information technology university- issue 01, april 2015

Information Technology University was

formed under an initiative of the Punjab

Government to enable Pakistani youth to

develop innovative solutions to the problems

faced by Pakistan and to cater to the acute

shortage of trained manpower faced by the

country’s IT industry.

By its unique project-oriented research

driven approach to education, ITU aims to

foster a new generation of IT engineers

and entrepreneurs who will help transform

the economic and technical landscape of

Pakistan. With a structure that combines

the best features of both public and private

sector universities, it aims to serve as a

center for excellence in academia, research,

entrepreneurship and innovation.

BS (HONS.) COMPUTER

SCIENCEWith outstanding faculty and unique

curriculum, it is a one-of-a-kind program

emphasizing on hands-on learning, rigorous

and relevant research study and real world

problem solving.

BS (HONS.) ELECTRICAL

ENGINEERINGA well-rounded and comprehensive program

dedicated to prepare students from all

backgrounds for careers as engineers in a

rapidly changing, technology driven society.

MS COMPUTER

SCIENCEThis innovative graduate program aims to

arm its students with practical and effective

IT-skills and burnish their business acumen to

make them positive game-changers.

a cross-disciplinaryresearch oriented university

MESSAGE FROM THE VICE CHANCELLORITU aims to implement a unique hands-on pedagogy and cross-disciplinary research to allow

students to learn and apply cutting-edge technology to solve real-world problems and to inspire

them to become entrepreneurial engineers, technology innovators and leaders of the future.

ISSUE 01 - APRIL 2015INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

www.itu.edu.pkArfa Software Technology Park, 346-B, Ferozepur Road, Lahore

INNOVATIONS FOR POVERTY

ALLEVIATION LAB (IPAL)Creates locally relevant technological

solutions to improve the lives of people living

in poverty. IPAL is crrently working with ‘Saaf

Paani’ to create a ‘Water ATM’ for developing

a remote water usage and a quality measuring

device.

CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY IN

GOVERNANCE (CTG)CTG aims to come up with innovative ICT

solutions to enhance public services and

solve pressing governance issues through

better management techniques, policies, and

technologies.

TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH

IN EMERGING NETWORKS &

DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS LAB

(TRENDS)TRENDS Lab provides research and

development in emerging networks like

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), Vehicular

Ad hoc Networks (VANETs), opportunistic/

disruptive network and distributed systems

like cloud computing, grids, virtualization, etc.

BUSINESS ANALYTICS LAB (BAL) Business Analytics Lab aims to use modern

data mining, big data analysis and decision

support system (DSS) techniques to cater the

challenges of ever growing government and

corporate data. BAL is working on different

government projects, e.g., Crime Pattern

Detection, Dengue control, Metrobus Data

Analysis etc.

NEIGHBORHOOD OF

EMERGING WORLD

TECHNOLOGIES LAB (NEWT)NEWT is focused on bridging the technology

and knowledge divide present in developing

countries. It is working in the areas of

e-governance, e-health, e-employment,

Emergency response systems, Tele-medicine

and e-agriculture.

SCIENTOMETRICS LABScientometrics lab studies scientific and

academic research from a scientific point

of view. The dynamics of scientific research

and its connections to technology, innovation

and society are charted here through the use

of bibliometric indices and other evaluation

strategies.

ABDUS SALAM INTERNATIONAL

CENTER FOR MATHEMATICS

(ASICM)Headed by Dr. A. D. Raza Choudary, this

research center aims to provide research

opportunities in the field of mathematics.

NATIONAL CENTER FOR

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY (NCAI)NCAI is the first center of its kind to be

established in any Pakistani University to

combat cheating, plagiarism and academic

dishonesty in higher education.It identifies

and promotes the values of academic

integrity amongst students, faculty members

and researchers.

cutting-edgeresearch centers


NAME UNIVERSITY NAME UNIVERSITYDr. Adnan Noor Ph.D., University of Rome Dr. Zafar Rashid Ph.D., University of Essex

Dr. Faisal Kamiran Ph.D., Eindhoven University of Technology Dr. Azmat Saeed Ph.D., University of Cambridge, UK

Dr. Hammad Qureshi Ph.D., University of Warwick Dr. Yasira Waqar Ph.D., Columbia University

Dr. Saeed Ul Hassan Ph.D., Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) Dr. Hammad Naveed Ph.D., University of Illinois, Chicago

Dr. Tahira Naseem Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mr. Belal Hashmi BSc, University of Engineering & Technology

Dr. Mudassir Shabbir Ph.D., Rutgers State University of New Jersey Mr. Khalid Rehman MS, Cornell University

Dr. Mohsen Ali Ph.D., University of Florida Mr. Khurram Zafar University of Wales

Dr. Yaqoob Bangash Ph.D., University of Oxford Mr. Zia Imran University of Chicago

