ISLAMABAD - Scholars and scientists of the three-day international symposium yesterday emphasized the need for furthering the spirit of the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies in Pakistan in order to sensitize the people about the researches made in this relevant field.
The symposium on ‘Light and Life’, organized by the COMSATS and the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), concluded yesterday covered a wide range of topics relating to the light and light-based technologies and highlighted the latest research and developments taking place in the field, across the globe.
The chief guest of the concluding ceremony, Dr. Shaukat Hameed Khan, Coordinator General COMSTECH, made an exciting presentation on the theme of the event giving its historic background and Pakistan’s profile related to the light-based technologies. He told the participants of the ceremony about the planned OIC Exchange Programme to be named ‘Al Haytham Programme’ honouring the eminent Muslim scientist, Ibn Al Haytham.
Earlier, Dr. Aslam Khan, Chairman of the Symposium’s Organizing Committee, presented the symposium report, in which he shared the key statistics. He noted the international character of the event and acknowledged all the local and international speakers for sharing their latest research findings.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Arshad Saleem Bhatti, Dean Faculty of Science, CIIT, suggested that the learnings made during the event should be consolidated and an ‘Optical Society of Pakistan’, like the one in the USA, may be created for furthering the spirit of the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies.
Dr. Khizar Bhutta, Lead Scientist at Whirlpool Corporation (USA), considered the event to be well-planned, well-executed, and a power-packed intellectual activity. He considered collaboration between seasoned and young faculty members for greater intellectual output of the universities.
Dr. Sabieh Anwar of LUMS School of Science & Engineering, Lahore, remarked on the importance of the Symposium theme and appreciated its scholarly benefits to the students and participants.
A significant outcome of the event was that the speakers from USA, UK, Germany, Italy and Turkey offered research collaborations and opportunities for graduate studies at their respective institutes to the participants and other eligible Pakistanis.
Technical deliberations of the symposium highlighted the great potential of light and light-based technologies for benefitting the societies at large. Special emphasis was on Solar Energy Harvesting, LEDs, OLEDs, Lasers, Imaging Science even below the diffraction limit with applications in Bio-Sciences and Biotechnology, Environmental Monitoring, Nano Science particularly Nanoscopy, Photonic Devices, Accelerator-based Light Sources including Synchrotron and Free Electron Lasers, and Extreme Ultraviolet &X-Ray Lasers, as well as Quantum Information Processing.
A total of 49 speakers from Bangladesh, China, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkey, UK, and USA presented their research in relevant areas.