Dr. Javaid R. Laghari

Dr. Javaid R. Laghari is Chairperson of Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Previously, he was a Senator in the Pakistan Senate from 2006 to 2009. He was elected in March 2006 for a six year term and belongs to the Pakistan Peoples Party chaired by Ms. Benazir Bhutto. Dr Laghari officiated as Acting Chairman Senate in April 2009, and resigned from the Senate in July 2009.

As Senator, Dr. Laghari served on the Senate Standing Committees on Water and Power; Information Technology; and Information and Broadcasting. He was a Member of the PPP Central Committees on Policy Planning (Deputy Coordinator); Manifesto Implementation (Deputy Chairman); Manifesto (Member); and Energy and Power (Chairman), and was the focus person for International Information Dissemination and Networking. Dr. Laghari was key Advisor to Ms. Benazir Bhutto on Education, Energy and Power, Science and Technology, Information Technology, and was the co-author of the PPP Election Manifesto 2008.

Dr. Laghari was also the President of SZABIST (listed among the best Science & Technology and Business Schools of the World by Business Week, Asia Inc, Asia Week and CNN Executive Education) from 1995 to 2009. He specializes in Energy & Power, Higher Education, Information Technology, Space Power Technology and Leadership.

Prior to joining SZABIST, Dr. Laghari was the Director of Graduate Studies and Tenured Full Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, USA. SUNY is the largest public research university in the north eastern United States. During his tenure at SUNY, Dr Laghari published over 120 research papers and presented over 70 papers at International Conferences.

Dr. Laghari has attended the NATO Advanced Study Institute in UK in 1991; and the NATO Advanced Study Institute in Italy in 1983 (only top 100 scientists from NATO countries are invited to attend these Advanced Institutes in Europe). When in the United States, Dr. Laghari has performed sponsored research for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Naval Research Lab (NRL), the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA), the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), the Strategic Defense Initiatives (SDI), Hughes Aircraft and the Boeing Aerospace Company.

Dr. Laghari was the Chairman of the 1992 IEEE International Conference on High Voltage Engineering, USA, and has organized many International Conferences and chaired numerous Sessions and Workshops in the United States. He has also served as the Chairman of the Technical Standards Committee on Radiation Effects, and as the Representative on the United States Activities Board on Man and Radiation. Dr. Laghari is the author of the IEEE Standard 775 - 1993 and has published a Book Chapter and a Monograph in the United States.

Dr. Laghari has also been a Member of the Ministry of Science and Technology Human Resource Development Committee, Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST), and the Sindh Information Technology Board (SITB). He is currently a Senior Member of the ACM (USA), Senior Member of the IEEE (USA), Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Executive Committees of the Federation of the University of Islamic World (FUIW) and the Asia University Federation (AUF).

Dr. Laghari is the recipient of the Distinguished Leadership Award, 1987, the International Cultural Diploma of Honor, 1988, the IEEE Award for Leadership and Dedicated Services, 1994, and the coveted national award 'Tamgha-e-Imtiaz' conferred by the President of Pakistan in 1998.

Dr. Laghari is listed in the American Men and Women of Science, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in the East and Who's Who in the World.