The entire community at Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering is a family of passionate and dedicated people who are fervent pursuers of knowledge, that never shy away from offering support and expressing encouragement wherever and whenever needed. It is the extension of this spirit to recognise and appreciate hard work that we feel pleased to announce the creation of twenty-four (24) Fellowships for undergraduates in the basic sciences (biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics). These Fellowships are named after distinguished academics, teachers, practitioners, and scientists who have made distinct contributions to the learning of science and maths, or who have made revolutionary discoveries describing our universe. 

 

The Fellowships for each subject are named as follows:

Bilqees Mujeeb Fellowship – Biology

Professor Dr Bilqees Mujeeb, a Pakistani Parasitologist with numerous awards and honours, and considered by many as a pioneer of the field.

Ahmed H. Zewail Fellowship – Chemistry

Professor Dr Ahmed H. Zewail who was an Egyptian Nobel Laureate, celebrated for his ground-breaking work in femto-chemistry. He is regarded as the founder of the field. 

Chandrasekhar Fellowship – Physics

Born in Lahore, Professor Dr. Chandrasekhar was a world-renowned Nobel Laureate in Physics, whose work untangled some of the most fascinating mysteries of our universe, from white dwarfs to black holes.

Khawaja Dil Muhammad Fellowship – Mathematics

Professor Khawaja Dil Muhammad was a renowned Pakistani Mathematician that authored many books on the subject that stand widely praised to this day.

These Fellowships are created from a generous donation received from Packages Limited honoring the 90th birthday of the Founder of the School, Syed Babar Ali. The Fellowships are aimed to bolster interest in fundamental science and to incentivize students to major in basic sciences ((biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics). The creation of these Fellowships will draw more students towards their genuine passion. 

 

This programme will pilot for three years starting from the 2021-22 academic sessions.

For more details, visit this webpage: https://sbasse.lums.edu.pk/honorific-fellowships

 

Rimsha Irfan, a 2019 SBASSE Chemistry graduate, has won the Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholars Leverage Scholarship to join the University of Cambridge!

The dream of many ambitious students is knitted with the hope of learning from the very best that the world of education and academics has to offer. Rimsha, while studying at the Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, found the first glimmer of that hope with Dr. Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem, who played a big role in inspiring her intellect to pursue greater things and soar even higher. “I am extremely grateful to Dr. Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem, for instilling in me good research skills, discipline, and integrity - all of which has led me here [University of Cambridge]”. Rimsha also thanked the entire Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in helping set a conducive environment for thorough learning throughout her tenure. Rimsha has worked in Dr. Rahman Shah Zaib’s group for her SProj and had managed to publish one article as the first author, before graduating in 2019.

Rimsha Irfan has started her MPhil program in Chemistry at the University of Cambridge (Fitzwilliam College). This will be a fully funded program. We extend our hearty congratulations to her and wish her success in all her future endeavors.

A smartphone like the one in your hands on which you are (perhaps) reading this text contains around 70 elements from the periodic table. Of these 70, Silicon, Aluminum, and Oxygen, Indium and Tin are the major components of the glass display and touchscreens. Likewise, the battery essentially contains Lithium, Cobalt, Oxygen, and Carbon. The study of recovery, properties, and uses of elements present in the periodic table is known as Inorganic Chemistry. 

However, teaching and learning Inorganic Chemistry could be challenging as there are quite a lot of elements. For instance, the elements we just mentioned are just a few of the total 50 elements of the Main Group of the periodic table. Teaching and learning the chemistry of these elements systematically and engagingly demand innovative pedagogical methods.

While teaching the Main Group Chemistry module of Inorganic Chemistry to undergraduate students, Dr. Muhammad Zaheer, Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, came up with an idea. Students were assigned a project to make posters highlighting the chemistry of selected elements assigned to them. The specific task was to develop creative ways to transform the descriptive chemistry of elements into engaging visuals (graphics, charts, illustrations, and schemes). The students were provided with all necessary guidelines and repeated feedback on their posters.

The posters—put on display in the Hallway—were visited by an overwhelming number of faculty and students. The presenters explained their posters to the visitors and answered their questions. The participants also peer-graded other posters.

The students think that this activity was quite engaging and helped them prepare the Main Group Chemistry in a more fun way. It also boosted their interest in the subject, and they learned how to communicate science to others in a concise manner.

The poster activity was the first of its kind in the department. The best of the posters will be framed and displayed in the main lobby of the department. 

