ISLAMABAD – The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has conferred Distinguished National Professor Award on four academicians for their outstanding performance.
The award is presented to those academicians who have shown exceptional performance in their respective fields, set benchmark for others and played a vital role in raising the standard of research as well as academic status of the higher education in the country.
The HEC Selection Committee in its annual meeting selected four Professors out of 63 applicants for the year 2011. These include Prof. Dr. Saqib Ali (Chemistry), Prof. Dr. Saleem Ashger (Mathematics), Dr. M. Asif Khan (Geology), and Dr. Muhammad Sarwar (Veterinary Sciences). These scholars carry the title of HEC Distinguished National Professor for lifetime.
Prof. Dr. Saqib Ali, Pride of Performance, from Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University completed his PhD from Poland in 1984. Having experience of 24 years of teaching and research, Dr. Saqib has won awards of Marie Curie Fellowship of CES in 1994-95 and George Forester in 1999-2000. He is the Fellow of two professional societies and has 324 international research publications.
Prof. Dr. Saleem Ashgar, Tamgha-i-Imtiaz and Sitara-i-Imtiaz, from Department of Mathematics, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, has a PhD in Mathematics. He has a rich experience of 39 years of teaching and research. He has won 13 national and six international awards and is the Fellow of nine professional societies.  He has 253 International research publications with 242.2 impact factor and has supervised 15 PhDs.
Dr. M. Asif Khan, Tamgha-i- Imtiaz, is working as Director at the National Centre of Excellence in Geology University of Peshawar. He completed his PhD in Geology (Earth Sciences) from Imperial College, London in 1988. He has 30 years of experience in teaching and research. He has won three national awards and is Fellow of two professional societies.
Dr. Muhammad Sarwar, Tamgha-i- Imtiaz, is currently Dean, Faculty of Animal Husbandry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. He did his PhD in Dairy Sciences from The Ohio State University, USA in 1992. He has 20 years experience of teaching and research. He has won three international awards and is Fellow of nine professional societies.