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MA R C H 2 0 0 8

NUST SEECS SEMESTER MAGAZINE

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Air Cdre (R) Aslam Bazmi

academic updates

Nust SEECS Introduction ............................................3 Academic Gallery..........................................................4 Project Defence of BIT6, BICSE2 and BEE1 Prime Minister invites OSP Students to PM Secretariat NUST Joins the Galaxy of Top 500 Universities of the World

Major Events ................................................................6 Establishment of IBM-NIIT Linux Competency Center HONET 07 Open House ’07 Outreach Scholarship Program

Workshops & Seminars ..............................................10 An Exclusive Interview Interview with Dean NIIT .....14 Alumni Experiences ....................................................18 Visits & Trips ..............................................................19 NIIT Students Attend Summer School at UK Universities

Faculty Updates .......................................21 Student Corner ...........................................................24 NIITians at the Startup Insider Coffee Session Vista Launch Event Microsoft day OATH-TAKING CEREMONY Multimedia Week Sports Gala 2008 PhD Student Interview

Industry Collaboration

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Research & Development ...........................................36

E d it o r ia l Te a m Editor: Fatima Tauqir Direction: lam Bazmi Air Cdre (R) As a Dr. Fauzan Mirz r Syed Ali Haide

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academic updates School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (SEECS) is an evolved and consummate form of NUST Institute of Information Technology, with its celebrated abbreviated title NIIT. Originating from mere scratch in 1999, as the IT wing of National University of Sciences and Technology, NIIT has been on the path of consistent progress since its inception. Achieving just within a span of less than a decade an enviable stature of an academic and research entity to be reckoned with, both nationally and internationally, is indeed a feat with few parallels in the country. Besides being a household name in Pakistan, NIIT equally enjoys a niche of prestige in the comity of world leaders in engineering education and research. It is knit in international collaboration with giants like CALTECH, USA; EPFL, Switzerland; CERN, Geneva; COMTECH, Japan; AJOU, South Korea; KTH, Sweden; University of North Carolina, USA; North Carolina State University, USA; Stanford University (SLAC), USA; Digital Enterprise Research, Austria ; INRIA, France; University of West of England, UK; Keyung Hee University, South Korea; Hanyang University, South Korea.

The institute boasts having on its premises some of the world class laboratories which notably include IBM-NIIT Linux Competency Center; Center for High Performance Scientific computing; CERN Research Lab; Caltech Research Lab; Network Technologies Research Lab; Wireless Networks Research Lab; Information Security Lab; Center of Excellence for FPGAs and ASIC Research Lab.

Formerly NUST Institute of Information Technology

Besides successfully running undergraduate programs in IT, telecommunication and electronics engineering, the institute is also conducting MS IT program, and is poised to start soon an MS program in CSE. In recognition of NIITĂ­s proven academic and research credentials, the erstwhile NUST centre of excellence by the name of NIIT has been recently renamed as School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (SEECS). The new name is ideally in sync with the stature of the institute to serve as a vibrant tributary of high quality education in electrical and computer disciplines, thus setting ablaze a new era of academic excellence. School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (SEECS) is indeed NUSTĂ­s timely response to embody in its engineering education the dynamics, trends and practices of international university education. From the forthcoming academic year, SEECS is offering following programs:

academic updates

NIIT is proud of its breed of brilliant students. They are known by their passion and commitment to excel one another. Their outstanding performance and achievement are also a source of inspiration for the current and future generations of students at NIIT. This section is dedicated for inscription of the names of the top achievers with over CGPA 3.5 in various disciplines and best position holders in final year projects. According to policy of NUST, students achieving CGPA over 3.5 in one semester are entitled to receive scholarships. We wish them many more laurels in the days ahead.

Top Achievers / Scholarship Holders BIT-6

Humayun Khan 3.86

BEE-3 (Continued)

Ammar Ahmed Awan

3.83

Nabeel Afzal

3.83

Noman Latif

3.79

Muhamad Waqas Malik

3.79

Arslan Qamar

3.60

Muhammad Sarmad Shahab Mir

3.64

Aimal Khan

3.58

BIT-7 Syed Zafar ul Hassan Gilani

3.83

Shejih Muhammad Matiullah

3.58

Kamran Hamid

3.75

3.56

Ahmad Timsal

3.75

Areeb Ali BICSE-2

Muhammad Umer Shoaib

3.75

Syed Ali Raza Zaidi

3.95

Mobin Javed

3.95

BIT-8

BIT Best Position in Academic 2007 For the year 2007 Mohammad Hassan Khan of BIT-5 claimed Best Position in Academics for maintaining excellent academic records throughout this 4-year degree program. This intellectually bright student is a source of encouragement and inspiration for all students. His final year thesis was declared as Best Project for 2007. He will be awarded Rector’s Gold Medal for producing exceptional and proficient work in the Final Year projects of his bachelor’s course.

BICSE Best Position in Academic 2007 For the year 2007, Muhammad Karim of BICSE-1 claimed Best position in Academics for maintaining excellent academic records throughout their 4year degree program.

