Category: RIT Saya

by Hla Min

Update : 26th October 2026

Parents : Chiu Foke Yin and Moy Mei Lan in Mogok, Burma.

Graduated with B. Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Rangoon in 1961. Awarded two gold medals.

• The Todarmal Talwar Memorial Gold Medal for obtaining highest aggregates of the four examinations leading to the degree of B. Sc. in Engineering and
• The U Kyaw Sein Gold Medal for standing first in the Final B. Sc. Civil Engineering Examination of March 1961.

Begin teaching career in 1961 as an Assistant Lecturer, Civil Engineering Department, Burma Institute of Technology.

In 1963 married to Twee Kyi Moy (Myint Khin), who worked in the Accounts Department of R.I.T. from 1963 to 1977.

In 1965 went to German Democratic Republic for further studies. In 1971 obtained Doctor of Science (Dr.-Ing.) in the Fundamentals of Geodesy from the Dresden Technical University. Returned to Burma in 1972 and was promoted to Lecturer in the Civil Engineering Department in the same year.

In 1978 immigrated to the United States of America. In the same year worked as a Civil Engineer with DeLeuw, Cather & Company. Up to present still working with the same company as a Principal Civil Engineer. DeLeuw, Cather & Company becomes part of Parsons Transportation Group of Parsons Corporation.

Editor’s Note

• Saya and his team supervised the field work for Surveying class taught by Sayagyi U Min Wun.
• Saya played on the RIT Sayas soccer team with U Soe Paing and U Tin Maung Nyunt
• Saya and his brothers U Soe Thein and Saya K C Chiu attended SPZP-2000. Sayagadaw was disappointed when memorabilia were handed out to RIT sayas and sayamas and not to office staff members.

by Hla Min

Update : 23rd October 2026

• Principal of Rangoon College
• First native Rector of the University of Rangoon
• Per Dr. Yan Naing Lwin, Dr. Htin Aung accompanied Prime Minister U Nu to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1954
• Vice Chancellor, RU
• After retirement, Dr. Htin Aung became Ambassador to Ceylon. Per U Tin Htoon, Dr. Htin Aung greeted the RUBC team and also provided transportation to visit Kandy.
• Per Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint, his Ba Dwe was recalled back to Burma by the Foreign Office. One day, the then Number One asked Saya what he was doing in Burma and that he did not ask the Foreign Office to recall him. Saya went to UK to continue his research and writing.
• Old alumni may have studied Saya’s books such as “Thirty Burmese Tales” and “Burmese Drama”
• Saya is a scholar, a prolific writer, a historian and a folklorist
• Saya’s siblings —ICS U Tin Tut; Dean of Law U Kyaw Myint; Chief Justice U Myint Thein; Kyauksar expert Daw Khin Mya Mu; Khit San poet Daw Khin Saw Mu; English lecturer Daw Tin Saw Mu

Feedback from Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint

• [Ba Dwe] Dr Htin Aung did not get an ambassador post. He was Called a Minister (current title is Minister Counselor) and the office in Ceylon was under the Embassy in New Dehli.
• Sometime later, on one occasion, Ne Win said, “Where is Saya Htin Aung?”
  Thi Han immediately called Dr Htin Aung to come back.
• Ba Dwe could not find out why. It took nearly six months to see Ne Win. On meeting Ne Win, Ne Win asked why he had come back. Ba Dwe explained about being called back and that he could not go back as another person had been sent. Ne Win told him he did not call back [from Ceylon]. He was thinking of his teacher and was just asking where was. Wasn’t it like Shwe Pyin Nyi Naung?
• He asked Ba Dwe what he could do for him. Ba Dwe asked to leave Burma for Oxford. He left to be Fellow of St Anthony’s College.

• The other dignitaries to be awarded honorary degrees were Prince Souphanouvong of Cambodia and Emperor Haile Salasie of Ethiopia together with my father in 1958.
• I had a photo of my father receiving the honorary LLD which he never used from PM U Ba Swe.

by Min Wun

Update : 21st October 2026

• Saya Dr. Koung Nyunt (A67) posted Kyaik-Htiyo Project 1979
• Saya U Min Wun posted a Supplement
• Both Sayas are now GBNF

U Min Wun
Professor Emeritus, Civil Engineering, RIT

When I read the article on “Kyaik Hti Yo Development Project” (KHYDP) by Dr. Koung Nyunt, Arch 67 – New Zealand, it brings me lots of fond memories and remind me of the “Good Old Days” of my tenure at the then R.I.T. It urges me to write this supplemental article.

