From the 13th Steering Committee Meeting in August 2007, I was nominated as a new Executive Director succeeding Assoc. Prof. Krisada Visavateeranon for the next two-year period (2007-2009) with great pleasure. For the last three years, I had been working as Associate Dean and had a chance to communicate with AUN/SEED-Net on behalf of a host institution (Chulalongkorn University). I learned that AUN/SEED-Net aimed to promote human resource development through funding scholarship, collaborative research, field wise seminar, and etc. to the international engineering programs in the designated universities in the region. From the mid-term and final project evaluation, it was proved that the Project's first phase has successfully achieved the project goals. These achievements were based on all parties' endeavors and collaborations, which the parties concerned should be proud of.

We are now on the transition period to the second phase and need more careful planning during this phase to reach the final goal of establishing regional partnership of engineering graduate programs with the sustainable fundamentals. Four issues must be addressed and discussed among members, i.e., how to further upgrade the nine fundamental fields through more collaborative scheme, how to induce more impacts to the region through interdisciplinary engineering research on the common issues, how to effectively disseminate knowledge through regional conference/workshop, and how to follow up the AUN/SEED-Net alumni network. These need closer discussion and more collaboration during our second phase implementation.

As the new Executive Director of AUN/SEED-Net, I am very pleased to work with all member institutions under the policy of the Steering Committee and with support from Japanese Government through JICA and Japanese Supporting Universities, member countries, ASEAN Secretariat, AUN Secretariat, and other parties, to reach the project objectives and goals for human resource development in ASEAN region. Our secretariat staff welcome all comments and suggestions to improve our works to support the project implementation.

Congratulations to Mary Donnabelle I. Balela, master's student at Universiti Sains Malaysia sent by University of the Philippines-Diliman, who won the Young Persons' World Lecture Competition (YPWLC) 2007 held on 8 August at Nanyang Technological University. The competition aimed to promote the field of materials science and provide an opportunity for young researchers to enhance their communication and presentation skills.

This competition was organized annually by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. This year seven young materials scientists and engineers who were national winners in the USA, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia competed in delivering short presentations and answering questions from international judges. Representing Malaysia, Mary took the first place for her insightful presentation on cobalt nanoparticles, looking at their synthesis, properties and applications. She explored superparamagnetism and discussed biomedical and magnetic recording applications of those materials.