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This edition of the SSE newsletter is different from
before. The lead articles of the past newsletters were
our words, outlining a vision for the school and
articulating a path to our goals. We now begin featuring
others’ words in an effort to learn from their
experience. We do this to make sure the SSE is not
divorced in its vision or plans from Pakistan’s
historical or current context or future needs. In other
words, we wish to make sure the lessons of living
history are internalized and used for improving the SSE.
For the next few newsletters, we will feature opinion
pieces by people who have definite viewpoints regarding
the creation of a research university in Pakistan, with
lessons that are directly useful for us.
But it is extremely important to caveat the approach we
are taking. History and commentary is a two edged sword;
no two people see the world the same way. In that sense,
we hope our readers put the best construction on these
articles, and do not take any implicit or explicit
criticism of current or past events to be anything but
an attempt to learn. The views expressed in these
articles may not be the LUMS SSE opinions, but we do
stand by the effort of the contributors. The people who
write these opinions will spend significant time, energy
and resources in distilling their experience for us, for
which we are very thankful. We hope our readers find
them as useful as us.
This edition’s article is written by
Dr.
Faheem Hussain, an
initial member of the Theoretical Physics Group set up
in late 60s at the Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.
The group remains one of the few serious attempts to set
up world-class research centers in Pakistani
universities. Dr. Hussain reflects on his experiences
and lessons for the SSE. Following is the beginning of
his article.
The Theoretical Physics Group
at Quaid-e-Azam University: Lessons for the SSE
Between the years 1966 – 1968 a brave
young band of highly qualified and bright theoretical
physicists headed back to Pakistan with the aim of
setting up a graduate school in physics. The average age
of these people was about 28 – 30 years. They were lured
back with the exciting idea of setting up the first
research group in physics in Pakistan...
(more...)
LUMS SSE Advisory Committee Established
A LUMS SSE Advisory Committee comprising of
distinguished academic and corporate leaders has been
established to:
1) Provide counsel to the LUMS Board of Trustees,
the Vice-Chancellor, the Project Director and the VPDT
on the
academic and administrative matters of the
SSE.
2) Validate the value and feasibility of the
short and long-term vision of the school.
3) Recommend changes in approach based on
progress.
The
committee currently consists of Dr. Hasan Ahmed (Sonus
Networks), Professor Khalid Aziz (Stanford), Mr. Mir
Imran (Incube Ventures), Professor Robert Jaffe (MIT),
Professor John Kassakian (MIT), and Professor Richard
Larson (MIT). The first introductory conference call of
the committee was held on April 12, 2005. The first
face-to-face meeting of the committee will be on July
25-26, 2005. The agenda for the meeting includes topics
of foremost concern which can fit into 2 working days:
faculty recruitment and retention; school, department
and lab structures; sustainable financial models; and
recruiting a Dean for the SSE.
Advisory Committee Members
Hassan Ahmed
is CEO and Chairman of Sonus Networks. He has been the
chief technology officer at Cascade, and was formerly
president and founder of WaveAccess, a pioneer in
high-speed wireless network products. He has also been
an associate professor at the Graduate School of
Management, Boston University. Dr. Ahmed holds a BSEE
and MSAE from Carleton University and a Ph.D. in
electrical engineering from Stanford University.
Khalid Aziz
is the Otto N. Miller Professor of Earth Sciences and
Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Stanford
University. At Stanford he has served as the Associate
Dean for Research (School of Earth Sciences) and as
Chair of the Petroleum Engineering Department. Professor
Aziz studied engineering at the University of Michigan,
University of Alberta and at Rice University. He has
received several international awards including the
highest award (Honorary Membership) of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. He is a member of the National
Academy of Engineering.
Mir Imran
is recognized for his history as a scientist, inventor,
entrepreneur and investor of medical technology
companies. He is the founder and Chairman of InCube
Laboratories, Inc., a business incubator for medical and
technology companies. Through InCube, and prior to its
establishment, he founded numerous medical and high
technology companies. Mr. Imran currently serves as a
Director for CardioVasc Inc., Zonare Inc., Intrapace
Inc., Entrack Inc., SafeView Inc., Bodymedia Inc., EGeen
Inc., Acumen Medical Inc., Python Medical Inc. and
Neurolinks Inc. Mr. Imran is an active angel investor
and a limited partner in several venture funds. In
addition, he serves as an Advisor to Alley Ventures and
is a Venture Partner and an Advisor of DFJ ePlanet
Ventures, a $650 million global venture capital fund,
based in Silicon Valley. Mr. Imran’s formal education
consists of a B.S. in Electrical engineering and M.S. in
Bioengineering from Rutgers University. After three
years at the Rutgers Medical School, which included
research in bioengineering, he pursued his subsequent
interests in industry, which include the establishment
of close to 200 patents in his name, and numerous
scientific publications.
