Dr. Michael McGarry, Senior Project Director, COWATER International Inc, Canada visited the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) on 6-7 February 2014 to discuss possible collaboration and opportunities, tailoring a program to fit the needs of the Afghan government and its partner organization, the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Dr. McGarry met with the Chairman of AIT Board of Trustee, AIT Interim President, other members of AIT Management Team, Senior AIT Alumni, as well as faculty members from the Water Engineering and Management field of study led by Dr. Sangam Shrestha and those from the Agriculture and Food Engineering field of study led by Dr. Peeyush Soni to discuss possible offering programs in these two fields.
He also took the opportunity to meet with Dr. Naveed Anwar, Executive Director, AIT Consulting in relation to initiative AIT is handing for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE). This project, AIT-BU (Balk University) Partnership Project, aimed to address the advancement of BU’s Faculty of Engineering and lift the university’s overall teaching expertise to an international quality and as needed by Afghanistan.
Dr. McGarry later met with Afghan students from the MoHE Project to learn about the student’s study and lifestyle in campus. He is currently involved in a capacity building project supported by ADB that funds scholarships for Afghans working in Afghanistan’s Western Basins.
Dr. McGarry served as a faculty member in environmental engineering at AIT during the period of 1970-1974, seconded by the Canadian government. While in AIT, he was involved in graduate teaching and research in wastewater treatment and resource recovery, particularly on waste stabilization ponds and algal protein production for use as foods.
