This time Scientific Bangladesh has talked with Dr Mahdy Rahman. He is an Associate Professor at North South University, Bangladesh. He has shared many important and interesting insights in this interview. Let’s read what he shares
1.Scientific Bangladesh: Would you like to tell us about your academic and research life? other way, how would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: I am currently working as an Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (full time), and Dept. of Math & Phys. at North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Just after submitting my Ph.D. thesis, I joined as an Assist. Professor at North South University, in January 2017. I passed SSC (2003) and HSC (2005) from Pabna Cadet College. Later, I secured the 13th merit position in the BUET admission test 2005. In February 2011, I received B.Sc. degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) from BUET, Bangladesh. After that, I had joined as a lecturer (full time) at the University of Asia Pacific and (later) at Presidency University (full time), Bangladesh. Later, I started my Ph.D. as a direct Ph.D. student (without MSc) in Electrical and Computer Engineering dept., National University of Singapore, Singapore from January 2013. I submitted my Ph.D. thesis at the end of 2016. In my Ph.D., I worked on the theory of electromagnetic/optical force and proposed the modified version of Einstein-Laub equations. I have established a big research group at NSU known as: ‘NSU OPTICS LAB’. Students from both EEE and CSE work in this lab under my direct supervision. Before that I also had a research group in BUET, and I supervised them for several projects. Both student groups have published several international journals under my supervision. For more detail about my research group and lab, one can visit our website of NSU Optics Lab: https://sites.google.com/view/nsuopticslab/members
2.Scientific Bangladesh: What has made you researcher and/or teacher? In other way, what is the story behind your becoming researcher?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: This is an interesting question for which I probably do not have any exact answer. In addition, in comparison to the top researchers in the world, I consider myself only as an ordinary researcher. This question seems very similar to an imaginary question asked to Jibanananda Das (or Kazi Nazrul Islam): why did he turn into a poet (even though both were passing their time with severe poverty)? A poet writes his poems because he/she gets eternal satisfaction to do so. It is an instinct for him/her. In a similar way, researcher like me performs his research to get ‘inner peace’. So, my answer: to earn that ‘inner peace’ or to stay with my true love (research/physics), I have become a researcher. Notably, almost all of the works done by me are theoretical works. This type of work is something like writing poems. In my student life, I have felt that: it is much easier to perform research works (and to guide my junior students) instead of passing the so-called boring exams. As Bangladesh is lagging in the area of world class research, I have tried to be a good researcher to lead the research groups in my country. If I try to answer the second part (what has made me a teacher), the answer is very similar. I really enjoy this profession among all other professions. Probably I am a little bit lucky that I am being able to carry on my career as a teacher of a university.
Finally, I have seen many of our Bangladeshi academicians are mostly busy with national politics (to grab power), departmental politics and such other non-intellectual issues. They have extremely little focus in research and good teaching.
These matters have also motivated me a lot to be a good researcher and good teacher so that I can set an example for the young generations.
3.Scientific Bangladesh: How do you manage fund for research? From where you get fund for research?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: I do not have much fund for research. It is very tough to get fund for research in Bangladesh. To get a good government fund in Bangladesh, a lot of political links or other links/lobbings are required. A true researcher may not get so much time to do such things. After Joining NSU as Assistant Professor in 2017, I established a research group with few motivated students. At the very beginning of our research project, we didn’t have any high configured PC. That time we went BUET to perform the big simulations. Then we asked the Dept. Chairman of NSU for giving us a high configured PC so that we can run our simulations. Then the chairman of the department managed a high configured pc for us. Later, I have won the 2018 TWAS international research grant (physical science & engineering). Using this fund, we have brought a very high configuration PC for our works. Then, I have won two NSU internal funds (2018-2019, and 2019-2020). With such limited funds, I am trying to carry on my research in Bangladesh. So far, I have not gotten a single government fund for research (in last three years), though I have already won a prestigious international fund.
4.Scientific Bangladesh: Inadequate fund for research is a major problem in Bangladesh. What would you say in response to pointing fingers by many to this basic problem worldwide, not only in Bangladesh?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: Most of the high-quality Research in this world is run by the fund and the quality research sometimes depends on the fund. One of the major reasons for the inadequate fund is our research culture and lack of knowledge on the necessity of quality research. Notably in Bangladesh, most of the times, people with political links or good links/lobbing get the power to judge the others (even for government funds). In this way, if a highly talented researcher applies for the grant or any government award, they are not properly judged by those link-based judges. If a judge himself/herself does not know well what is meant by journal’s impact factor or the value of a highly cited research works or how to judge the quality of intellectual outputs; how will he/she judge others for funding! Most of the times, face value and political links/affiliations (instead of intellectual ability) play vital roles in Bangladesh. Bangladesh produces a lot of talented people, but the lack of opportunity makes them uninterested and forces many of them to migrate. 1st world countries are focusing on their technology and investing more in research to develop it. For focusing and diversify technology, a developing country like us needs to adequate more funds for research. Otherwise, we will miss the train again and will not run the harmony of the 1st world. Most importantly, the judges of different government/ other funds should have proper qualifications. They should not be selected just based on face value or political links. For example- if a researcher from Physics or Engineering does not have at least 500 genuine citations in Scopus or google scholar, he/she should not be selected as a judge of any governmental fund and so on.