Robert Jaffe
is the Jane and Otto Morningstar Professor of Physics at
MIT, and the Director of the MIT Center for Theoretical
Physics. Professor Jaffe received his A.B. in Physics,
summa cum laude, from Princeton University, and his M.S.
and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford in 1971 and 1972,
respectively. At Stanford he founded the Stanford
Workshops on Political and Social Issues. He has served
on the program advisory committees of several national
laboratories including the Stanford Linear Accelerator
Center and Brookhaven National Laboratory. For a decade
he chaired the Advisory Council of the Physics
Department of Princeton University. Since 1996, Jaffe
has been an advisor to and Visiting Scientist at the
RIKEN-Brookhaven Research Center. In February of 1998
Professor Jaffe was named Director of the Center for
Theoretical Physics at MIT. He is a Fellow of the
American Physical Society and the American Association
for the Advancement of Science. He has been awarded the
Science Council Prize for Excellence in Teaching
Undergraduates (1983), the Graduate Student Council
Teaching Award (1988), and the Physics Department's
Buechner Teaching Prize (1997). In January 1998, Jaffe
was named a Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow in
recognition of his contributions to MIT's teaching
program. In 2001 he was named the Otto and Jane
Morningstar Professor in the School of Science at MIT.
John Kassakian
is Professor of Electrical Engineering at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Director of
the MIT Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic
Systems. Dr. Kassakian was the Founding President of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
Power Electronics Society, served as the US
representative to the European Power Electronics
Association, and is the recipient of the IEEE Centennial
Medal, the IEEE William E. Newell Award, the IEEE Power
Electronics Society's Distinguished Service Award, the
IEEE Millennium Medal, the European Power Electronics
Association Achievement Award, and the Kabakjian Science
Award. In 1989 he was elected a Fellow of the IEEE and
in 1993 he was elected to the National Academy of
Engineering.
Richard Larson is the Mitsui Professor in the Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering and in the
Engineering Systems Division at MIT. He is currently
President of INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research
and the Management Sciences), a former President of ORSA
(Operations Research Society of America 1993-94), an
INFORMS Founding Fellow and a member of the National
Academy of Engineering. He was Co-Director of the MIT
Operations Research Center for 15+ years, and from
1995-03, served as Director of MIT’s CAES (Center for
Advanced Educational Services), bringing
technology-enabled learning to students. Recently he has
created LINC (Learning International Networks
Consortium), an MIT-based international project that has
held two international symposia and sponsored a number
of initiatives in Africa, China and the Middle East. Dr.
Larson's research on queues has been covered extensively
in national media (e.g., ABC TV's 20/20, NPR, the Los
Angeles Times and the New York Times). He has also
consulted widely nationally and internationally for
clients such as the World Bank, Coca-Cola, United
Artists Cinemas, the Kuwait Foundation for the
Advancement of Science, Hong Kong University and the
U.S. Department of Justice, among several others. He
serves on the board of several companies, and his awards
include the Lanchester Prize of ORSA, the INFORMS
President’s Award and the INFORMS Kimball Medal, among
others.
Visitors to the SSE
Several visitors spent time at the SSE over the past
two months, making contributions on infrastructure,
curriculum development, faculty appointment policies and
school structure. Visitors have included
Dr.
Salman Ahsan
from Linear Technology (Electrical
Engineering),
Professor Faheem Hussain
from ICTP
(Physics),
Professor Nabil Riza
from University of Central Florida (Electrical
Engineering), Professor Azhar Rizvi from Quaid-e-Azam
University
(Electrical Engineering) and
Dr.
Tasneem Zahir from
Harvard University
(Biology). Such visits are an important
piece of the stream of research visits which the SSE
will ultimately aim to institutionalize, for the flow of
research ideas and institutional linkages. |