There are many attractive sites in Myanmar for pilgrims, such as

• “Ah Laung Daw Katha Pha” to the west of Monywa,
• “Popa Taung Kalat” and “Mount Popa” north of Kyauk Pa Daung,
• “Pin Da Ya Hlaing Gu” near Nyaung Shwe in Shan State,
• “U Daung Taung” near Inlay Lake in Shan State,
• “Mrauk U” and “Wei Tha Li” in Rakkhine State,
• “Kyaik Hti Yo” in Mon State, … and so on, just to mention a few.

These pilgrimage sites are our “National Wilderness Heritages”. A Wilderness is a place where the imprint of humans is substantially unnoticed, and the changes will occur primarily through natural disturbance, and minimum human influence. This is not the case with Kyaik Hti Yo, and many of the above pilgrimage sites in Myanmar, where human encroachment and activity are becoming noticeable.

On your way up the Kyaik Hti Yo Trek, after the Nga Gar Lain climb, the first sight of the Gilded Stupa-Topped Boulder, resembling a Hermit’s Head, floating on top of a Stone Pillar, appears in vista vision. At that time, a thrilling feeling of achievement and excitement is beyond description and all the physical tiredness seems to have dissolved and melted away in the bodily blood stream. During the Pagoda Festival Season, this scenario was usually hidden from view by a long row of bamboo huts along the last ridge toward the Kyaik Hti Yo Pagoda Plateau. Many smaller boulders along the ridge were painted in white for advertising the vendors.

To the East of the Pagoda Plateau many bamboo huts align the smaller ridges with waterless bathrooms in the back and human wastes are dumped along the slopes, creating ugly and unsanitary sites for parasites, and causing unpleasant smell in the air. Water is a scarce property and it is a luxury to afford a shower.

With the blessing of the venerable “Me Byaw Sayadaw”, the Kyaik Hti Yo Pagoda Trustees (KHYPT), requested me to prepare a Project Report for the development of Kyaik Hti Yo and its Environment. The Project was sponsored by the KHYPT under the auspices of the Kyaik Hto Township Party and Council. The Project Development Team (PDT) was formed with the following volunteer Team Leaders: Dr. Koung Nyunt, ( Dept of Architecture, R.I.T.); Dr. San Lin and U Hla Thein (Electric Power Corporation, E.P.C.); Dr. Kyaw Latt, (National Housing Board, N.H.B.); U Tint Lwin (?), (Dept of Geology, R.A.S.U.); U Aye Win Kyaw, (Dept of Civil Engineering, R.I.T.).

And volunteer members from R.I.T., E.P.C., N.H.B., R.A.S.U., too numerous to mention and I do hope they will excuse me.

Preservation of Wilderness : Dr. Koung Nyunt and his team had prepared many good recommendations to preserve Kyaik Hti Yo and its environment by maintaining the natural landscapes and scenic beauty, and to preserve it as a Wilderness Area. (See Slide #16 of Kyaik Htiyo Album, KHA. Dr. Kyaw Latt is the Second from the Left, looking away from camera.)

Zoning : The team lead by Dr Kyaw Latt had prepared useful Zoning Maps, with guidelines for enforcement, to demarcate Kyaik Hti Yo Plateau for Resting Huts, Food Stalls, Souvenir Boutiques, Photographers, etc.

Hydro-power : The Hydropower Team lead by Dr. San Lin & U Hla Thein made a feasibility study for Micro-hydro Power Project, for lighting, for pumping water to the Pagoda Plateau level for water supply and sanitation purposes. U Hla Thein will design the turbine and manufacture it locally. (See Slide #29 of KHA.)

Geological Survey : U Tint Lwin and his team made a general geological survey of Hyaik Hti Yo Pagoda Site. A detailed study of the Stone Pillar and the Hermit-Head Boulder was conducted. Disposed “Food Offerings” were found at the foot of the Stone Pillar and many “rodent holes” were also observed. These holes became small piping tunnels for runoff water to drain deeper and quicker into the ground, causing erosion and exposing the base of the Stone Pillar. This process was gradually endangering the stability of the Stone Pillar, which is “supposed” to support the 160-ton Hermit-Head Boulder on top of it. A concrete slab was poured around the base of the Stone Pillar and discarding of “Food Offerings” at the base was at once prohibited. Several hairline cracks were observed at the top of the Stone Pillar and “Water Offerings” to the Stupa on top of the Boulder was prohibited temporarily until the hair line cracks were sealed with apoxy resin. (See Slide # 25 of KHA.)

