The Senate yesterday endorsed the nomination of Assoc Prof Sompop Purivigraipong, vice-president of Mahanakorn University of Technology, to become the seventh member of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
Assoc Prof Sompop, also a lecturer at the university's Department of Electronic Engineering, received support from 197 senators with nine votes against and five abstentions in the closed meeting.
The approval requires more than half of the votes from the 250 senators, and his appointment will be submitted for royal approval.
Assoc Prof Sompop was among 16 applicants vying for the position, and he was nominated by the Senate's selection committee in December last year.
He served as rector of Gistda Academy from August 2014 to January 2016 and as an adviser to the THEOS-2 project from February 2016 to July 2017. He was a member of a panel on satellite affairs under the NBTC from May 18, 2022, to Nov 19, 2022.
Assoc Prof Sompop obtained a bachelor's degree in applied physics and a master's degree in electrical engineering from King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) and a doctorate in satellite engineering from Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey.
The NBTC board has seven members. The first five began their terms in April last year, while the sixth came to office in October.