Student Skills Workshops
The Academic Affairs office has organized a series of student workshops aimed at enhancing their skills and helping them achieve academic excellence. We believe that these workshops have helped students to become more confident, motivated, and better equipped to succeed in their academic journey. The following is a list of the workshops held for students:
‘Critical Thinking Approach in Experimental Design’
Speaker: Dr. Muhammad Shoaib | Department of Life Sciences
When: Friday, April 7 | 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Where: Dean’s Smart Lab, 4th floor SBASSE & Zoom
About the Workshop
Critical thinking is an integral part of scientific culture. With the development of modern scientific methods, there is an increasing need to monitor and record scientific observations in a systematic and objective manner.
About the Speaker
Dr. Muhammad Shoaib is an Associate Professor in the Department of Life Sciences at SBASSE, LUMS. A clinician-turned-researcher, Dr. Shoaib exudes a passion for teaching and research in chromatin biology and proteomics. He co-teaches the course, BIO 403: Critical Thinking, Scientific Writing and Ethics, where he aims to enable students to think critically and use these skills for project designing.
‘Elements of Scientific Writing’
Speaker: Dr. Khurram Bashir | Department of Life Sciences
When: Friday, March 17 | 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Where: Dean’s Smart Lab, 4th floor SBASSE & Zoom
About the Workshop
In order to thrive in an increasingly competitive milieu, it is critical for students conducting scientific research to communicate their ideas and findings effectively to their peers, supervisors, and the wider scientific community. Writing is one of the primary modes of communication in science; therefore, this workshop is designed to provide an overview of the essential elements of scientific writing. It will cover the dos and don’ts of scientific writing, and the basics of writing the different components of scientific papers. Alongside these writing skills, students will be exposed to the ecosystem of scientific publishing to elevate their understanding of how the writing and publishing processes are integrated.
About the Speaker
Dr. Khurram Bashir is an Associate Professor in the Department of Life Sciences at SBASSE, LUMS. As a plant and agricultural biologist, his research spans plant response to different abiotic stresses, such as mineral deficiency, drought and heat stress. Dr. Khurram co-teaches ‘BIO 403: Critical Thinking, Scientific Writing and Ethics’ where he imparts his students with a robust understanding of the principles of scientific writing and scientific ethics with the aim of strengthening their manuscript/thesis/report-writing skills.
‘Workshop on Time Management'
Speaker: Dr. Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem | Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
When: Friday, February 17 | 11:00 am – 12:15 pm
Where: Dean’s Smart Lab, 4th floor SBASSE & Zoom
About the Workshop
In order to make the most of LUMS’ campus life, students often have to manoeuvre a wide range of commitments, spanning academics, society work, events, and more. While this elevates their university experience, it also makes effective time management an important skill for them to develop. This workshop will cover research-backed time management and self-regulation tips to help students in balancing all their commitments at LUMS. We will cover various topics, including priority setting, good practices for balance, managing distractions, and how to deal with procrastination.
About the Speaker
Dr. Rahman Shah Zaib Saleem is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at SBASSE, LUMS. As an organic chemist, he employs organic chemistry tools to design innovative drugs and materials. Dr. Rahman teaches spectroscopy, medicinal chemistry, organic chemistry, and drug discovery courses to undergraduate and graduate students. He is also a recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence 2021-22.
‘Workshop on Applying for Graduate Schools’
Speaker: Dr. Shahana Khurshid | Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
When: Thursday, December 8 | 1:15 pm - 2:15 pm
Where: Dean’s Smart Lab, 4th floor SBASSE & Zoom
About the Workshop
Want to apply for Master's and PhD programs abroad but are confused on where to begin? This seminar will lay out the steps for applying to graduate programs, especially in the U.S. Find out how to identify your dream schools, target schools and safety schools. What to prioritize at each stage of the application process. How to go about finding funding. You will get answers to these and many more questions on how to navigate through your graduate school applications.
About the Speaker
Dr. Shahana Khurshid is a Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at SBASSE, LUMS. She obtained her B.S. in Environmental Engineering from MIT, M.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. She has worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research centers on air pollutants and their ability to cause adverse health effects. In addition to physical and chemical characterization of air pollutants, she studies biologically relevant metrics of particles such as the concentration of reactive oxygen species and the oxidative potential of particles, as well as biological characterization of lung cells exposed to pollutants. Over the last 19 years she has led research projects on air quality, exposure to pollutants, environmental conservation, cell lines, polymers, and biomedical assays in academia, environmental consulting firms, and U.S. federal labs.
‘How to land a job at Facebook/Google’
Speaker: Mohsin Junaid (Senior Software Engineer at Instacart)
When: Friday, October 28 | 11:00 AM - 12:10 PM
Where: Zoom
About the Workshop
The talk will cover the following,
- Skill set required for the Big Tech companies
- Resume guidance
- Interview process
- Interview prep-guide
These topics will be followed by a short Q&A
About the Speaker
Mohsin Junaid is a senior software engineer at Instacart (an online grocery industry leader in USA and Canada). He builds tools and technologies to optimize shopper pay and enhance marketplace efficiency. Prior to joining Instacart, he was an AI research engineer at Samsung Research America where he worked on solving various NLP-focused problems such as text summarization and speech-to-gesture generation. He holds a Bachelor’s in CS from GIK Institute and a PhD from The University of Texas at Arlington. Mohsin had past offers from Big Tech companies and in his free time, he conducts mock coding interviews for aspiring applicants.