5.Scientific Bangladesh: What is your research area? What type of research facilities/ infrastructures you have or developed over years and how?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: I mainly work on Optical force, Plasmonics, Biomedical engineering, Applied Machine Learning (for early disease detection, for share market prediction, etc), Antenna design, quantum mechanics and Optical fibre theory/simulations. After joining North South University (NSU), I have established a research group at NSU with the motivated students (both from EEE & CSE) and faculty members. This group has published several high impact factor journals in the last few years. Now, I have five high configured computers along with a windows server computer with 256 GB of Ram. For more detail about my research group and lab, one can visit our website of NSU Optics Lab: https://sites.google.com/view/nsuopticslab/members
6.Scientific Bangladesh: Tell us about your publications and patent, if any. Tell more about your most loved publication/s and/or patents.
Dr Mahdy Rahman: So far, I have published 30 peer-reviewed international journals (with moderate to high impact factor) including five in Nature Publishing Group, 9 refereed conference articles, and one international book chapter. My total impact factor of published 30 journals (all theoretical works so far) is around 110. My all publications (in detail) are available in my google scholar page and Research gate profile. I have published 17 journals [total impact factor around 70] after joining NSU (2017-2020). Notably, my one theoretical journal, with all Bangladeshi authors (mostly with undergraduate students of BUET), was published as the cover story of Q1 international physics journal – Annalen Der Physik in December 2015. I was the corresponding author. After joining North South University (NSU), Among my several published journals, two articles have been published in very high impact factor journals with the affiliation of Bangladesh and NSU: (i) Nature Publishing Group’s journal: Light Science and Applications (impact factor over 14) and ACS NANO (impact factor around 14). In 2015, I published another journal in Nature Publishing Group’s journal: Light Science and Applications (impact factor over 14). One can easily find my all published journals through my google scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com.sg/citations?hl=en&user=PxNOguMAAAAJ&view_op=list_works
7.Scientific Bangladesh: Would you like to share your google scholar, LinkedIn or any other profile?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: Yes, Of course. Here is my Google scholar profile. One can easily find my all published journals through my google scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com.sg/citations?hl=en&user=PxNOguMAAAAJ&view_op=list_works and this is my LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahdy-rahman-a3b7799b/
8.Scientific Bangladesh: How many researchers (PhDs and Masters) have you developed by this time? In other words, share your supervising story.
Dr Mahdy Rahman: Many of my research students [From BUET, NSU, DU are pursuing their MSc and Ph.D. worldwide with full funding/scholarship]. Among them, I can mention few names who are pursuing Ph.D. in top-ranked universities (among top 20 according to QS Ranking). One of my research assistants of North South University has recently joined the National University of Singapore as a fully funded Ph.D. student. He has published 7 journals with me before getting into NUS. Another research student of mine is pursuing a PhD degree at Ivy League University (Yale University). Though his BSc. was from BUET, he published 5 journals with me during his BSc.
9.Scientific Bangladesh: What 1. qualities and 2. skills you expect in prospective researchers?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: From my point of view, prospective researchers may have a clear mindset that he/she would never give up until he/she will get an output. Another very important thing is keeping patience in research. Importantly, he/she should be hard working to find something new. If a researcher’s only target is to publish one after another article without caring enough to find something novel, it will not add something new in the world of science. As a result, instead of only publishing articles, a researcher should also try to develop a clear sense of novelty. I feel that: if a researcher is very careful about the teaching on the relevant topics of his/her research, eventually this kind of activities (i.e. teaching) develop his/her skill over time. Finally, I personally found my supervisor in National University of Singapore very helpful and kind hearted. Before turning into a good researcher, one should be a good human being at first. A good teacher can lead a research group just like a friend of his/her students and colleagues. One should know the difference between a boss and a leader. Under a leader, all the researchers feel that: he/she is a valuable part of a research team. If a supervisor fails to create such an impression, it will be very tough for him/her to motivate the research students of his/her group.
