As a part of the “Dr. Anwarul Abedin Lecture Series”, a regular initiative of the American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB), an informative webinar titled as “Novel materials used for laser, photonics and renewable energy applications” was held on 10 June 2021.The webinar was organized by the Faculty of Engineering in the honor of AIUB’s visionary Founder Chairman Dr. Anwarul Abedin who catalyzed substantial transformation in the educational sector of the country. Distinguished speaker for the session was Dr. Yuen Hong TSANG, Associate Professor, Dept. of Applied Physics, The HongKong Polytechnic University. Dr. TSANG received his BSc and PhD in Physics from the School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, UK in 2000 and 2004, respectively. Recently, Dr. Tsang was ranked in the top 2% of the world's most-cited scientists in the field of optoelectronics and photonics by Stanford University.

Dr ABM Siddique Hossain (Professor and Dean, Faculty of Engineering, AIUB) delivered an inspirational inauguration speech to the audience. He emphasized on AIUB’s stand on prioritizing the importance of research and dissemination of information in Nanotechnology and Nanoscience, developing a technological hub to find the next breakthrough.

Dr. Yuen Hong TSANG was then provided with the floor to proceed with the session. He started with a brief description of 2-D materials and its prospects in novel devices for sensors, solar cells, saturable absorbers to name some. He highlighted the areas where key research attempts can be made and high citations can be achieved. He discussed in details about his recent works and how his research group has been characterizing novel 2-D materials to achieve saturable absorbers for ultra-fast lasers. The session ended with an interactive question answer session.

Prof. Dr. Md. Abdur Rahman (Associate Dean, Faculty of Engineering) provided  the closing remarks by thanking Dr. Tsang for the informative session and invited him to collaborate in research activities  with the Center for Nanotechnology Research of AIUB. Dr. Rahman then handed over the virtual token of appreciation to Dr. Tsang.

Assistant Professor and Special Assistant of Department of EEE, Mr. Tawsif Ibne Alam, acted as the moderator for the webinar. Faculty members, officials, students, alumni of AIUB and professionals from industry were present. With over 200 participants on the Zoom platform and more than 1500 views in Facebook, the webinar was indeed a success.