo (Missed the photo shoot)

Miscellaneous

• For the Commemorative Issue of Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung for SPZP-2010, I wrote about the 14 EE Sayas in the Photo.
• Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War, Chief Editor) suggested the title : “A Short and Sad Clip : EE Sayas”.
• At the time of writing, Seven sayas — U Kyaw Tun, U Sein Hlaing, U Tin Swe, U Sein Win, Dr. San Tint, U Soe Min and U Chin Way — had passed away.
  There was no information about U Nyi Nyi who went for studies in the UK.
  
• A few years back, U Thein Lwin and his spouse Daw May Than Nwe passed away in Singapore within a few months of each other.
  
• The remaining Sayas from the Photo are U Moe Aung, U Sein Maung, U Ba Myint, Dr. Win Tin, and U Soe Paing.
  
• Note that four EE sayas did not appear in the Photo.
  Three were studying abroad (On Deputation).
  One missed the Photo Shoot.
  

Comments

• Htun Aung :
  အမြဲ​လေးစားအမှတ်ရလျက်ပါ​ကျေးဇူးရှင်ဆရာကြီးများခင်ဗျား။ကျန်းမာသက်ရှည်ကုသိုလ်တိုးကြပါ​စေ​ကြောင်းဂါရဝဖြင့်ဆု​တောင်း​မေတ္တာပို့သလျက်ပါခင်ဗျား။

• Matriculated from St. Paul’s High School in 1962.
• Also known as Anthony Sein.
• At SPHS, there was a class period when
  Catholic students had to study Catechism, and
  Non-Catholics had to study “Morals and Manners”.
• Ko Anthony, Ko Myint Thein (B.Com, RUBC) and several others from their class would join us in the “Morals and Manners” class.
  
• Upon graduation in 1968, he joined the Chemical Engineering Department at RIT.
• After retirement, he moved to Singapore.

• Attended SPZPs.
• At one SPZP, we were sad to learn that he was having some medical problems and slight memory loss.
  
• Kudos to Swel Daw Yeik Foundation (SDYF) for the support of sayas and sayamas for
  annual Medical Check up,
  frequent visits to the hospital and clinics, and
  for non-trivial health care (albeit on a case-by-case basis.
  
• In addition to SDYF’s Garawa Money for Saya U Ohn Maung, several alumni donated for Saya’s medical expenses.
• Daw Zin Wai Hlaing, saya’s spouse, acknowledged receipt of the Garawa money from SDYF.

• SDYF donated K4 Lakhs to Saya U Ohn Maung (ChE68), who has a medical problem.
  The donations will be continued in future years.
• U Khin Maung Htwe (ChE72) donated K20,000.
• The donations were handed over to Saya U Sein Thaung.
  He will forward it to Saya U Ohn Maung.

Miscellaneous

• His elder brother (a medical doctor) and younger sister (Dolly Sein, spouse of U Thein Swe, EP68) are both GBNF.
• After visiting my web site, his nephew (elder brother’s son) regained contact with Saya U Ohn Maung.

• Pali and Burmese Scholar.
• Proposed to have a separate Burmese Department.
• First native Principal of Rangoon College.
• Executive Committee member of Burma Research Society.
• The Myanmar Sar Community honored Sayagyi with a bust in December 2019.
  Daw Tin Tin Myaing (Brenda, Sayagyi’s daughter) attended the ceremony.
  Met her at the Winner Inn.
  Sad to learn that her spouse succumbed to COVID-19 in UK in 2020.
• In our middle school we had to study “Myanmar Thadda / Burmese Grammar” written by Sayagyi.
• Sayagyi translated two early Sermons :
  Dhammacakkapavatana Sutta and Anatta Lekkhana Suttana into English.
  The three-language edition of the Suttas was published by U Tha Win.
• Saya’s early students include
  ICS U Sein Tin (Theikpan Maung Wa)
  U Thein Han (Zawgyi)
  U Wun (Minthuwun)

Former Rector, RIT

Former Professor, Civil Engineering

Born from my parents U Ba Pu and Daw Aye Kyi in Namtu, Northern Shan States, Burma.

Matriculated in 1949 from Myoma High School in Rangoon. After passing the 1st year engineering, BOC College of Engineering, Rangoon University in 1952, went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass., USA as a State scholar to join the second year engineering classes there.

Was in Dean’s list during the studies in MIT; and obtained B.S.(Civil Engineering) in 1955 and M.S.(Civil Engineering) in 1956. After working as a junior engineer in Tippetts- Abbett-MacCarthy- Stratton Engineers, New York and Green Engineering Co., Boston for a year, returned to Burma in 1957 to join the Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Rangoon University as an Assistant Lecturer. Promoted to Lecturer and Head of the Department of Civil Engineering in 1958.

Got married to Daw Mya Mya Mue in 1959. (Have a daughter and a son and two grand children from daughter who all live in Canada now.)

Went to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Colombo Plan Scholarship in 1963 for further studies. Obtained Ph.D (Civil Engineering) specializing in structural engineering in 1965 from the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Returned to Burma in 1965 and promoted to Professor and Head of Civil Engineering Department in 1966. Promoted to Rector of Rangoon Institute of Technology in 1971.

Left Burma to join UNESCO as Programme Specialist in Applied Sciences in 1977 in Unesco Regional Office in New Delhi, India.

Migrated to Ottawa, Canada to join the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canadian Research funding Agency in Ottawa as an Associate Director in 1981. Was then assigned to IDRC Regional Office in Singapore as Principal Program Officer from 1989 to 1992. Was transferred to IDRC Regional Office in New Delhi as Principal Program Officer in 1992. Was promoted to Regional Representative for IDRC Regional Office in New Delhi in 1995.
Retired from IDRC in June 1997 and now settled down in Nepean, Ontario, Canada with wife.

I look forward to seeing you all soon.

With Metta,
Aung Gyi

Editor’s Note:
Saya U Thein Aung (Met72, Mr. RIT68) volunteered to be Associate Editor for the commemorative issue of RIT Alumni International Newsletter for SPZP-2000. He compiled the biographies of the sayas and sayamas attending SPZP-2000. He also served as co-emcee of SPZP-2000.
Sayagyi now have four grandchildren. The elder two are working.
I was a guest on two separate occasions (around the SPZPs) hosted by Ko Wai Lwin in Yangon (a) one for Ma Ma Emma’s birthday (b) another for welcoming Sayagyi DAG and other sayas at U Nyan Tun U’s residence.
Ko Ivan, Ko Fred, my spouse and I stayed at Saya’s house for two nights a few years back. Thanks