All Answers: Re: [pakgrid] Dr. Umar Saif named one of the world's top innovators by MIT

Thursday 25 August 2011

Re: [pakgrid] Dr. Umar Saif named one of the world's top innovators by MIT

I fully second the opinion of Jauher: PASHA, PSEB and TiE must arrange even media events to celeberate this unique occassion. Congratulations to Umar and his team that have worked very hard over the past 4-5 years to make them eligible for this unique award.

Dr. Muddassar Farooq,
Professor & Head (Department of Electrical Engineering),
Director, Next Generation Intelligent Networks Research Center [www.nexginrc.org],
FAST National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences,
A.K. Brohi Road, H-11/4,
Islamabad 44000,
Pakistan

On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 7:11 PM, Jauher Zaidi <jauher@gmail.com> wrote:

Congratulation Dr. Umar Saif.

This is a proud moment for all Pakistani's. It deserve a special event at Pasha, PSEB ant TIE Pakistan. Jahan Ara you need to take a lead and setup similar TR35 in Pakistan to identify Pakistani innovators.

-Jauher

On Aug 23, 2011, at 8:42 AM, "Jehan Ara President P@SHA" <president@pasha.org.pk> wrote:

We certainly could do with some good news at a time when everything seems to be doom and gloom. And Dr. Umar Saif has provided us with the opportunity to celebrate. MIT has named Umar Saif as one of the world's top young innovators for 2011. We are all extremely proud of Umar who has brought glory to Pakistan several times in the past as well.

By appearing on the TR35 list, he joins an elite group of researchers and technologists. MIT has in previous years recognized the likes of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Larry Page & Sergey Brin of Google and Jonathan Ive, Chief Designer of Apple. Umar is the first Pakistanis to have received this recognition. Check out this link:

http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/

LUMS today released the announcement making this news public. I am sharing it with you below.

Lahore, Pakistan ï¿½ August 23, 2011 ï¿½ Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) today announced that Dr. Umar Saif, Associate Professor at the School of Science of Engineering, has been recognized by MIT Technology Review as one of the top 35 innovators (TR35) in the world. In the last decade, this is the first time a Pakistani has been selected for the prestigious TR35 award.

ï¿½The TR35 recognizes the worldï¿½s top 35 young innovators that are radically transforming technology as we know it. Their work ï¿½ spanning medicine, computing, communications, energy, electronics and nanotechnology -- is changing our worldï¿½, according to MIT Technology Review.

Dr. Umar Saif has been honored for his work on technologies for the developing-world. Technologies developed by Dr. Saifï¿½s research group and startups are used by Millions of people in the developing-world, especially BitMate, that enhances the speed of Internet in the developing-world using peer-to-peer technology, and SMSall.pk, Pakistanï¿½s largest SMS Social Network which has sent close to 4 Billion SMS for users in Pakistan.

Dr. Umar Saif joins an elite group of researchers and entrepreneurs selected over the last decade. Previous winners include Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google; Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook; Jonathan Ive, the chief designer at Apple; David Karp, founder of Tumbler; Harvard Professor Alï¿½n Aspuru-Guzik for his work on Quantum computers; and MIT Neuroscientist Ed Boyden, one of the inventors of the emerging field of optogenetics, which makes it possible to control neurons with light.

MIT Technology Review selects the top innovators after a rigorous evaluation process. The judges, who are leading experts in their fields from universities such as MIT, Stanford and Harvard, consider hundreds of high-impact researchers and entrepreneurs from all over the world, out of which top 35 are chosen for the award.

ï¿½This yearï¿½s group of TR35 recipients is driving the next wave of transformative technology and making an impact on the way we live, work and interactï¿½, said Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief and publisher of the MIT Technology Review.

Dr. Saif has won numerous awards for his innovative technology solutions for the developing-world. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2009. He is a recipient of the MIT Technovator Award, Mark Weiser Award, Digital Inclusion Award from Microsoft Research and the IDG Technology Pioneer Award. Before moving to Pakistan, Saif worked at MIT and received a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust.

"We are immensely proud of this recognition for Dr. Saif and of how it reflects on the cutting edge work being done at our young School of Science and Engineering," said Adil Najam, Vice Chancellor of LUMS. ï¿½"Dr. Saif's work demonstrates not only the potential for innovation in technology for development but also the level of enterprise and expertise that already exists within Pakistan and the larger developing world."