Zap, Zap! The latest course on laser engineering is here!

When Einstein predicted stimulated emission, no one was suggesting barcodes and lasik surgery. Lasers have indeed come so far.

The course covers the technological and engineering aspects of laser design construction and operation, it includes understandings of resonator theory, pulsed and continuous wave operation of lasers. Laser pulsed techniques such as Q-switching, mode-locking and harmonic generation. Discussion about the most popular and advanced lasers, their operation and design construction. First few lectures for basic introduction to lasers and review of laser research history and later weeks will cover the advanced laser system design understanding.

Join Dr. Tayyab Imran’s course through this link: https://bit.ly/3l6kDKC

Find more courses here: https://sbasse.lums.edu.pk/course-advertisements

Enhanced Thermal and Moisture Stability of the Emerging PVs while using Discotic Liquid Crystals

Supervisor: Dr. Ammar Ahmed Khan at the Department of Physics 

Energizing solar cell technology 

How strange does ‘flowing crystals’ sound? It seems at the heart of key scientific discoveries lie nature’s most well-kept secrets, tied up nicely with a bow of non-intuition; such is the existence of DLC i.e., discotic liquid crystals. Supervised by Dr. Ammar Ahmed Khan, Ms. Qurat ul Ain has worked with a next generation of materials that are more potent in catching and harnessing light to be converted into electricity, compared to contemporary technology. This leap of faith can be summed up into three words: perovskite solar cells.

 

Investigating the Role of Proteins in Disease and their Treatment with Drugs

Supervisor: Dr. Safee Ullah Chaudhry at the Department of Biology 

Uncovering protein structures

Trillions of cells need a multi-trillion economy of well-kept proteins, safe metabolic environments, and reliable understanding of their complex interactions with drugs. Ms. Kanzal Iman, under supervision of Dr. Safee Ullah Chaudhry, proposes to uncover the structure of these important proteins, through developing better computer programs that do the heavy lifting by bypassing less efficient ways current software applications have in place. In other words, her project aims to develop software that works smarter, rather than harder. This will potentially unlock ways in understanding disease prevalence and eventually the drug interactions involved in treatment.

 

Designing the Cellular Core for Ultra-Low Latency Communication-based Applications

Supervisor: Dr. Zafar Ayyub Qazi at the Department of Computer Science 

Cellular without speed limits 

Can research rid the world of lag in communication technology? Mukhtiar Ahmad may have an answer! Supervised by Dr. Zafar Ayyub Qazi, Mr. Mukhtiar is working on thinking about cellular network systems from the ground up that can provide extremely low latency, enabling wide scale prevalence of mind-blowing technologies that may have a groundbreaking impact on many fields, ranging from medical science to online gaming. These applications require higher reliability and ultra-low latency, in the order of 10 ms. Mr. Mukhtiar Ahmad aims to re-design the cellular networks to support low latency communication-based applications.

 

Noninvasive Blood Glucose Monitoring System using Single Wavelength NIR Spectrometry

Supervisor: Dr. Wala Saadeh at the Department of Electrical Engineering 

The future of monitoring diabetes

Imagine measuring blood sugar levels without pricking any part of the skin. Ms. Aminah Hina’s project is all about developing a non-invasive blood glucose monitoring system. Although the product idea itself isn’t new. The market is saturated with portable gluco-meters and few companies even offer wireless blood glucose monitoring support. However, the caviat is their price – these devices are expensive! Ms. Aminah Hina, along with Dr. Wala Saadeh, propose a cheaper alternate. Pakistan is amongst the list of countries with highest prevalence of diabetes. Approximately 19 million Pakistanis have been diagnosed with diabetes in the year 2020. The research project of Ms. Aminah is poised to address this large fraction of Pakistani adults as well as some fraction of the Pakistani youth that suffers from both sub-types of the disease. 

