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Dr. Tokeer Ahmad shaping futures at Jamia

He has supervised seven Ph.D, 42 post-graduate students and is currently supervising and guiding five Ph.D students…writes Zeeshan Ashrafi (Scholar at Jamia Millia Islamia)

From the bylanes of Roorkee to reaching the prestigious campus of the Indian Institute of Technology of the city, Dr. Tokeer Ahmad was destined to be a scholar and teacher of a high degree. His academic journey did not stop at IIT- Roorkee but reached new heights at IIT-Delhi.

The residue of genius in studies took an organic shape as an academician in the field of science where he now shapes the brightest of minds. After his initial schooling and graduation in Roorkee, he pursued Masters in Chemistry from IIT-Roorkee, and then went on to complete Ph.D on Thrust Areas of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology from IIT, Delhi in 2006.

Soon after PhD, Dr. Ahmad joined Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. In addition to his extensive research interest in the chemistry of nanomaterials, Dr. Ahmed is inclined toward the development of functional nanomaterials for photocatalytic and energy applications.

He has supervised seven Ph.D, 42 post-graduate students and is currently supervising and guiding five Ph.D students.

Dr. Ahmed has received seven research projects from DST, CSIR, UGC, JMI Innovative Program and one international project from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Ahmed’s current research citation dates back to 1928. Dr. Ahmed has been an active life member of various national and international academic societies including the American Nano-Society.

He has given 54 invited lectures and presented 96 research papers on national and international platforms. He has also been appointed as the coordinator of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) e-learning program of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India at Jamia Millia Islamia.

Currently Professor at JMI, Dr. Ahmed has also received the DST-DFG award from Govt. Recognition of Distinguished Inspired Teacher from India (2009), ISCAS Medal (2011) for significant contribution in Solid State Chemistry and allied fields especially Nanoscience and Nanotechnology from the President of India in 2015. Dr. Ahmed is honored with the ‘Distinguished Scientist Award’ for the year 2019 by the Indian Association of Solid State Chemists and Allied Scientists.

Dr. Ahmad has also co-authored, with MA Shah, book titled ‘Nano Science & Technology’. The book explains the scientific basis governing the functionality of nanostructures and introduces the reader to several basic phenomena. It is written keeping in mind the latest trends and provides a solid understanding of the subject; with important features as the historical background of the material in a concise and concise manner, basic concepts of nanomaterials explained in a simple way, and detailed discussion on preparation methods. The book also throws light on characterization techniques with schematic diagrams and definitions of important terms of nanotechnology. It comprises 300 questions and 100 MCQs for practice.
With all these unique features, this book is found to be a useful resource for beginners. The book is designed as a nanoscience course that can be offered by chemistry, physics, materials science, engineering, medicine, and agriculture streams in various departments and nanotechnology centers across the world.

His research interest includes the development of advanced functional nanostructures for photo/electro-catalysis, nanocatalysis, gas sensing, and energy applications. Dr. Ahmad has published 116 research papers in peer-reviewed journals with a research citation of over 3,400 and an h-index of 34. Professor Ahmad has received the “Distinguished Scientist Award” for the year 2019 for outstanding contribution to the field of Chemistry and was also elected as a member of the very prestigious National Academy of Sciences India (NASI). Dr. Ahmad has also been included in the top 2% of scientists in the world by Stanford University, USA in 2021.

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Jamia alumna offered funded PhD fellowships from 6 varsities

Uzma has chosen Lehigh University and will be joining in August 2022. She has also been awarded a one-time relocation allowance by the university, the JMI statement added…reports Asian Lite News

Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) alumna Uzma Khan has received offers to pursue fully-funded PhD from six prestigious US universities.

She has completed her MSc Electronics course from the Department of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, JMI, in 2021.

Uzma had applied for 100 per cent fellowships in nine US universities and received offers from six of them. Her research area will be ‘Underwater wireless communication and signal processing’.

As per a JMI statement, Uzma has been offered a monthly stipend for on-campus jobs of research and teaching assistant at six US universities, as well as 100 per cent tuition fee waiver.

The names of these universities are — Lehigh University, University of Cincinnati, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, SUNY (State University of New York) Buffalo, SUNY Albany and University of New Hampshire.

