McMaster University Plans to Establish Award in Memory of Prominent Physicist Dr Aquila Islam
By Dr A. Khan
Chicago, IL
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada plans to honor one of its prominent alumnus — Professor Dr Aquila Islam — by establishing a scholarship in her memory.
The fundraising for the award is currently in progress via McMaster University’s iFundMac platform. Donors can donate any amount towards the award, using Credit Card, PayPal or check, by clicking on the following weblink:
https://alumni.mcmaster.ca/s/1439/ifundmac/project.aspx?sid=1439&gid=1&pgid=12000&cid=21644&ecid=2
1644&crid=0&calpgid=3310&calcid=5366
June 16, 2022 marked the first anniversary of Dr Aquila Islam’s passing away. She was the first female member of her family who attended a formal school, and later she became the first Pakistani woman to receive a doctoral degree in nuclear physics. She was a pioneer and played a pivotal role in promoting Physics Education in Pakistan, especially for women. She was the founding president of the Center for Physics Education (CPE), Karachi, established under the patronship of Professor Abdus Salam.
After spending a decade in academia and research, she went to Canada for higher studies. She completed her MSc (Bio Physics, 1971) at Western University, Ontario, Canada, and earned her PhD (Nuclear Medicine, 1975) from McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
During her professional career, spanned over six decades, she served at a number of academic institutions holding teaching, administrative and research positions. She was a member of the National Committee for Review of Curriculum (1984-1987), Pakistan Association for the Advancement of Science (PAAS) [1982-1985], Karachi Physics Society, Pakistan Arts Council, American Physical Society (APS), Science Promotion Forum, Pakistan Federation of University Women, and HRCP Electron Watch. She coordinated many science fairs and local and national conferences on Physics Education. Recently she was working on establishing an astronomical observatory at KIU.