Mr. Abbas Akhtar Johns Hopkins University Ms. Rahma M. Mian New York University

Mr. Mustafa Naseem MS, University of Colorado at Boulder Ms. Rubina Sheikh Ph.D., Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Mr. Talha Rehmani MS, Carnegie Mellon University Ms. Sarah Adeel Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)

Mr. Aftab Alam MS, Lahore University of Management Sciences Ms. Shazia Afzal University of Cambridge

Mr. Mohd. Yaqoob Lahore University of Management Sciences Mr. Mazhar Abbas Domus Academy, Milan

Ms. Samia Razaq MS, Lahore University of Management Sciences Dr. Khalid Zaheer Ph.D., University of Wales

Mr. Zain Zaidi MS, Stanford University Mr. Nabeel Qadeer University of Strathclyde Business School

Dr. Sohail Aslam University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Mr. Syed Basit Ali Jafri Lahore University of Management Sciences

Dr. Ashraf Iqbal Ph.D., University of Engineering & Technology Ms. Sonya Rehman MS, Columbia University

Mr. Amer Qureshi Fellow of the Institute of Chartered

Accountants in Australia

Mr. Agha Ali Raza Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

world-classfaculty from top-notch institutions

foreign funded programsHELLO ROZGAR, GIZ PROJECT

€886,339This project is a collaborative effort by

ITU and GIZ to provide ample employment

opportunities for the marginalized

communities in Punjab by providing skills

training to semi-literate people, Establishing

linkages with training institutes and NGOs,

Finding job opportunities in geographical

vicinity, using an interactive voice response

system (IVR) and Establishing linkages with

potential employers.

WORLD BANK PROJECTS

$225,000World Bank has funded plethora of projects

which primarily deal with development of

technologies to improve Governance through

transparency, Data collection, and Effective

monitoring & evaluation.

DATA PLUG

Application designed for android phones

that allows government departments to build

custom forms that can be used on mobile

devices for data gathering purposes.

OPEN DATA INITIATIVE

Online platform which contains government

data that is freely and easily accessible to any

Pakistani citizen.

GOVERNANCE INCUBATION

WORKSPACE

Collaborative effort which aims to bridge the

gap between technologists, entrepreneurs and

government servants.

DFID PROJECT

£250,000The Innovations for Poverty Alleviation

Lab (IPAL) is creating an ICT enabled

immunization solution that provides digital

immunization records for children in the field.


focus onresearch & entrepreneurshipThe use of innovative applied research to

solve locally relevant real-world problems is

one of ITU’s main areas of focus. The syllabi

of academic courses are designed to ensure

that students are involved in locally relevant

research. The following courses pertinent to

Research & Entrepreneurship are as follows:

D-LAB COURSED-Lab Is jointly taught by the Co-directors of

IPAL (Innovations for Poverty Alleviation Lab):

• Mr. Mustafa Naseem - University of

Colorado at Boulder, USA

• Ms. Samia Razaq - Lahore University of

Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan

ENTREPRENEURSHIP COURSEThis course is taught by Mr. Nabeel Qadeer

- University of Strathclyde Business School,

Scotland, UK. Mr. Nabeel is a J. Director

Entrepreneurship at the Punjab Information

Technology Board (PITB) and steers all

initiatives that fall in the space of technology

entrepreneurship backed by the Government.

Projects like PLAN9, PLANX and Tech Hub fall

under his umbrella.

ACTIVE INDUSTRY

PRACTITIONERS AS GUEST

SPEAKERSCo-founders of Markhor (a start-up working

with indigenous craftsmen to make shoes

for the modern generation), Sidra Qasim

& Waqas Ali gave a guest lecture in the

Entrepreneurship class and shared their

entrepreneurial journey, which enabled

them to raise more than a million rupees on

Kickstarter.

MACHINES OF THE FUTUREOrganized a Robotics Exhibition, in which

innovative inventions designed and built by

ITU’s under graduate students were displayed

The guest of honor for the event was Dr.

Osama Hasan, the founder and director of

System Analysis and Verification (SAVe) Lab.

He interacted with the robot-builders during

the exhibition and shared his feedback. The

projects displayed included, Ro-boat, Gesture-

controlled Robot, Spy Robot, Cellphone

controlled RoboCar, Robotic Arm, Lift Control

Robot, Fire Extinguisher Robot, Social

Trashbin and Wireless Bomb Disposal Robot.

In concluding remarks, Dr. Umar Saif (Vice

Chancellor, ITU) shared that ITU is focused on

building leadership in the IT field. The faculty

is coming up with rich ideas to inculcate

innovation and creativity in the youth.

tenure track faculty positionsThe Information Technology University (ITU) of the Punjab is seeking outstanding individuals

for tenure-track faculty positions (Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor)

in the fields of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Humanities and

related areas. Successful candidates should have demonstrated the promise of achieving

true distinction in research, and the ability to be an excellent teacher at both the graduate and

undergraduate level.

for details, please visit

www.itu.edu.pk/careers

publications & conferences


information technology university- issue 01, april 2015

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