Team NUSTIAN USA
All you need to know about core of #NUSTIANUSA by Sara Sultan
NUSTIAN USA is having first of its kind virtual all hand meeting on July, 12th. Just like all of you my inbox was also full of messages related to that. I’m the lead coach at NUSTIAN USA mentoring forum which I had joined two years ago as a mentor.
Scrolling through all the groups, I stopped at a message by Raheel Bodla who wanted to have a zoom meeting with me. At first, I thought it would be something related to the forum and he might have some suggestions for me. But it turned out that he wanted to meet and greet just to know me better and build a strong relationship. And I realized, yes this is what Nustian is all about, empowering each other to build a strong community, which starts right here, from you, knowing you better, and supporting you.
Every struggle has an amazing story, I asked Raheel about how it all started because it seemed like a perfect team to me. He told me that he had a passion for coaching and helping people and Shiraz Bashir (President) was amazing with networking given his 20 years of experience and that’s how they came together to build a community.
Nustian USA is a registered non-profit organization with over 600 members, 30 regional and interest-based groups, and more than 60 volunteers who are our great pillars. Let’s meet our team and acknowledge their efforts.
NUSTIAN Board of Trustees
Shiraz Bashir (President NUSTIAN)
Shiraz Bashir graduated in Electrical and Telecom Engineering from the Military College of Signals in 1997. Later, he joined Gannon University for his MS in Software Engineering. He works at ChaiOne as Senior Engagement Manager for Digital Enterprise, in Houston, Texas. Shiraz cofounded Alumni of College of Signals NUST, was part of its Board, and served on Board of Trustees for Nust Trust Fund.
As Raheel mentioned, his 20 years of experience allowed him to build a greater network and he founded NUSTIAN USA.
Tehmoor Dar (Secretary General NUSTIAN)
Dr. Tehmoor Dar is the Secretary General. He did his BS ME from CEME in 1994 and MS (2005) and, Ph.D (2010) from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a recipient of H.G Rylander Mechanical Engineering Excellence Teaching Fellow. He is author and Co-Author of several publications and patents. His technical area of expertise includes modern controls, MEMS inertial sensors, and inertial navigation. He is currently working as a Principal Engineer At Thales Defense and Security Inc. His interests range from international affairs to playing tennis, swimming and coaching his son’s soccer team.
Ahsan Rehman (VP Coordination)
Ahsan Rehman, did his BIT from SEECS in 2012 and M.S (2015) from Northwestern University. He currently working as a Data Scientist at IBM’s Data & AI Group and based out of Chicago. With over seven years of experience in data science and machine learning, he is dedicated to helping products become more data-driven for business analysis.
His belief in equity and opportunity inspired him to co-found NUSTIAN USA, and he currently serves as its VP Coordination. He wants to see a Pakistan where all young students have access to equal opportunities for education and research based on their interests and wants to facilitate a space where gender and social-economic class is not a hindrance for anyone to reach their full potential.
As VP Coordination he streamlined the organization by creating local chapters and organizing meetups. He took the initiative to recruit volunteers for the communication, website, membership, coaching, and webinar teams. At times when tasks are difficult or somewhere in between, Ahsan spurs the team members to do their best.
Sohaib Haider — (Treasurer)
Sohaib is a marketing and strategy professional with 13 years of experience in improving consumer experience through data analytics. His interests and hobbies include environmental preservation, hiking, and literature on history and business. He manages all the finances of the organization and that entails everything from setting up our financial policies to ensure that every cent is accounted for. He is the Treasurer for NUSTIAN USA.
Maria Riaz (VP Alumnae, and Co-Lead Silicon Valley)
Dr. Maria is a Senior Software Engineer at Google LLC. She has research experience in the field of security and privacy requirements engineering and distributed computing. She is a strong and collaborative technical leader with hands-on experience in software development, engineering, education, and training. She has taught computer science undergraduate courses at GIKI and NUST. She is passionate about causes related to education, personal growth, and responsible use of technology. Her interests and hobbies include music, spending time with family, traveling. Dr. Maria is one of the founding members of NUSTIAN USA and holds the role of V.P. Alumnae, and is also the Co-lead Silicon Valley Chapter.
Raheel Bodla (VP Industrial Linkages)
Raheel is a Success Coach based in Silicon Valley. He coaches business leaders and startup founders to maximize their results. He completed his Masters in Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT in a program that selects the top 40 professionals from all around the world. As Tesla Global Supply Manager, he led $250M Model-X Assembly Line Supply Chain Management. As Tesla supplier, he grew sales of a startup 4x from $4M to $16M. Raheel loves to connect and help others in their overall success. Based on his learnings from MIT, Harvard, and the world’s top success coaches, He is passionate and effective in delivering successful results. He is also the lead at Silicon Valley Chapter.