 

Evaluation of Protective Immune Response Induced by Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines (PCV-10) in Individuals with Type 2 diabetes

Supervisor: Dr. Shaper Mirza at the Department of Biology 

Easy breathing for diabetics 

Diabetes is bad enough. Patients suffering this terrible illness have an additional risk of running into frequent respiratory tract infections. Since the immune response of the body is already attenuated in diabetics, the risk posed by additional infections is much greater than in healthy individuals. This is exactly where Mr. Izaz Ahmad’s proposal sprouts hope. Izaz Ahmad is studying the effects of a potent vaccine made for the bacterial culprit responsible for such respiratory disease – bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae. His study will measure impact of the body’s immune response to PCV10 (the vaccine under investigation) in individuals with type 2-diabetes and figure out whether these responses are comparable between individuals with and without type 2-diabetes. The study will be the first to demonstrate efficacy and immunogenicity of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in those with type 2-daibetes in Pakistani population. 

 

Read more about these awards here: https://sbasse.lums.edu.pk/syed-babar-ali-research-awards-sbasse#link-d

 

Year after setting sail for his academic journey, Dr. Muntazir Abidi has gathered respect and recognition for his dedication to curiosity and perseverance. A celebrated alumnus of the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Diploma programme, Dr. Abidi, who graduated from the Physics programme from SBASSE back in 2012, is the subject of the center’s latest alumni spotlight.

Like many before him and possibly more after, Dr. Abidi’s interest in science was catalyzed by his read of Stephen Hawking’s best-seller “Brief History of Time”, a gift to him one of his teachers. Recalling memories from his early days at ICTP, Dr. Abidi said “After reading that book, I took a special interest in physics, but when I went to university in Lahore, for my bachelor’s the focus was mostly on engineering. When I arrived at ICTP I still did not know what I wanted to specialize in, I was just genuinely interested in physics. I was taking courses and most of the time I was just reading random books in the library. I really liked the ICTP Library, I spent a lot of time there."

After landing in Trieste in 2012, his exploration of the universe began through studies in High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle physics. During the time it took for him to complete his Diploma at the ICTP, the grit of work, warmness and support of colleagues and teachers and the very well-structured program overall helped transform him on a professional as well as personal front. "I think the Diploma Programme changed my life and if I am where I am it's because of ICTP. There's no doubt about it," says Dr. Abidi. “Researchers at ICTP come from all around the world and people are very friendly and cordial. Here I met a lot of great scientists, I got to meet people who I considered my heroes."

Dr. Abidi returned to Pakistan and settled in Karachi to continue his journey as a lecturer at the Karachi Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship and later at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi. It was then, that the threads of fate weaved a net large enough to catch both his biggest ambitions and his wildest dreams; he was awarded a special fellowship at the University of Cambridge, UK. Like a well-written story of completing life’s proverbial circles, he was positioned at the Stephen Hawking Centre for Theoretical Cosmology. The center bore name of the scientist whose book flamed Dr Muntazir Abidi’s love for science in the first place! "When I went to Cambridge for my Master's, it felt like a great time in my career, because I had the chance to really explore things and because I got to meet people who are working on specialized fields," says Dr. Abidi.

Since November 2020, Dr. Muntazir Abidi has joined the University of Geneva as a post-doctoral researcher, where he is working with Prof. Camille Bonvin on testing gravity using galaxy and intensity mapping surveys. He was also invited as a short-term researcher by the Cosmology X Data Science group at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute in New York, USA. He has been collaborating with Prof. Shirley Ho’s group on simulation-based analysis of galaxy surveys as well as applications of deep learning in cosmology.

Dr. Muntazir Abidi’s brilliant yet young career spawns motivation. We congratulate him on receiving the recognition from the ICTP. Looking back the story of Dr. Abidi, perhaps the force needed to guide the compass of our mind and get the impetus of learning going is as nimble as reading an interesting book on one’s favourite subject.

 

Read the story from “The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics”. 

 

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

 

Liquid Helium and liquid Nitrogen are just cool – way too cool! They are used not only in maintaining temperatures inside high-tech equipment in research centers across the globe but are favorites when it comes to maintaining pressure and temperature requisites for rockets also! 

 

 

Over time, the liquid helium used to keep a NMR machine working, boil off. To keep the NMR machine working properly, its magnets need to be dipped in and chilled with liquid Helium regularly. One such refilling exercise was recently conducted. Here’s what two of the students who oversaw the operation had to say about this exercise. 

 

Warda Mahmood

“Observing the liquid helium refill operation on the NMR equipment proved to be a highly informative and enjoyable experience for us. Handling and transporting liquid helium require technical background, precise control, and constant precautionary measures. Thanks to the team for this enlightening session.”

