Led by NUST Rector Mr. Muhammad Asghar, the delegates held exploratory
discussions on 11-12 October 2012 with numerous officials at the
School of Engineering and Technology, School of Environment, Resources
and Development, School of Management and AIT Consulting.
Following extensive meetings and exchanges with faculty members across
the campus, the NUST officials were welcomed by AIT President Said
Irandoust on October 12 for a meeting on potential collaboration of
mutual interest.
The NUST Rector was accompanied by Dr. Arshad Ali, Principal, School
of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS); Dr. Abdul
Ghafoor, Principal, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
(SMME); Dr. Muhammad Sarwar Jamal, Associate Dean, Institute of
Geographic Information System (IGIS); Dr. Sher Jamal, Assistant
Professor, Institute of Environmental Sciences and Engineering (IESE);
Dr. Nasir Jalal, Assistant Professor, Atta-ur-Rahman School of Applied
Biosciences (ASAB); Dr. Abid Rahim Khawaja, Assistant Professor, NUST
Business School (NBS); and Mr. Fayyaz Ajmal, Staff Officer to the
Rector.
Outlining a number of impressive NUST statistics, such as its
426th-place ranking in one table of the world’s universities, Rector
Asghar noted that NUST partners with numerous elite American
universities. “We consider AIT to be in the same category,” he told AIT
officials, mentioning that NUST’s Chancellor is also the Prime Minister
of Pakistan.
Impressed by NUST’s numerous academic and research successes since its
establishment in 1991, the AIT President indicated his desire for more
Pakistani faculty members at AIT, and invited both parties to find
modalities for AIT to host NUST professors. “Such partnerships could
lead to joint research projects,” he said.
Both sides expressed interest to initiate dual degree programs and one
semester programs at postgraduate levels; two-stage undergraduate
programs; faculty and student exchange programs; internship
opportunities for AIT undergraduate students; joint research projects
and organizing joint international conferences in Pakistan or in other
areas of the region, world.
On October 11, the NUST officials visited SET and met with Dr. Nitin
V. Afzulpurkar, Dean of SET; Dr. Nitin K. Tripathi, Coordinator of
Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (RS-GIS); Dr. Matthew
Dailey, Coordinators of Computer Science and Information Management
(CSIM) and Undergraduate programs; Dr. Poompat Saengudomlert,
Coordinator of Information and Communications Technology (ICT); Dr.
Pennung Warnitchai, Coordinator of Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation
and Management (DPMM) and Structural Engineering; and Dr. Manukid
Parnichkun of Mechatronics. The delegation expressed their interests
for dual degree programs at Master's levels in the fields of RS-GIS;
one semester program in the areas of mutual interests; exchange of
faculty and students; and 2-stage undergraduate programs in the fields
of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, Mechatronics, Electronics and
Telecommunications; internship opportunities in Pakistani companies and
industries for our undergraduate students; and conducting joint
international conferences and workshops in Pakistan and beyond the
region.
At the School of Environment, Resources and Development, the
delegation met Dr. Anil K. Anal, Associate Dean for Research and
Outreach, representing Dean SERD; Professor Chettiyappan Visvanathan,
Environmental Engineering and Management (EEM); Dr. Rajendra P.
Shrestha, Coordinator of Natural Resource Management (NRM); and Dr.
Abdul Salam, Coordinator of Energy, SERD; discussing 2-stage Master's
programs with EEM and relevant fields of studies at SERD. Possibilities
for joint research projects were also discussed during the
meeting.
On October 11, Dr. Abid Rahim Khawaja of NUST Business School visited
School of Management (SOM) and met with Professor Nazrul Islam,
representing Dean SOM; Dr. David Ferguson, Assistant Professor and
Coordinator of EMBA Program; Dr. Supasith Chonglerttham, Senior
Instructor; and Professor Gautam Dutta and Professor Hitendra Bargal,
both visiting professors. During the meeting, NUST showed
interests in student and faculty exchange; and organizing one week
to 10-day training programs for EMBA participants of NUST.
On the same day, the delegation also visited the AIT Nanotechnology
Center of Excellence and Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, School of Applied
Biosciences, NUST, met with Professor Louis Hornyak Interim Director of
Center of Nanotechnology. Dr. Naveed Anwar, Executive Director and CEO,
AIT Consulting, also reported that he was keen to work with NUST and to
explore mutually beneficial opportunities. NUST has a number of good
projects in the United States, and AIT Consulting is a leader in
regional projects, he indicated.
For AIT, concluding October 12 meeting was attended by Prof. I.M.
Pandey, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Weerakorn Ongsakul,
Dean of School of Environment Resources and Development (SERD); Dr.
Nitin K. Tripathi, Associate Dean for Promotions, representing the Dean
of School of Engineering and Technology (SET); Dr. Naveed Anwar,
Executive Director and CEO, AIT Consulting, Mr. Ahmed Amjad Ali, Head
of External Relations and Communications Office (Head-ERCO); Ms. Sumana
Shrestha, Program Officer, ERCO, and Mr. Waqar Shahid Qureshi, doctoral
student of Mechatronics and NUST scholar at AIT.