Civil Engineering : U Aye Win Kyaw and his surveying team were very ingenious to determine the volume of the Hermit-Head Boulder and its weight, which was calculated to be approximately 160 tons. The center of gravity of the Boulder was determined to be 6 to 9 inches away from the vertical axis of the “Contact Point” with the Stone Pillar, giving an impression of being on the verge of falling off. The Boulder seems to be afloat and can be rocked back and forth about a shifting “Contact Point” on top of the Stone Pillar. A rope can be pulled through this “Contact Point”, without getting crushed, by rocking the Boulder gently. And it seems to defy the Law of Gravity, thus making it both a terrestrial and a celestial “Wonder”. (See Slides #13, #22, and #24 of KHA.)

Many field trips were organized by each team to do site investigations both during Kyaik Hti Yo Festival Season (beginning at the end of the Buddhist Lent and ending on the Lunar New Year Day) and off the Festival Season. According to an age-old saying, the author should become rich because he had made more than “Three Trips to Kyaik Hti Yo Pagoda”, at least nine trips. The age-old saying is, perhaps, true, because many of the PDT members and volunteers are now abroad living comfortably or enjoying a retirement life.

A feasibility report was submitted to the Kyaik Hti Yo Pagoda Trustees in 1982. Since then I have not been to Kyaik Hti Yo Pagoda Festival. I have learned that there are many improvements to make Kyaik Hti Yo a Tourist Attraction. We should, however, keep in our mind that the “Wilderness” of Kyaik Hti Yo should be protected and valued for its unique ecological, historical, religious, scientific and experiential resources.

Note :

Saya Dr. Koung Nyunt (A67) and Sayagyi U Min Wun are GBNF.

by Myint Thin & Hla Min

Update : 21st October 2026

Dr. Tin Win, son of U Kwet Kaw and Daw Hla Yi, was a Maths Gold Medalist in 1958 I.Sc. Exams. He stood first in 1962 batch of B.Sc. Mech. Eng. graduates. After working at Mandalay Brewery and Distillery for a year, he joined RIT as an Assistant Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering Department in 1963. He left for Melbourne University, Australia, in 1966 and obtained the doctorate degree in 1971. In 1972, he was promoted to Lecturer and worked at RIT till 1977 when he left for USA.

After working six months at Gardner Denver in Dallas, Texas, he joined Brown & Root (Halliburton Company) in Houston and became Head of Mechanical and Piping Department in 1988. Since 1992, he has been working as a Project Manager, currently in Subsea Engineering Division of Brown & Root Energy Services Business Unit.

He married Lily (Khin Htar Yee, T72) in 1984, and both of them will be attending the RIT Reunion and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe.

Updates (by Hla Min)

• Saya is Past President of BASES
• Was interviewed by Mandalay Gazette
• Ran the Los Angeles Marathon to raise fund for SPZP-2007
• Core organizer for 2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles
• Ma Rosie, his sister, worked for RIT Chemistry department from 1965 to 1976
• Penny, another sister, is from the class of 70
• Lily was Founding member & Secretary of BEA (in Northern California) before she moved to Texas
• After retirement, he and Lily relocated to Los Angeles (Southern California).
• Lily’s sister is from the class of A73.

• Myint Thin (M71, GBNF) is a multiple RIT Luyechun. He rowed for RIT. He sponsored Sayagyi U Ba Than to SPZP-2007 in Singapore. He worked in Singapore and Malaysia.

by Hla Min

Update : 21st October 2026

Background

• HMEE book (published in 2012) has interesting information and Appendices
• One is a list of sayas assigned to RIT in 1964
• Another is a list of sayas in 1988

