iiScience Int'l Conf 202

Prof. M. Yasin Akhtar Raja is a senior Professor of Physics and Optical Science, and ECE (adjunct professor) at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte, NC, USA. He joined UNC Charlotte in 1990 and since then has served in various faculty positions and played a leadership role in several planning and program committees for establishing new Ph.D. programs, research centers, and academic units. His research expertise in Optical Science and Engineering spans the Nanophotonic and Optoelectronic devices, Integrated Photonics and Components for Optical Communication Networks. He has several patents and published over 200 articles in journals, book chapters, and refereed conference proceedings. He also have co-edited a book Nanotechnology for Telecommunications”, that was published in June 2010 (Nanotechnology and Energy Series, Taylor & Francis Group/CRC Press). Professor Raja received his Ph.D. in 1988 from the University of New Mexico (UNM), Albuquerque, where he conducted a pioneering research in special type of semiconductor lasers based on resonant periodic gain (RPG), now known as “VCSELs” at the center for high technology materials (CHTM) [www.chtm.unm.edu]. At UNC Charlotte, he played a leading role in establishing new graduate degrees MS in Applied Physics and PhD in Optical Science & Engineering. He also served two years as a graduate program director in Applied Physics and Optics program. During that he led the efforts for establishing new Ph.D. program & the Optics Center (http://opticscenter.uncc.edu). He is the lead and founding member of ‘Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Communications’, and graduate programs (Ph.D. and MS) in Optical Science and Engineering. He has chaired high-level statuary and search committees, including eight years as a member of University Faculty Council; he chaired & served on committees for hiring center’s directors, department chairs, professors, and staff. Since past 8 years, he’s serving as chair of the department’s review committee (DRC) which is continuing until next academic year. He also chaired the college’s Special Review and Task Committees. In his research area, he leads Micro-Nanophotonics and Optical Communication Labs and led the Optical Networks Testbed efforts at UNC Charlotte past decade. His research expertise and interests encompass design, fabrication, and characterization of Photonic components and novel Nanophotonic devices (e.g. VCSELs, LDs, LEDs, Detectors and Solar Cells). Over the time, his research also expanded to include multifunctional material for lighting devices and ‘Integrated Photonics’ and their application in the IoT (internet of things) and networks for smart vehicles to smart microgrids to e-health applications. He developed several new courses in optical communication and networks as well as in optoelectronics and nanophotonic area; those courses serve optical science and engineering Ph.D. and MS students in multiple colleges and departments. As noted earlier, Prof. Raja received his Ph.D. in the area of Optical Physics/Optoelectronics from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA. He obtained his M. Phil. (Lasers Physics) and M.Sc. (Physics) from the Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan. He co-invented and conducted a pioneering research in RPG semiconductor lasers forming the foundation for “VCSELs” at the Center for High Tech Materials (CHTM). He also contributed in developing the high-tech laser research labs at CHTM then newly established center at UNM. Prof Yasin Raja with his leadership role has established an annual series of International Symposia/Conferences IEEE-HONET- ICT” [http://honet-ict.org ] with initial co-sponsorship of NSF(USA) since 2004. He has organized over 25 major international conferences as a General / Steering Chair; served on several national and regional symposia technical committees and NSF and other review panels. He is Fellow of SPIE and a Senior Member IEEE and OSA. He served 2 IEEE ComSoc Chair in Greater Charlotte region for several years. He has also served on international advisory boards of various universities.

Dr. Hassina Tabassum is a Postdoctoral Associate at the State University of New York at Buffalo, USA. She completed her Ph.D. and Postdoc at the College of Engineering, Peking University, China. Her research interests are based on the fabrication of advanced nano-materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices. She has published 40 research articles in high-impact journals, Such as Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials and Energy and Environmental Science, etc. which have earned her more than 2500 citations and h-index of 23. On the basis of her academic and research accomplishments, Peking University awarded her the Best Student Award 2016 and Top Ten Best Young Researcher Awards of Peking University in 2017. She has presented at various national and international conferences, energy symposia and won Joule Star Talk Award 2019. Currently, she is working on the fabrication of advanced electrocatalysts for fuel cell and carbon dioxide reduction reactions.

Dr. Muhammad Imran Asghar works in the Department of Applied Physics at Aalto University, Finland as Academy of Finland Research Fellow. He was granted the title of Docent (professor) by the School of Science, Aalto University in 2017. In addition, he is a professor in the Faculty of Physics and Electronics Science at Hubei University in China. He has been awarded with prestigious fellowship by Academy of Finland (2019-2024) and another talent 100 distinguished professor position by Hubei province China (2019-2024). He has been also working in the Finnish industry as well. He worked in Marioff Oy (UTC Climate, Control and security) for a year (2018-2019) and in a photovoltaic panel manufacturing company Solarwheeler Oy for a year (2013). He completed his Doctor of Science degree from Aalto University in June 2012, Master’s degree in Micro and Nanotechnology in October 2008 from Helsinki University of Technology and Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering in May 2005 from National University of Science and Technology, Pakistan. He has expertise in ceramic nanocomposite fuel cells, dye- sensitized solar cells, perovskite solar cells, crystalline-silicon solar cells, batteries and other energy technologies. Furthermore, he is an expert on modern printing technologies i.e. 3D printing, ink-jet printing, screen-printing and tape-casting. He has given over 40 invited talks and keynote speeches in renowned international forums and acted as session chairs in many conferences. He is a member of various scientific societies such as American Ceramic Society, The Electrochemical Society, Finnish physical Society, and others. He is an associate editor of prestigious journals including WIREs Energy and Environment, Wiley interdisciplinary reviews and Nanoenergy Advances. He has published over 80 international publications in reputed journals and international conference proceedings. He has supervised numerous Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral theses. He has been given several awards including “Outstanding contribution award” at the 6th Yangzi Rover Delta International Conference on New Energy for his research work on emerging energy technologies.