Rashed Bhatti (VP Academic Linkages)
Dr. Rashed Bhatti is a Senior Computer Engineer at IBM. Leading a team of data scientists, he is currently focused to further the IBM Watson and Cloud Platform business through advanced digital customer behavior and predictive analytics with the modern AI and ML techniques. His deep understanding of both computer hardware and software, from the most basic unit of semiconductor devices to the advanced massively parallel microarchitectures and high-performance software stacks for big data and real-time computing, makes him a man of extraordinarily rare scientific skills. He has extensive experience and deep expertise in cognitive solutions, big data technologies, security and privacy of data, and distributed computing. Rashed’s innovations and team efforts enabled many cutting-edge systems that are currently operational in IBM’s client Fortune 50 companies. At IBM Research, Rashed’s work has been instrumental in the design and development of a series of IBM’s massively parallel supercomputers, and hardware-accelerated platforms with GPUs and FPGAs for real-time big data streaming and cognitive analytics.
As a member of the board of trustees, he works with the NUSTIAN USA leadership and provides guidance and advice when needed. As VP Academic he studies the contemporary fields of studies and emerging technologies to advise the NUST UAO. Collaborate and Communicate the NUST schools and faculty members regarding learning or participation opportunities.
NUSTIAN Regional and City Leads
Nouman Shah
Noumaan is the SoCal Chapter Lead. He is a Senior Vice President at DevFactory, which is part of the ESW Capital Group. Prior to that, he was the CTO at Smart Fission, which developed its proprietary indoor location solution to help shoppers navigate to find products in physical stores such as Walmart. He has also had the privilege of designing WiFi, networking, modem, and processor chips, used in Raspberry Pi, iPhone, MacBook, Samsung and Cisco.
Tahir Khattak
Tahir Khattak is the Washington DC lead. Tahir has subject matter expertise in Project Management and Project Controls on mega construction projects. His interests are helping others in need. He graduated from the Military College of Signals in Civil Engineering and later did his MS from GMU, Fairfax, Virginia.
Asad Warraich
Asad Warraich is the Florida Chapter Lead. Asad is a Civil Engineer with experience in managing various heavy civil construction projects throughout Pakistan and USA. He completed his Masters in Transportation Engineering from NUST-SCEE in 2012 and has relocated to Florida since then. He has worked on various Florida DOT, Disney World and Universal’s construction projects in different roles. His interests and hobbies include playing soccer & cricket with his son, spending time with family & friends, and traveling.
Rao Ahmed Rahil
Rao Ahmed is the Washington DC Lead. His passion is to help people. He is always on the go to explore new cuisine, places and make new friends. He is EE graduate from Military College of Signals and did his MS in Telecommunications from George Mason University.
Waseem Imran
Waseem Imran is the SouthEast Chapter Lead. Waseem is an experienced professional in SAP and Cloud Solutions. He graduated from the NUST Military College of Signals. He is a volunteer for local Non-Profits such as Pakistani American Community of Atlanta (PAC) and ICNA. His interests and hobbies include mentoring young professionals in SAP solutions and traveling. Waseem has arranged several meetups in Atlanta for the Nustian community.
Arsalan Qadeer
Arsalan is a Doctoral candidate in Electrical Engineering at the city college of New York of CUNY and a software/DevOps engineer. His interests and hobbies include outreach, event management, and fundraising. He is the lead for the New York City Chapter. He arranged an amazing event on Pakistan Independence Day (14th, August) last year at Central Park. He is also passionate about coaching.
NUSTIAN Communication and Social Media Team
Sundas Zahra (Social Media Manager)
Sundas Zahra, a Mass Communication graduate from the School of Social Sciences and Humanities (S3H) NUST, took the initiative back in 2018 to formulate the communication team and social media policy for NUSTIAN USA. She did talent hunting for the roles of bloggers, content writers, video editors and initially covered the events in Silicon Valley and Midwest chapters. She traveled to San Francisco (Silicon Valley Chapter) in the 2018 summer to interview and feature success stories from individuals, which was helpful in growing this community from 200 to more than 500 members. Her initiatives helped in spreading the message across all regional chapters and formed a vibrant community. Currently, she is a research assistant and a graduate student of Journalism at Ohio University.
Fatima Quddos (Facebook Moderator and Graphic Designer)
Fatima Quddos, the graphic designer at NUSTIAN communication Team, joined the College of William and Mary in Virginia after she completed her bachelor’s in Applied Biosciences from ASAB (Atta-ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences) NUST. She manages the Facebook content for the organization and is known for her amazing creative designs. Fatima is an experienced researcher in Biomedical Sciences with an aim to make the world a little bit better for some. She is a computer enthusiast with a knack for nature.
Saira Tabassum (Instagram Moderator)
Saira Tabassum moderates the NUSTIAN Instagram account to share updates of the various NUSTIAN events around the US. Saira graduated from NUST School of Social Sciences and Humanities (S3H) with a bachelors in Mass Communication. As part of NUSTIAN communications team, she has helped the fundraising campaign through designing posters and robust digital marketing. The online campaign helped raise funds for need-based scholarship back at our Alma mater. Saira is a Proposal Writer at Zscaler. She loves dissecting content to make it look pretty, accurate and professional. Her interests and hobbies include reading, writing, and entrepreneurship.
