Category: RIT

• In the early and mid 50s, 400+ Burmese State Scholars studied in the USA.
  
• There were programs to cover several disciplines : Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, …, Sports and Physical Education, Movie Technology.
  
• Under the “Twinning Program between the Faculty of Engineering and the prestigious universities in the USA” proposed by Sayagyi U Ba Hli, first native Dean of Engineering and Professor of Civil Engineering, engineering students (e.g. Dr. Aung Gyi, U Min Wun, U Khin Aung Kyi) and engineering sayas (e.g. U Sein Hlaing, U Tin Swe) were selected as State Scholars to pursue undergraduate and graduate studies at US Universities.
  
• Two prestigious universities (MIT and Harvard) are quite close.
  
• Several sayas attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
  
• Dr. F Ba Hli (GBNF) received Sc.D (Doctor of Science) in EE (Electrical Engineering).
  He mentored Dr. Aung Gyi and U Min Wun.
  He served as DG of UBARI, Advisor at the Ministry of National Planning, and Board Member and External Examiner at UCC.
  He passed away in Sydney, Australia.
  
• U Sein Hlaing (GBNF) received MSEE from MIT.
  He retired as Professor and Head of the Electrical Engineering Department at RIT.
  He passed away a couple of years after retirement.
  
• Dr. Aung Gyi received BSCE and MSCE from MIT.
  He retired as Rector of RIT.
  He moved to Canada.
  
• U Min Wun received BSCE from MIT and MSCE from Cornell University.
  He retired as Professor and Head of the Civil Engineering Department at RIT.
  He moved to California, USA.
  
• U Khin Aung Kyi (GBNF) received BS and MS in Chemical Engineering from MIT.
  He retired as Rector of RIT.
  He passed away at the tender age of 89.
  
• Later MIT alumni include Dr. San Hla Aung (C58) and U San Tun (M59).
  
• Several sayas attended Harvard University.
  
• U Ba Toke received AM in Mathematics from Harvard University.
  He served as Professor of Mathematics at RASU and Rector of MASU.
  He voluntarily transferred to RIT as Professor of (Engineering) Mathematics.
  He will celebrate his 100th birthday on December 26, 2020.
  His life journey and achievements have been recorded in a book by his former student and colleague Tekkatho Maung Thin Char (Dr. Khin Maung Swe, GBNF).
  
• U San Tha Aung (GBNF) received AM in Physics from Harvard University.
  He passed away while serving as Director General of Higher Education.
  
• Later Harvard alumni include U Allen Htay (C58, GBNF).
  

Group Photo

The group photo of the sayas attending the two universities was taken at Harvard.

An Education Delegation was visiting Harvard at the time.

Dr. Yan Naing Lwin (Emeritus Professor of Physics, Western Illinois University) wrote :

When we arrived the US first time in 1955 we had a few days in Boston before leaving for New York. We met all the Sayas you mentioned except Dr. Freddie Ba Hli who had returned to Burma. There were about 140 Burmese State Scholars in 1955 when I arrived.

The summer of 1955 in August we visited Harvard & MIT again. We met Saya U Ba Toke at Harvard. Also, Daw Thein Nyunt & Daw Tin Saw Mu who were visiting the States.-

• 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.