 

  

 

Mudassir Naeem

“The exercise of filling of liquid helium in NMR Setup was a very good experience and very informative. Very hard job to do and require good background knowledge, experience, and precise control to handle things correctly but it was a very nice experience for us. Thank you so much for this great exercise.”

 

 

The Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Jacob Bronowski Writing Prizes have been awarded to two very well-deserving students of SBASSE. This is an initiative taken by the School under the leadership of the Dean, to appreciate and empower the academic contribution of our final year students.

Irfan Javed from the BS cohort and Muhammad Basit belongs from the MS cohort have been the two winners from the Department of Physics who have been granted this great accolade for their Final Year Projects and Thesis. This is a positive step towards inspiring our young scientists and engineers at the School to not only highlight their own achievements amongst the LUMS fraternity but also encourages them to have a healthy academic competition.

These awards are represented as follows:

Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan Award acknowledges the best written dissertation for a BS final year project, while the Jacob Bronowski Award recognizes achievements in the best written dissertation for an MS project. Two awards are going to be distributed each for students’ contributions.

The awards are decided upon after a thorough process of a Review Committee which comprises of alumni and beneficiaries of the school, the submissions which are brought in by the various Department Chairs of their students are evaluated.

Following are the member of the Review Committee:

• Dr. Sameen Mutahhir
• Dr. Muhammad Hamid Zaman
• Zain Humayun
• Fatima Perwaiz Khan

Through these awards, each winner will receive:

• A year-long membership of a professional society of his/her choice or a year-long subscription of an international science journal
• A package of books written by Pakistani authors to each winner (sponsored by Gufhtugu Publications)
• A certificate of honorable mention
• Excerpts of the dissertation may be published in ‘The Particle’ as well as the School’s website

 

“And then, there was light”. A vital component in peering through the deepest secrets of the universe we live in, light has been at the forefront and background of much of 20th century’s biggest discoveries. The research work around light has given many bright minds of our times the accolades we have come to know and love them for. A worthy mention here would be Dr. Albert Einstein’s Nobel prize, which was awarded for his breakthrough explanation for the photoelectric effect.

The keyword here is photonics. It is a hybrid between physics and engineering and deals with the generation, propagation, manipulation, control, and detection of light within the ‘optical’ region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This course provides a comprehensive introduction into this important field, from Maxwell’s equations to the level of photonic components and building blocks such as lasers, amplifiers, modulators, waveguides, and detectors. This course is divided into two parts: Fundamentals and applications. The fundamentals include Maxwell’s equations and wave propagation. The applications include nonlinear optics, electro-optics, and acousto-optics.

This course is offered together by the Department of Physics and Electrical Engineering at SBASSE, LUMS.

The Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering is pleased to announce the creation of twenty four Fellowships for undergraduates in the basic sciences (biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics). These fellowships are made possible through a generous donation received from Syed Babar Ali on his 90th birthday to bolster students’ interest in fundamental sciences.

This one is named after the distinguished Professor Dr. Chandrasekhar who was born in Lahore and ended up being 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.

 

 

Dr Adam Zaman Chaudhry from Department of Physics has been promoted to Associate Professor and awarded tenure.

Dr. Chaudhry obtained his PhD in Physics from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2013 and continued working there as a post-doctoral fellow before joining LUMS in August 2014. His research focuses on harnessing the power of realistic quantum systems with a particular focus on the dynamics of open quantum systems in the strong system-environment coupling regime.

He is an avid teacher and is known for his ability to fuse passion and rigor in the classroom. Resorting to computational digressions to bring home complex ideas in mechanics, condensed matter physics, atomic-laser physics and quantum mechanics, he is popular and highly respected among many students.

Some of Dr. Adam’s lectures are also available online on YouTube. You can access them here.

Dr. Tayyab Imran and Dr. Sabieh Anwar invite you to a fascinating offering of this summer - the laser laboratory course! This course introduces the students to laser experiments, in which they will cover a variety of hands-on laser experiments. It discusses laser optics, basic principles of laser operation, construction, and technology. Students will be expected to carry out the experiments and record their observations independently.

Topics to be covered in the course include laser polarization, laser collimation, laser development, and diagnostics.

 

More information on this course here.