 

Syed Babar Ali School of School of Science and Engineering is delighted to share that Dr. Irshad Hussain, Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, has been admitted as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Dr. Irshad’s work is primarily focused on functional nanomaterials. His group specializes in the synthesis of metal/metal oxide nanoparticles with decent control over their size and surface chemistry. Functionalized nanoparticles and their composites have been used for applications in biomedical sciences, energy technologies and environmental remediation. For example, his work sees the applications of smaller metal nanoparticles (less than 2 nm), generally known as nanoclusters, to address a grave healthcare challenge i.e., multidrug resistance (MDR). In this regard, Dr. Irshad’s group has designed and prepared highly stable atomically monodisperse silver (and other metals) nanoclusters to kill bacteria that are resistant to many antibiotics. These nanoclusters can also be encapsulated in tiny capsules (nanocapsules) with other antibiotics to enhance their antimicrobial properties by synergistic effect.

We congratulate one of the Pakistan’s most active and celebrated scientists for his induction to the Royal Society of Chemistry. The Royal Society of Chemistry is the world's leading chemistry community, advancing excellence in the chemical sciences. With 49,000 members and a knowledge business that spans the globe, it is the UK's professional body for chemical scientists; a not-for-profit organisation with 170 years of history and an international vision for the future. 

 

Presenting the Elements

A smartphone like the one in your hands on which you are (perhaps) reading this text contains around 70 elements from the periodic table. Of these 70, Silicon, Aluminum, and Oxygen, Indium and Tin are the major components of the glass display and touchscreens. Likewise, the battery essentially contains Lithium, Cobalt, Oxygen, and Carbon. The study of recovery, properties, and uses of elements present in the periodic table is known as Inorganic Chemistry. 

However, teaching and learning Inorganic Chemistry could be challenging as there are quite a lot of elements. For instance, the elements we just mentioned are just a few of the total 50 elements of the Main Group of the periodic table. Teaching and learning the chemistry of these elements systematically and engagingly demand innovative pedagogical methods.

While teaching the Main Group Chemistry module of Inorganic Chemistry to undergraduate students, Dr. Muhammad Zaheer came up with an idea. Students were assigned a project to make posters highlighting the chemistry of selected elements assigned to them. The specific task was to develop creative ways to transform the descriptive chemistry of elements into engaging visuals (graphics, charts, illustrations, and schemes). The students were provided with all necessary guidelines and repeated feedback on their posters. 

The posters—put on display in the Hallway—were visited by an overwhelming number of faculty and students. The presenters explained their posters to the visitors and answered their questions. The participants also peer-graded other posters.

The students think that this activity was quite engaging and helped them prepare the Main Group Chemistry in a more fun way. It also boosted their interest in the subject, and they learned how to communicate science to others in a concise manner.

The poster activity was the first of its kind in the department. The best of the posters will be framed and displayed in the main lobby of the department. 

Dr. Muhammad Zaheer from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering led this effort with the students. 

 

Introduction to the Environmental Science (SCI-103) is an introductory course taught by Dr. Fozia Parveen at Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering. This elective course was designed as a standalone course for students of all levels from all across LUMS in order to understand the complexity of environmental issues and encourage individuals to be active agents of change for a sustainable planet. Change within and without as is need of the time. The course aims at establishing a link between an individual and their hydrosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere to bring about the much-needed sensitization through science. 

 

In order to get a better understanding of the issues and to propose relevant solution at the end of the course, Dr. Fozia took her students to visit one of the large packaging factories in Lahore – Packages Limited. The activity comprised of visits on two consecutive Saturdays where around 50 students of the class accompanied by the faculty visited the factory site in Lahore. These visits took place on 2nd and 9th of October 2021. As the course aims to offer an experiential learning experience for students, after learning about renewal and non-renewable resources of energy and plastic as a byproduct of fossil fuel, it was about time for the students to get a sense of scale of the industrial processes with a focus on the environmental inputs and the impact on the environment as a result of the industry. The visit was followed by an assignment for student to submit their observations and recommendations.   

The students were given a presentation by the lead engineers, who also chaperoned the students throughout the various areas of the factory. The students were able to get a first-hand experience of how paper printing and plastic printing is done for the everyday products which we consume day-in-day-out. The host also engaged the students in giving them a better understanding of how they use environmental quality parameters to ensure lesser pollution. They explained how they manage their social impacts and ensure supply chain sustainability throughout their product life cycle by closely working with the suppliers to mitigate potential risk for continual improvement. The power-supply for the entire factory and the adjacent property is being managed by solar power and clean energy.

