Daily Times

In recognition of their exceptional contributions, four distinguished faculty members of COMSATS University Islamabad were honoured with prestigious civil awards during the recently held Pakistan’s Day Celebrations.

President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari acknowledged the outstanding achievements of recipients both nationally and internationally in their respective fields.

In the ceremony held at the President House in Islamabad, Farrah Mahmood Rana, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Design received Pride of Performance in the field of Arts. Farrah is a graduate of the National College of Arts, Lahore specializes in Asian Miniature Painting. Besides 4 Solo Shows, Farrah has participated in more than 160 National international Group exhibitions held in U.S.A, Canada, U.K, Austria, France, Hong Kong, China, Azerbaijan, Tehran, Jeddah, India, Bangladesh, U.A.E, Bahrain and Greece. She is recipient of the prestigious Charles Wallace Visiting Fellowship Award (UK) for the excellence in the Traditional Miniature Art. The Art House (Wakefield,UK) awarded her the Artist in Residence in 2009, the Austrian Federal Chancellery awarded her in 2006 and CAMAC (France) awarded her in 2014. She has served as Chairperson at the Department of Art and Design, COMSATS University (CUI), Islamabad Campus.

Muhammad Balighur Rehman, Governor Punjab while presiding the ceremony held at Governor House, Lahore conferred civil awards on behalf of President of Pakistan to three COMSATS University faculty members.

Dr. Jamshed Iqbal, Professor, who is currently the Head of Center for Advanced Drug Research, CUI Abbottabad Campus was awarded with the Sitara-i-Imtiaz in the field of Science. Dr. Iqbal has over 400 international publications with an accumulated impact factor of 1500+. To date, he has completed over PKR 200 million research projects and has secured 3 international and 3 national patents. He has established modern approaches for the drug development to treat the cardiovascular and diabetes like disease. He is recipient of Gold Medal by Pakistan Academy of Sciences in the field of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, he is also recipient of HEC National Outstanding Research Award-2022, and Fellow of Pakistan Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Hammad Omer, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering received the prestigious Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for his contribution in the field of Engineering. Dr. Omer’s academic journey includes a PhD from the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London in 2012. Since joining COMSATS University Islamabad in March 2013, he established the Medical Image Processing Research Group, focusing on impactful research addressing national and global challenges in MRI. His scholarly endeavours have garnered international recognition and include numerous publications and patents from the United States Patent Office. He is also the recipient of the Pakistan Engineering Council’s Excellence Award 2024 for his extraordinary services to the engineering profession.

In the same ceremony, Dr. Muhammad Yar, Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Research Center Advanced Biomedical Materials, CUI-Lahore Campus received the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for his exceptional work in the field of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Yar is serving as cluster head of skin tissue engineering group at IRCBM. He has published over 108 papers having citation score above 4000 and 25 national and international patents. His innovative work on D-sugar scaffolds to enhance angiogenesis for accelerated wound healing has been highlighted in various international media. Dr Yar and his team have developed two advanced wound care products which are in clinical use in Pakistan to treat burn patients and instantly stop bleeding. He has secured/completed over 100 Million rupees research grants from National and international funding bodies and industries.

Prof. Dr. Sajid Qamar, Rector COMSATS University Islamabad while acknowledging the hard work of these faculty members said that these awards accentuate COMSATS University’s commitment to academic excellence, Research and innovation, further stamping its position as a leading higher education institution in Pakistan. He added that the recognition of its faculty members on a national platform reflects the university’s continuous efforts toward fostering intellectual growth and societal development.