The final year thesis of Mohammad Karim and Abbas Riaz Lodhi was declared as Best Project for 2007 in BICSE-1 course. They will be awarded Rector’s Gold Medal for producing exceptional and proficient work in the Final Year projects of their bachelor’s course.

3.85

Abeer Khan

Syed Amier Haider Shah

3.64

Akram Uzair

3.91

Muhammad Asad Usman Khan

3.62

Bushra Shahid

3.82

Farrah Batool

3.56

Unum Sarfraz

3.81

Freeha Azmat

3.80

BEE-1 Muhammad Waqas Ahmed

3.95

Faiza Malik

3.77

Asim Shafique

3.93

Naurin Rasheed Ramay

3.73

Ahmed Bilal

3.83

Haris Naseem Abbasi

3.68

Muhammad Omer

3.83

Hafsa Noor

3.66

Umer Azmat

3.69

Muhammad Hassan Sajid

3.64

Haris Muhammad

3.63

Muhammad Talha Ahmed

3.61

Malik Wahaj Arshad

3.52

Sehrish Mahmood Khan

3.55

BEE-2

Maryam Hafeez

3.55

Ali Munir

3.92

Muhammad Haris Ghaus

3.51

Aqeel Ahmed Qureshi

3.87

BICSE-3

Haris Mehmood

3.85

Shezeen Jooma

4.00

Muhammad Usman Afzal

3.84

Adeel Muhammad Malik

3.92

Ahmad Talha Khan

3.74

Sadaf Zubair

3.84

Muhammad Najeeb

3.69

Ali Shahzad Paul

3.76

Hassan Nasir

3.66

Waleed Bin Shahid

3.66

Ansar Moughis-Ud-Din

3.65

Hira Samir

3.53

Muhammad Arshad

3.63

Ahsan Shamim

3.50

Kanwar Assa Bin Liaqat

3.58

BICSE-4

Usman Khalid Mufti

3.57

Ghulam Nasir

4.00

Muhammad Waseem Arshad

3.52

Muhammad Mohsin Sardar

3.92

Ahmed Raza BEE-3

3.50

Muhammad Bilal Afzal

3.82

Sohail Mahmood

3.54

Junaid Khalid

3.94

Wajeeha Javed

3.53

Muhammad Saeed Yasin

3.94

Raja Abdul Mannan Manzoor

3.50

Haseeb Bukhari

3.85

Saman Aizaz

3.50

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academic updates NUST Joins the Galaxy of Top 500 Universities of the World Already adjudged 20th in Asia, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) leapfrogs to the coveted club of 500 top universities of the world. The recent survey carried out by Times places NUST at the 470th ranking in 500 premier universities of the globe. In its newsletter of January 2007, HEC has complimented NUST on attaining this most prestigious status for a Pakistani university. NIIT rejoices over this singular accomplishment, and feels highly gratified in sharing this collective honor with other constituent institutes of NUST. It is now up to everyone associated with NUST not only to jealously retain this position but also to enhance further this international recognition.

Prime Minister invites OSP Students to PM Secretariat A ceremony to acknowledge the milestones achieved by the Ministry of Information Technology through National ICT R&D Fund was organized at PM Secretariat on 29th of January 2008. The Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was the Chief Guest. The idea behind this event was to recognize the achievements and to appreciate the remarkable success of OSP 2007 and the untiring efforts of all the participants who helped execute OSP. It was a gesture of commendation for all the stake holders, students, teachers, host institutes and key individuals who have made this program a success. From the year 2007 NUST has also joined hands with the National ICT R&D Fund in translating the OSP program into a reality. A batch of 150 students selected under the 2007 OSP program, joined NUST Institute of Information Technology. On the eve of ceremony, Rector NUST visited NIIT where he was briefed by Dr Amir Hayat about the OSP program. After the presentation Rector gave a motivational talk to the students later. OSP students along with Rector, Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. S. M. H. Zaidi, Dr. Ijaz Qureshi and Dr. Amir Hayat attended the ceremony at PM Secretariat. Dr. Arshad was given a shield for his contributions towards the OSP program.

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Project Defence of BIT6, BICSE2 and BEE1 To enhance and boost such proficiency and impart students’ capabilities a focus, a degree project has been made compulsory by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan in the final year of professional degrees. This is imperative to bring our engineering education in line with the practice of leading universities of the world. BIT6, BICSE2 and BEE1 courses have already stepped in the last year of their degree program. Their degree project defence will be held in the mid of July, 2007. The proposal-defence was conducted in the last week of January. All the faculty members were present on the occasion and they took keen interest in the week-long presentations. After detailed discussion and cross-questioning, the faculty gave approval and suggestions for the students to carry on with the development of their respective projects. This year 145 students will be graduating from three different courses with high quality knowledge, skills and expertise in their respective domains.

Unless professional students are able to learn the customs and procedures to resolve the real -life issues, their degrees will be of little value.