Their two-basic plants are committed to printing of paper material for boxing of goods and products which come in every-day use, while the other plant component is for the plastic wrapping and packaging. To ensure compliance of all rules, Packages has added One Point Lessons (OPLs) within the factory facility, so that all employees understand and follow the required methods. Their quality assurance pyramid represents the hierarchy when the employees operate the assembly-lines and work with the larger-than-life machinery.

Packages Limited has been operational in the country for the past 60 years and the factory while employs thousands of employees, has contributed a lot to the packaging industry in Pakistan. The company employs ethical practices to source and process the material which is used at the site. As part of their risk management systems which the company has employed, they promote workers’ engagement in reducing overall risks related to Environment, Health and Safety including all the associated hazards in their operations. Since a lot of their packaging products are for food related materials, they ensure that all food related packaging material is procured, stocked-up, produced, stored, and delivered in safe and hygienic condition as per applicable standard and customer requirements.

This was an extremely beneficial activity for the students, who could see the on-site examples of how a large factory uses and recycles their material and gave them a greater understating of the impact of such facilities on the environment.

Our students explain the visit in their own words: 

“The visit was really helpful in the sense that it gave me a view on how much an industry affects the environment. Seeing the production speed with my own eyes, along with thousands of products being made in an hour, they were also making toxic gases in the same quantity in an hour. As the industry people were very open and shared minor details as well, it helped a lot in getting the detailed info of how things work in real life and we got to get a peek of it, as compared to just reading from the books”, Shiffa Ur Rehman.

 

“I think the visit was very insightful because it allowed me to not only get an insight into manufacturing processes but also allowed me to expand my awareness on worker conditions, factory priorities (Environment vs. Profits) and the complexity of machines used”, Muhammad Asad.

 

“This trip was indeed a great learning experience. It gave me an exposure to the pratical working environment and awareness about the industrial practices. Along with great understanding of the packing processes and how plastic and wood (raw pulp) was being processed to the final form and then all the layering of inks to gain final prints, I also got to see how the large amount of plastic and paper was being discarded due to very minute faults. Those faults in the prints were not even visible until the guide showed us.

Apart from this, large amount of energy was being used for the 24/7 operation of machines and only 3-4 MW was coming from renewable resources.

Do we need such industrial visits?

Absolutely! Sitting in class and learning about how environment is being harmed by us humans was indeed great learning but seeing it and listening from people working in big companies like packages added to the information. I believe the information that they gave us during visit could have been delivered through some presentation because of loud noises inside the plant. It could have saved their energy as well because they had to talk very loud to get the point across”, Urooj.

 

“The trip was extremely informative; I am extremely impressed by the managed system of their industry. I have visited a lot of factories but none of them had their quality check like packages. The staff was well mannered and welcoming as well. Moreover, the way they have reduced their waste to 3.5% is shocking because every industry is bothered about their product rather than how their industry affects the society.

One should definitely have such component in the courses because obviously we all should know what the practical world looks like rather than just sitting in class rooms and talking about what should happen what should not rather than going over there and doing an analysis on how things could be improved. Very impressive”, Bakhtawar.

 

 

 

Sana and Kainat are two happy interns, who just completed their training on the magnificent Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) machine. For what it is, the NMR machine can be thought of as a giant, electronic orchestra conductor, which controls how molecules ‘play’ at what frequencies. By doing so, it helps researchers decipher the characteristics of materials. The performance is orchestrated by magnetic forces, and the symphony deciphered through charts and graphs.

One such symphony was recently deciphered by two PhD students from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sana and Kainat. They learned the basics of how the machine operates, prepared samples, tested them in the machine and sharpened their technical skills needed to complete the internship. Let’s see what the interns had to say.

Recalling her internship, Ms. Sana Iqbal happily told us "It was a wonderful experience to work on the NMR machine, which was enriched with learning and skill enhancement, including technical data analysis & interpretation. I am thankful to each member of our department, and specially to the faculty and staff who worked closely with us to guide us about preparing and running the samples through different techniques." Moreover, Sana said, "We used both 1D & 2D (Homo-nuclear and Hetro-nuclear) NMR techniques for Proton & Carbon nuclei. We also appreciated the importance of Nitrogen filling for maintenance of instrument in order to overcome sample defects such as moisture, during data acquisition."