Sayas in 1988

For those who have not seen them, Saya U Tin Myint has shared the list from 1988

နောက်ထပ်ထွက်လာတဲ့ အာအိုင်တီသမိုင်းဝင် အမိန့်စာတစ်ခု။

၁၉၈၈ ဖေဖဝါရီလ ၅ ရက် ကထွက်တဲ့ အဆည အမိန့်စာ

ရုတ်တရက်ကြည့်ရင်တော့ ရာထူးတိုး အမိန့်စာတစ်စောင်ပါဘဲ။

– ၁၉၈၈ ခုနှစ်က အာအိုတီ ဆရာအင်အား စာရင်း အပြည့်အစုံကိုတွေ့ရမယ်။ ကျနော်မှတ်မိသလောက်ဆို ဆရာအင်အားအပြည့်ဆုံး အချိန်ဆိုရမလားဘဲ။ ဒါပေမဲ့ နိုင်ငံခြားပညာသင် အခွင့်အရေး တွေ ခါတိုင်းထက် ပိုလာတဲ့ကာလ၊ ဒီတော့ ကျောင်း လက်ကျန်အင်အားက​လျော့၊ ရန်ကုန်မှာ ကျန်ခဲ့တဲ့ ဆရာတွေက တစ်ပါတ်ကို စာသင်ချိန် ၂၀ -၂၅ လောက်ယူရတယ်။

– ရာထူးတိုးမပေးတာ ဘယ်လောက်ကြာသွားလဲဆိုတော့ စီနီယာ ကျတဲ့ ကျနော်တို့ဆရာကြီးတွေ ရာထူးတိုးဘို့ ဘယ်လောက်ကြာခဲ့လဲဆိုတာ အမိန့်စာကို သေချာကြည့် သိသာလှပါတယ်၊ ကျနော်တို့က လက်ထောက်ကထိက ရာထူးရဖို့ ၆ နှစ်လောက်ဘဲစောင့်လိုက်ရတယ်၊ ကျနော်တို့ဆရာကြီးတွေက ၁၀နှစ် ၁၅နှစ်မက စောင့်ရတယ်၊

အခုကာလကတော့ မြင်မြင်သမျှ ပါမောက္ခ ပါ။

– စက်မှုဌာနမှာ အရင်က ဆရာမ ဆိုလို့ ဒေါ်ဂျက်စီထွေးတစ်ယောက်ဘဲရှိရာကနေ၊ ၂ ယောက်ဖြစ်တဲ့ အချိန်၊ အခုကျတော့ ဆရာမ အင်အားများတဲ့ ပြောင်းပြန်ကာလ၊်

Posts

• Education Systems
• HMEE
• Positions & Salaries

by Tekkatho Moe War

Update : 19th October 2026

၂၀၁၂ ခုနှစ်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသူကျောင်းသားဟောင်းများ၏ Worldwide ဆရာပူဇော်ပွဲကြီးတွင် ရိုက်ကူးခဲ့သည့် ယခင် စက်မှုအင်ဂျင်နီယာဌာနမှူး ပါမောက္ခဦးအောင်ခင် ပုံနှင့် ၁၉၆၀ ပြည့်နှစ်တုန်းက ပုံ ယှဥ်ကြည့်နိုင်ရန်…

အချိန်ကာလကမ်းစပ်ကို အနိစ္စလှိုင်းတံပိုးရိုက်ခတ်ခဲ့၊ ရိုက်ခတ်နေဆဲ…..

ဆင်ခြင်မိ…

(စာရေးသူသည်လည်း မိမိကိုယ်ကို ထိုနည်းနှင်နှင် အမြဲမပြတ် သတိကပ် နှလုံးသွင်းကာ ဆင်ခြင်နေထိုင်လျက်…)

RUESU Annual Magazine Committee (1960-61)

• RUESU stands for Rangoon University Engineering Students’ Union. It is independent from RUSU (Rangoon University Students’ Union).
• RUESU published the Annual Magazine for 1960 – 61.
• Saya U Aung Khin served as Advisor for English Editor.
• Tekkatho Moe War served as General Editor.

SPZP-2012

• The Sixth RIT Grand Reunion and Saya Pu Zaw Pwe (SPZP-2012) was held at the Gyogone Campus in December 2012. It was the True Home Coming.
• Saya U Aung Khin gave a speech.
• Tekkatho Moe War was among the Sayas on the Stage receiving Garawa from the Alumni.

Posts

• Mechanical Engineering Department
• On the road to the Millennium
• RUESU
• SPZP
• Tekkatho Moe War

by Hla Min

Update : 18th October 2026

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.
• Saya is now GBNF. In Saya’s memory, Ma Ma Sylvia donated to the HCF for sayas and sayamas.