10.Scientific Bangladesh: What are the professional organizations of researchers you involved with? How important it for researchers to join such professional bodies?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: I have several research collaborations (both national and international). Their identities and affiliations can be found in my recent journal publications. However, some of them are also available in my google scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com.sg/citations?user=PxNOguMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao. I have been recently involved with a research organization of Bangladesh named Pi Lab Bangladesh Ltd. I have worked as a research consultant. This is important for researchers to connect with such professional bodies because it will act as a bridge between academia and industry. Researchers may get ideas about industrial problems. Using these ideas, researchers can find possible solutions of real-world problems by doing academic research.
11.Scientific Bangladesh: Do you think different professional bodies of scientists playing their due role in Bangladesh? What are your suggestions for the leading professional organizations of scientists?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: In the Bangladeshi scientific arena, most of the scientists work with very limited resources and the different professional bodies of scientists have to give their best to make it useful. We do not have any research culture like the developed countries. But everyone should try to do their best from their ground. Because only they can take the country to the next level. Creating a better research culture could be the best thing ever happen to this country in the educational sector and only they can make this happen. Peer pressure is one of the main tools in this culture and this competitiveness can give better research to the country. A possible way: try to allocate more research funds for the researchers (who are highly productive) and give the facility to young researches. Otherwise, they will migrate or lose interest. One of the most important things is industry and academia collaboration and only their honest intention can do it in a better way.
12.Scientific Bangladesh: How important is leadership ability to become a great researcher? Should researchers take leadership training? Did you ever get training on Leadership?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: To become a great researcher, leadership ability is very much important. As a researcher, at the end of the day; probably you have to supervise your research team so that you can draw out the potentiality of your team members. I think this matter is a naturally built quality for a good supervisor. I personally found my supervisor in National University of Singapore very helpful and kind-hearted. Before turning into a good researcher, one should be a good human being at first. A good teacher can lead a research group just like a friend of his/her students and colleagues. One should know the difference between a boss and a leader. Under a leader, all the researchers feel that: he/she is a valuable part of a research team. If a supervisor fails to create such an impression, it will be very tough for him/her to motivate the research students of his/her group. I did not ever get training on leadership but most probably I have used to learn them naturally and also from my Ph.D. supervisor. My Ph.D. supervisor is a great person as well as a great leader too. This is also another way to learn leadership from your supervisor.
13.Scientific Bangladesh? Would you like to add any more point for our readers?
Dr Mahdy Rahman: In the socio-economic development of Bangladesh, science has contributed very little till now. People need to focus more on science and stop being afraid of it. More contributions in this field can only change the scenario and lead the nation in the future. If a nation properly emphasizes science, it will give that nation back ten times more. In our country, top to bottom, a young researcher faces severe problems. For example- many senior academics consider a young and hardworking teacher/ researcher as a great threat for them. This is very strange and one of the reasons why our higher education is still lagging behind. For example- in faculty promotion meetings, the committee sometimes do not judge the ability of the candidate based on his/her research output or excellent teaching. Rather, they emphasize the year of experience of a candidate (or the age). Notably, some of those senior members of the committee even do not know well about google scholar or Scopus citation, the meaning of journal impact factor and so on. In this way, it will never be possible to change our academia. If a young researcher does not get enough priority and proper support from his/her seniors, it is really tough for a young person to contribute passionately for personal and group research (which is very important to improve our academia). We should remember that: young people have some extraordinary abilities which are not available in the aged people. I may discuss a simple example here: If we consider: How Einstein became Einstein, one of the answers: young Einstein got some serious support from his senior Max Planck. Max Planck never considered young Einstein as a threat. Rather Planck tried his best to support young Einstein. Another case: after the proposal of Einstein’s special theory of relativity, his own teacher Herman Minkowski tried to explain the idea geometrically. Later, those idea of Minkowski helped Einstein to invent the idea of General theory of Relativity and Gravitational waves. Before Einstein, there were scientists like Max Planck, Herman Minkowski, Rontgen and so on in Germany. Einstein was a natural outcome of their education process. I think ‘seniority’ in the academia should be measured based on intellectual outputs and the ability of excellent teaching, not by age or not by political affiliation. When the people in our academia will understand all these things, a possible change will occur from the top to the bottom. Due to these constraints, poor availability of funding for research, low salary structure for a faculty position; most of the talented academicians are leaving our country. If we can bring great young talents back with enough financial and other supports [i.e. offering at least Assistant Professor Position after PhD to those who have completed PhD from a top or moderately good ranked university in QS ranking (and who has minimum 100 genuine citations in google scholar just after PhD)], our academia will change a lot in future.