In her concluding remarks, Sana stated, "This training program has enabled participants to understand and characterize compounds using NMR technique."

She also left a message for future explorers, "I call on my department fellows to take time out to be a part of this amazing experience in future for skill enhancement." 

Ms. Kainat Ahmed also shared her views with us, "The NMR machine looked pretty intimidating at first glance, but with the help of my trainers, I gradually came to appreciate the technology, especially considering how effortlessly it would react to input commands. During the training, I learned safety precautions for proper handling of the machine, operated sophisticated software (TopSpin), ran various 2D NMR techniques apart from simple proton and carbon NMR and interpreted spectral data."

"Lessons learned through this internship will be immensely valuable for my doctoral research work that is based on drug discovery and synthetic chemistry. I am utterly grateful to Dr. Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem (Instructor of Organic Spectroscopy-CHEM 533) for teaching the spectroscopy so well that ignited my interest to learn more about the instrument, and to Dr. Muhammad Adil Raees (NMR Facility Manager) and Dr. Shahzad ul Hussan for giving their sincere attention and time to help us out."

Continuing her appreciation, Ms. Kainat thanked Dr. Ghayoor Abbas Chotana for this wonderful opportunity, and Mr. Bilal, who is the NMR Lab Assistant, for his tremendous help.

In her concluding message, Ms. Kainat said, "I wish for students throughout SBASSE to make use of this opportunity in order to establish quality research." 

We congratulate Ms. Sana and Ms. Kainat on achieving the completion of their NMR Internship Program. 

 

A Valued Addition

Dr Shahana Khurshid joins the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering as Visiting Associate Professor.

Our lungs, reactive oxygen species, tiny particles that cause big problems and how can a better environment be engineered for a healthier future – this is what excites and inspires our latest addition to the SBASSE family; Dr Shahana Khurshid. We welcome Dr Khurshid as a visiting associate professor at the department of chemistry and chemical engineering.

Dr. Shahana Khurshid obtained her BS in Environmental Engineering from MIT, MS in Biomedical Engineering and PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (where she received the NSF IGERT Fellowship and the EPA STAR Fellowship). After her PhD she has worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and at the University of Texas at Austin. Clearly, her passion takes cue from the dips and curves in the relationship of air, pollutants and environmental conservation. Dr Khurshid has published more than 15 articles in recognized journals such as Advanced Materials, NISTIR and Toxicology in Vitro. Her papers have been cited more than 2500 times.

Dr Khurshid is an effective communicator and a thorough researcher. Her master’s degree in biomedical engineering also fits neatly with the School’s vision of a new masters programme in biomedical sciences. We extend our heartiest congratulations to Dr Shahana Khurshid on joining the LUMS community. 

 

Dr. Irshad Hussain, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and professor in chemistry and chemical engineering has also been elected as a Fellow of Pakistan Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Irshad’s work is primarily focused on functional nanomaterials. His group specializes in the synthesis of metal/metal oxide nanoparticles with decent control over their size and surface chemistry. Functionalized nanoparticles and their composites have been used for applications in biomedical sciences, energy technologies and environmental remediation. For example, his work sees the applications of smaller metal nanoparticles (less than 2 nm), generally known as nanoclusters, to address a grave healthcare challenge i.e., Multidrug Resistance  or also known as MDR. In this regard, Dr. Irshad’s group has designed and prepared highly stable atomically monodisperse silver (and other metals) nanoclusters to kill bacteria that are resistant to many antibiotics. These nanoclusters can also be encapsulated in tiny capsules (nanocapsules) with other antibiotics to enhance their antimicrobial properties by synergistic effect.

Dr. Irshad is currently associated with the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at SBASSE, LUMS.

We congratulate Dr. Irshad Hussain on this momentous recognition and wish him more success! 

 

Ahmed H. Zewail Fellowship at SBASSE LUMS

Ahmed H. Zewail Fellowship is offered to Chemistry students at the Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering. This fellowship is created from a generous donation received from Syed Babar Ali on his 90th birthday to bolster students’ interest in fundamental sciences. It is named after the distinguished Professor Dr Ahmed H. Zewail who was an Egyptian Nobel Laureate, celebrated for his ground-breaking work in femto-chemistry. He is regarded as the founder of the field.

For more information on the Honorific Fellowships, please visit: https://sbasse.lums.edu.pk/first-cohort-hf