Dr. Amit Chakma, a dynamic and gifted academic leader, is the 10th President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. “Stepping into the role of Western’s tenth president is a humbling and energizing experience”, says Amit Chakma.

Amit arrived at Western after serving the University of Waterloo since 2001 as Vice-President, Academic & Provost, and as a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Prior to that, he served as Dean of Engineering and then Vice-President (Research) and International Liaison Officer at the University of Regina. He resumed his academic career as a professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Calgary.

Amit is a leading expert in petroleum research and energy management with over 100 research articles. He is a graduate of the Algerian Petroleum Institute (Dip. Ing., 1982) and the University of British Columbia (Master of Applied Science, 1984 and PhD, Chemical Engineering, 1987). His research interests encompass mass transfer, gas separation, gas processing, membrane separation, petroleum waste management, greenhouse gas control technology, and energy and environmental systems modeling.

Amit also serves as a chair of the board of Health Force Ontario Marketing and Recruitment Agency. He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. In 1998, Chakma earned Canada‘s Top 40 Under 40 Award, given annually to honour Canada’s best and brightest in their fields younger than 40.

Amit, a member of the Chakma ethnic group of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, was born in beautiful South-Eastern Bangladesh in 1959. At the foot of mountains, Amit’s birthplace, Chittagong Hill Tracts, is the most beautiful part of Bangladesh, where natural beauty prevails in simplicity. In the 1980’s, I had the privilege to visit Amit’s village near Rangamati, nestled with nature’s breathtaking beauty, where Chakmas weave their colourful cloths on handlooms in their homes and dye their cloths with natural dyes. Traditional chakma songs, dance and cultures are uniquely entertaining, insightful and delightful.

Amit has set smart ambitious goals to provide the UWO a leading edge reputation with internationally recognized excellence in education and stimulating research programs. He seeks support from every corner of our global village to build a better tomorrow. Greetings and congratulations Amit and UWO! When vision, mission and passion merge seamlessly we can expect many magical
moments to turn challenges into opportunities. We wish the very best of Amit’s endeavours.

Amit lives in London, Ontario, Canada with his wife Meena. They have two sons: Justin and Hiroshi.

Amit Chakma’s Articles, Speeches and News Archive:

                 http://president.uwo.ca/media/index.html

http://president.uwo.ca/media/news-archive.html

Selected Media links:

·         http://president.uwo.ca/bio.html

·         http://communications.uwo.ca/pdf/Amit_Chakma_CV.pdf

·         http://www2.macleans.ca/tag/amit-chakma/

·         http://www.uwofa.ca/@storage/files/documents/244/ftoct2009.pdf

·         http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca/2001/may/24th.html

Selected Video links:

·         http://video.google.ca/videosearch?hl=en&source=hp&q=amit+chakma+uwo&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=oEKES53cEouwlAeKrKSNAg&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CBoQqwQwAw#

Prof. Amit Chakma has agreed to give us an interview. More to come. Stay tuned!

Picture: UWO Website, 2009 Sep 14,

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Shafiul Islam, Global Parents, Volunteer, www.unicef.ca

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