Hizbullah Baryal – Program Director for MSDS and NAS:
Hizbullah joined Loyola University on December 19, 2022. His responsibilities comprise of two main components: (a) serving as the director of the program operation for the graduate Data Science, and (b) Coordination of Natural and Applied Sciences program (e.g., Hauber summer research, Grand Seminar, celebration of science, Haig scholars, etc.).
Hizbullah earned his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from Maryam University in 2016 and currently is working toward finishing his thesis for the MBA degree with specialization of Management and Leadership at Kardan University. He has one year of experience serving as Asia representative in the Global Advisory Board Member of Generation Democracy supported by the International Republican Institute. In addition, he has completed one year leadership course with Young Leaders’ Forum, a worldwide initiative directed by the German FES organization and one year leadership course with the World Innovation Summit for Education, a worldwide initiative by Qatar foundation.
Hizbullah has been working as an Administrative Assistant to the United Nations Development Coordinator Office and Executive Assistant to the United Nations-International Labour Organization for Afghanistan. Meanwhile, he has a social assignment in the capacity of director with Youth for Change and Development Organization YCDO. Previously he served as the supervisor at the Afghanistan 2014 presidential election campaigns, and site manager by the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan. Moreover, he has served as an advisor for the South Asian Youth Environmental Network (SAYEN) and Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) in Afghanistan. Some of his diverse and extensive leadership roles are listed below:
· A representative of World Forum for Democracy/ Council of Europe in Afghanistan
· Member of Central Youth Council of National Democratic Institute NDI
· Member of Global Shapers Community of the World Economic Forum
· Youth action hub coordinator of UNCTAD for Afghanistan
· Ambassador to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) for Afghanistan
· Led the greenery campaign in Kabul through Youth for Change and Development Organization
· Ambassador of Education to the World Innovation Summit for Education in Afghanistan.
Pratima Kshetry – Faculty Director for MSDS:
Pratima started her role as the academic faculty director for the Master of Science in Data Science (MSDS) program, and she will be working closely with Hizbullah in directing the MSDS program. Pratima has been with Loyola University Maryland since 2020 as a Teaching Assistant Professor at Sellinger school of Business. She is teaching courses on Information System (IS) and Data Science (DS).
Pratima graduated from University of Maryland College Park. Right after graduation, she had the opportunity to work with the White House National Policy AIDS Office for the PEPFAR Country Operation Plan (COPs) data as Quantitative Analyst. Prior to joining Loyola in 2020, Pratima was working with Johns Hopkins as a Software Engineer. We are delighted having Pratima as faculty director for MSDS program. The graduate Data Science program is a collaborative effort involving School and Business (information System) and LCAS/NAS (Computer Science and Math & Statistics).
Each summer since 1988, a top-quality group of undergraduate NAS majors are selected as Hauber Fellows to conduct research with faculty mentors on projects in their area of interest during the summer. This 10-week prestigious summer research program is culminating with research presentations for the Loyola community, research posters, and scientific papers. Participation has been a pathway for many students to campus and national awards, publications, and admission to graduate programs. The fellowship carries a $5,000 stipend with discounted on-campus housing available with the possibility for applying for no cost housing. It runs from the first week of June through mid-August. If you are interested in applying, now is the time to identify faculty who may be interested in mentoring you this summer.
NAS faculty, if you are interested in mentoring a Hauber fellow this summer, please email your department chair and Sciences@loyola.edu with a brief description of your research interests.
For details and application, visit www.loyola.edu/hauber. Applications are due February 3, 2023, which is the 3rd Friday of the Spring semester.
Book by Dipa Sarkar-Dey
Dr. Dipa Sarkar-Dey, Associate Professor Emerita, Mathematics and Statistics Department, has published a poetry book titled, Kismet. The book is available as a paper copy and e-book on amazon.com and barnesandnobel.com.
Sarkar-Dey always wanted to write about her native country, its culture and growing up in that country for her students, colleagues, and specifically, for her descendants. However, she couldn’t find time to do so in juggling between family and work. After taking the retirement, she immediately enrolled to the writing classes at Loyola. She was impressed by her professors and their teaching. According to her, “The teaching style of the professors and making the invited speakers events mandatory helped me tremendously to write better.” Her first professor, Prof. Teresa Ryan, suggested her to take poetry classes. She is incredibly thankful to her for the suggestion. She took poetry classes with Prof. Karen Fish. This book was a result of taking several classes with her. Prof. Fish made her dream to become reality. Her gratitude towards Prof. Fish has no bounds.
Mathematics is all about creating and recognizing patterns. Sarkar-Dey’s mathematical mind helped her to create rhythmic patterns of poetry. She exemplifies Loyola’s teaching “to become a lifelong learner.” In 2020, NAS was able to establish the very first divisional medal at Loyola, thanks to the generous support from Professor Sarkar-Dey.
News about scholarly work by Dr. Basu Sudeshna
Dr. Basu Sudeshna joined the Mathematics and Statistics department as a Teaching Assistant Professor in Fall 2022. While research and scholarship are not a required for teaching faculty, she has been active in research and very productive in terms of her scholarly work. She is serving as a Ph.D. advisor to two students where she is the official co advisor from Loyola University. Moreover, her research efforts have led to publishing her first paper as a faculty member of Loyola University, "Small combination of slices and dentability in Ideals of Banach Spaces, Sudeshna Basu, and Susmita Seal, that is published in volume 30 of the Journal of Convex Analysis. Furthermore, her impressive scholarly work has led to several presentations and professional engagement, including:
- presenting an invited talk at International Workshop on Operator Theory and its Applications, Krakow, Poland, September 2022.
- Invited Visitor at Calcutta University, Kolkata, India, December 2022--January 2023.
- Invited Speaker at Calcutta University, Kolkata, India, January 2023
- Invited Speaker at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, January 2023.
- Invited Speaker a15th International Conference on p-Adic Analysis and Dynamical System, Poznań, Poland, July 2023.
- Invited speaker at International Workshop on Operator Theory and its Applications, Helsinki, Finland, July 2023.
- Invited speaker at Analysis Seminar, Catholic University, Washington DC, Spring 2023.
