Thammarat Koottatep, born in 1969 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, is an environmental engineer and pioneer in the field of sanitation. Obtaining his doctorate from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, in 1999, one of his earliest technological developments was the "vertical-flow constructed wetlands for fecal sludge" in 1996. Currently serving at AIT as a Professor and co-director of the Global Water and Sanitation Center funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he is widely known for his work on fecal sludge management, sanitation systems, wastewater treatment and marine plastic pollution. Thammarat has written 8 books, contributed to over 90 journal papers and supervised the dissertations of 17 PhD graduates. He is the holder of 34 patents in sanitation and related technologies. He has established Masters degree programs at AIT on “Marine Plastics Abatement” and “Regenerative Sanitation”. Beyond academia, Thammarat leads projects like the creation of constructed wetlands on Phi Phi island, where the goal is to exemplify how to combine effective environment management with improvements in aesthetics.