Mahnaum Maqsood (Co-Lead Members Engagement)
Mahnaum Maqsood has been supporting the communications Team through social media strategies, discussions, and managing our Facebook group. She helps increase Members Engagement on the NUSTIAN platform and its various projects. She was one of the very few first volunteers to join the communication team back in 2018 when the communication team was formed. The Telecom Engineer from Military College of Signals (MCS), NUST, currently works at Code Authority.
Yusra Farhatullah (Membership Lead)
Yusra Farhat Ullah manages the membership database for NUSTIAN USA, and keeps it up to date. Her coordination with other leaders has significantly improved communication among members. Yusra is pursuing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Medical Robotics and Devices. She had several years of experience as a Mechanical Design Engineer before moving on to human-focused research. Her work revolves around helping humans overcome barriers. Her interests and hobbies include DIY electronics, digital art, Road trips, and Nature Trails.
Bibrak Qamar Chandio (Video Content Creator)
Bibrak is the Media Team Video Content Creator for NUSTIAN USA. He completed his bachelors in Information Technology from SEECS in 2011 and then started his Masters in Computer Science in 2014 under the Fulbright Scholarship at Indiana University, Bloomington, working on High Performance Computing. He has continued his interest in his PhD at Indiana University, Bloomington. His interest and hobbies include photography and building and flying airplanes.
Hamza Ahmed Raza (Blogger)
Hamza completed his masters from United States Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies (USPCAS-E) in Energy at NUST and is currently pursuing his PhD in Electrical Computer and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University. He believes in a purposeful and a balanced life. He has always spread this message through his blogs. He loves being a helping hand for others and mentor for young guns. He likes reading books and delivering lectures on personal growth. He is a storyteller and working on his first novel. He helps in writing blogs for our Communication team on Medium.
Ali Naved Mirza (Webinar Lead)
Ali is a seasoned digital product and program management professional with an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from PNEC. Currently finishing his MBA at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, he is specializing in product management and entrepreneurship and wants to create digital products in the Education industry. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family. He is also passionate about soccer and supports the Spanish professional soccer club Real Madrid. He is the lead on webinars for NUSTIAN USA.
Kashif H. Khan (Director Communications)
Kashif Khan is the Director Communications. He did his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from College of EME, in 2008. He joined Purdue University to complete his MBA in Strategy & Operations. He is now a Management Consultant with over 8 years of diversified experience.
Faisal Khan (Devops Co-Lead)
Faisal Khan is an IT graduate from SEECS, class of 2005. He joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for his MS in Computer Sciences. He is the DevOps Co-Lead for Nustian, currently based in Chicago. He is working at Argonne National Lab as a Principal Software Engineer.
NUSTIAN Coaching and Mentoring Forum
Sara Sultan
And that’s me. I manage the Coaching forum and occasionally volunteer for media content. I’m an Energy Engineering graduate from U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Energy (USPCASE) NUST, currently working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. As a part of the communication team, I moderate the NUSTIAN LinkedIn account.
I love to read and write and I have a passion for coaching. I want to inspire those battling through hard situations. That’s why this Coaching forum is very important to me. To know more about our forum and how we manage it, join us on our virtual all hand.
Usama Awais
Usama Awais is the Co-Lead and one of the founding members of this forum. Usama is a motivated engineering professional who likes integrated circuit design and working towards energy efficient power design and data conversion of smart ML computing circuits. He loves to backpack, hike the US state and national park resources and snowboard in the ski season with fellow Nustians. He helps manage the operations of NUSTIAN students back home in Pakistan applying for graduate school.
Syed Muhammad Aqib
Well, that’s my husband (Sara Sultan is the author of this blog), he’s also the Co-Lead. Aqib is a passionate civil engineer who wants to make concrete cheaper, better, durable, and sustainable. He completed his bachelor’s from NICE, NUST, and masters from Oklahoma State University, both in civil engineering. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee. Since coming to the US, he has realized the hardships and the uncertainty students face when making the decision to study abroad. He wants to help those students in achieving their dreams and realizing their potential just like someone else did for him. His passion lies in soccer which he played for ten years in his teenage. He loves traveling and exploring new cultures. He is also keen on photography. He wants to use his pictures to tell the world a story just like a book, painting, song, or movie would.
Qasim Nazir
Qasim is an AI enthusiast and an engineer by profession with more than 3 years of industry experience. He will be joining MathWorks as an application support engineer after graduation from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His interest and hobbies include cricket and traveling. He manages the NUSTIAN USA Google Drive.
Virtual All Hand 2020
As you have seen, we have a multi-talented team who have come together and worked too hard over the past three years. In our upcoming meeting, we will review 2019, talk about our objectives, and most importantly, will include your feedback and suggestions. You can tell us where we need the improvement or how you can join our team as a volunteer.
Don’t forget to register at Eventbrite and for Suggestions/Feedback, fill this form
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This article is written by Sara Sultan