Uzma has chosen Lehigh University and will be joining in August 2022. She has also been awarded a one-time relocation allowance by the university, the JMI statement added.

She said, “I am joining Lehigh University because my educational qualifications and research interest is in coherance with my potential supervisor there.”

The wireless and signal processing lab she is going to join is conducting cutting-edge research on current and future technologies and will be best suited for her research area – Underwater wireless communication and signal processing, the university statement said.

Uzma became eligible to apply to US universities after securing good scores in IELTS and GRE.

After sending e-mails to professors with whom her research interest coincides, she subsequently qualified technical interviews with a committee of members from the lab and department she wanted to get admitted to, JMI said.

Uzma has also secured first position in her class while pursuing her Masters studies at Jamia and for this she will be awarded a gold medal in the upcoming convocation of the university.

She has also received a provisional offer for ‘Inspire Fellowship’ by the Department of Science and Technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Earlier, she was hired as a systems engineer at TCS and Infosys but she declined the offer as she always knew where her interests lay and that was ‘research’.

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Jamia a ‘second family’ for over 200 civil servants

The Jamia RCA provides free coaching to students for various government job competitive examinations. The students can take admission at the Jamia RCA only after passing an entrance exam…reports  Ganesh Bhatt

As many as 220 students have been selected in civil services in the last 10 years from the Residential Coaching Academy (RCA) established at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. They say that the RCA is like their second home.

Apart from the students successfully cracking the civil services exam, another 376 students have been selected for top government institutions serving as Provincial Civil Service (PCS), Bank Probationary Officers, Reserve Bank of India, etc.

The Jamia RCA provides free coaching to students for various government job competitive examinations. The students can take admission at the Jamia RCA only after passing an entrance exam.

In 2020, 44 RCA candidates had cleared the UPSC exam which included the third exam topper Junaid Ahmed. In the same year, Sanchita Sharma of the Jamia RCA topped the list of successful candidates who cracked the UPSC exam. She prepared for the examination at the RCA hostel for the last two years.

Since its inception in 2010, Jamia’s RCA has contributed to producing more than 200 civil servants through the UPSC examination, currently serving in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), etc.

Apart from this, 245 students of the RCA have cracked Provincial civil services exam for the position of SDM and DSP, RBI (Grade-B), Assistant Commandant (CAPF), IB, Assistant Commissioner (Provident Fund) and Bank Probationary Officer, etc.

Farman Khan, an IAS officer working as an Assistant Collector in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, remembers his journey with the Jamia RCA, saying, “Jamia RCA is not a coaching academy for me but my second family.”

Farman told , “I have learned everything in life at the Jamia Millia Islamia. All my failures and all my success are related to Jamia. I became an IAS officer in 2019.”

Similar views have also been echoed by Harish Dayama, an IPS officer posted for the security of the Punjab Chief Minister. He says, “I am very fortunate that I joined the Jamia RCA. I had emailed RCA after reading about it in an online advertisement in 2011. I got a reply to my email from the RCA. I had just gone there asking for study material. RCA officials did not give me the study material but motivated me to take admission in their coaching academy.”

He said, “After that I took the RCA exam and took admission there. I could not clear the interview for the first round. After that I prepared again and got selected for the IPS in 2013. I can never forget the role of RCA in my success.”

Priyanka Shukla, an IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre credits the Jamia RCA for her success. When she could not succeed in cracking the UPSC exam even after spending huge money on another coaching institute, she then turned her attention to the Jamia RCA. She successfully aced the civil services exam in 2018 after joining the RCA and secured 109th rank in the UPSC exam.

Jamia Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar congratulated all successful candidates for their stupendous feat.

Sharing another successful story, a student of Jamia RCA did his schooling from a madrasa. Today, he is running a successful startup in the field of imparting early school education. The student has been identified as Shamshad Alam, who originally hails from Chhapra in Bihar. He has also studied from the Jamia RCA and completed his graduation and postgraduation degrees from the university. But, instead of taking up a regular job, he wanted to educate people and develop new employment opportunities for them.

Shamshad said that he has started his own educational institution in Arunachal Pradesh by the name of ‘Edunachal’. At present, it has three branches in different parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Training related to skill development, workshops, communication skills are being imparted in these institutions in coordination with various universities and colleges.

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