WPI Journal - The Magazine for WPI Alumni

FALL 2014

The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)

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18 Fall 2014 THE CHARM of THAI ENVIRONMENTALIST, TEACHER, AND NONSTOP INNOVATOR SUPAWAN TANTAYANON '82 (PHD) FORMULATES A BETTER FUTURE FOR HER COUNTRY S hortly after Supawan Tantayanon arrived at WPI to begin a PhD program in organic chemistry, she had cause to revisit her decision to move to Worcester. She and her husband, Rewat, a fellow chemistry student, had left their home in balmy Bangkok for New England just in time for the infamous Blizzard of '78. ¶ "I just watched snow falling for two days," she recalls. "At frst, it was pretty." But soon the couple realized the implications. "There was more than one meter of snow," she says. "We lived on the ground foor, so we could not open the door—we had to climb out from the window." ¶ After receiving her doctorate in 1982, Tantayanon quickly returned to her tropical homeland. But despite the weather, she has no regrets about her time at WPI, which she credits with giving her the confdence she has relied upon as she used her three-decade career to help build a better future for this developing nation of 67 million people. the implications. "There was more than the implications. "There was more than CHARM CHARM SUPAWAN TANTAYANON '82 (PHD) FORMULATES A BETTER FUTURE SUPAWAN TANTAYANON '82 (PHD) FORMULATES A BETTER FUTURE CHARM was pretty." But soon the couple realized was pretty." But soon the couple realized THAI ENVIRONMENTALIST, TEACHER, AND NONSTOP INNOVATOR THAI ENVIRONMENTALIST, TEACHER, AND NONSTOP INNOVATOR CHARM CHARM door—we had to climb out from the window." Blizzard of '78. falling for two days," she recalls. "At first, it SUPAWAN TANTAYANON '82 (PHD) FORMULATES A BETTER FUTURE FOR HER COUNTRY FOR HER COUNTRY SUPAWAN TANTAYANON '82 (PHD) FORMULATES A BETTER FUTURE FOR HER COUNTRY FOR HER COUNTRY the ground floor, so we could not open the the ground floor, so we could not open the CHARM CHARM of CHARM of SUPAWAN TANTAYANON '82 (PHD) FORMULATES A BETTER FUTURE SUPAWAN TANTAYANON '82 (PHD) FORMULATES A BETTER FUTURE FOR HER COUNTRY CHARM CHARM CHARM door—we had to climb out from the window." one meter of snow," she says. "We lived on the ground floor, so we could not open the the implications. "There was more than one meter of snow," she says. "We lived on the implications. "There was more than one meter of snow," she says. "We lived on CHARM CHARM CHARM CHARM THAI ENVIRONMENTALIST, TEACHER, AND NONSTOP INNOVATOR THAI ENVIRONMENTALIST, TEACHER, AND NONSTOP INNOVATOR door—we had to climb out from the window." After receiving her doctorate in 1982, door—we had to climb out from the window." After receiving her doctorate in 1982, THE THE By Amy Crawford ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE DALTON COWAN

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