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.


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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.


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