Aligarh Muslim University Vice Chancellor visits Stony Brook University (New York)
Aligarh: Sir Syed’s vision of universal brotherhood, pluralism, tolerance and cultural diversity and mutual co-existence has the potentiality to explore new horizon in the hatred and violence prone world we live in, said Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Vice Chancellor, Professor Tariq Mansoor, while explaining Sir Syed’s relevance in the contemporary world at the Stony Brook University (New York).
Professor Mansoor recently visited the United States of America (USA), where he met the Stony Brook University (New York) officials including the president of the Stony Brook University to explore possibilities of academic collaboration with AMU.
He said that Sir Syed espoused the cause of Western education coupled with judicious mix of Indo-Islamic cultural ethos and he appointed several British faculty members to teach at residential MAO College. It was perhaps first experience by an Indian education institution to engage faculty drawn from Cambridge and Oxford.
Renowned Geochemist, Prof Richard Reeder, Vice President for Research and Associate Vice President for Brookhaven National Lab Affairs, Stony Brook University, briefed Prof Mansoor on researches in quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
The AMU Vice Chancellor on his part informed Prof Reeder on artificial intelligence and nano- technology research as undertaken, and undergoing, in AMU. Prof. Mansoor extended an invitation to Prof Reeder to visit AMU. Prof. Reeder accepted the invitation to facilitate collaborations between the two universities.
At the Renaissance School of Medicine (Stony Brook University), Prof Mansoor and Prof Kenneth Kaushanky, Dean, discussed the possibilities of training medical students and faculty, through rotations, from India, in the latest developments in the medical sciences. They also discussed the possibility of facilitating US faculty and students to study some of the most diverse infectious diseases, community medicine and different health systems in India in general, and at AMU in particular.
In another meeting, Prof Mansoor met Mr Michael A Bernstein and Dr Mathew Whelan, President and Vice President, respectively, of the University Enrolment Strategy and Relationship Development, Stony Brook University, to exchange ideas and policies for facilitating joint studies, research and training activities.
Prof Mansoor, Mr Michael and Dr Mathew discussed the Leadership for Academicians Program (LEAP) launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, for training academic leaders. The President of the University Enrolment Strategy and Relationship Development, Stony Brook University, has accepted the invitation to visit AMU in near future.
Given the fact that quite a lot of significant research breakthrough is coming out in certain fields such as Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering, Prof Mansoor deemed it necessarily useful for AMU to visit the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology where Prof Ken Dill, Director of the Centre, spoke on research possibilities for the postdoctoral fellows of AMU in Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering.
The AMU Vice Chancellor also visited the Mattoo Centre for India Studies, Stony Brook University, where he met the Director, Prof S N Sridhar and Co-Director, Prof Kamal K Sridhar to invite them for invitational lectures at AMU.
Prof Tariq Mansoor was accompanied by Dr Tazeen Beg (Vice President, Aligarh Medical Association of North America-AMANA), Dr Irfan Beg (Alumni) and Dr Kokhan Shamsi (President, AMANA).
Dr Tazeen Beg had organized and coordinated the visits.