STEP envisions a community collaborating towards a common goal: improving the state of science, technology, and education in Pakistan. It aims to bring together policy-makers, academics, researchers, professionals, and students from diverse backgrounds to:
- Provide feedback on existing education and technology policies in Pakistan,
- Develop and identify new policies to improve education in Pakistan,
- Lobby for implementation of identified policies and greater public and private spending in research and academic sectors,
- Raise awareness of successful education/technology projects,
- Build liaisons between different educational institutes, research organizations, and industries all over the world, and
- Help produce a centralized information resource on topics relevant to science, technology, and education in Pakistan.
We emphasize the need for collaboration and active participation from the community to achieve these goals. We welcome new perspectives and original ideas whether in the form of comments or articles, given that they satisfy STEP content policy. Please review the policy section to see how you can best participate in this project.
– The Editors
Salman Abdul Baset is a Ph.D. candidate in the computer science department at Columbia University. His area of research is peer-to-peer communication systems. He is one of the four recipients of Marconi Young Scholar 2008 award for promising research in communications.
Omar Javed received his PhD in computer science from the University of Central Florida in 2005. He is currently a research scientist at the Center for Video Understanding Excellence at ObjectVideo, Reston, VA. He also serves as an associate editor for the Machine Visions and Applications Journal and is the author of the book ‘Automated Multi-Camera Surveillance: Algorithms and Practice’.
Mariyam Khalid (Student Editor) is a sophomore at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, majoring in Computer Science. Her varied interests include discrete mathematics, systems design, sociology and journalism.
Sohaib Ahmad Khan resides in Lahore and is an associate professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. He received his doctorate from the University of Central Florida in 2002, and BE in Electronic Engineering from GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology in 1997.
Khurram Hassan Shafique (Editor-in-Chief) holds a doctorate in computer science from University of Central Florida. He is an alumnus of NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, and has also been a member of the faculty at NED University. His interests at STEP include higher education policies, undergraduate research initiatives, and development of academic and industrial liaisons in Pakistan.
Yaser Ajmal Sheikh is an Assistant Research Professor at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. His focus of interest is the popularization of science in Pakistan, the role of funding in effectively directing research, and more broadly in understanding the role of academic leadership in literacy and education.
Bilal Zafar is a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California (USC) and a graduate research assistant at the Information Sciences Institute. His research work is focused on computer architecture and interconnection networks, and real passion is teaching. He has served two terms as a Teaching Assistant Fellow at USC’s Center for Excellence in Teaching, and was the receipient of Best Teaching Assistant award in 2006.
Khurram Zia is a graduate from Stanford University and is currently working as a Program Manager at Microsoft on the Windows team. He was the recipient of the best academic performance gold medal for Electronic Engineering at GIKI in 2003. He has also had a helping hand in indigenous projects aimed at social uplift and his inspiration comes from this African adage, “When many small people in many small places do many small things, they can change the face of the entire world”.
