NSU Live: This longest running IEEE sponsored peer-reviewed conference in Bangladesh was held at North South University (NSU)with participants from 14 countries around the world.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at North South University (NSU), has organized the 24th International Conference on Computer and Information Technology (ICCIT) 2021 for the 3rd time this year on 18-20 December. Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year the conference was held in virtual mode. This eventually invited a lot of international participants to present their research work and enhance the overall scientific growth of our country.

ICCIT provides a forum for researchers and professionals from both academia and industry to exchange up-to-date knowledge and experience in the field of Computer and Electrical Engineering. This year it invited papers from all areas of Computer and Electrical Engineering, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Bio-informatics, Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Digital Systems, Robotics, Wireless and Mobile Communication, etc. Finally, a total of 271 papers were received submitted by 770 researchers from 14 countries. The 84 papers that were finally accepted for this conference are well balanced and report on the many ongoing efforts and recent research results in various areas of computer, communication, information technology, and related areas. All papers submitted to ICCIT 2021 were blind reviewed by up to 4 reviewers involving 93 experienced professionals from 16 countries. The accepted papers summarize the research work of researchers from 14 countries thus providing a true international flavor to ICCIT 2021.

Dr. Mohammad A. Karim, Fellow - IEEE, University of Massachusetts, USA, and Dr. Mohammad S. Alam, Fellow - IEEE, Texas A&M University, USA were the general chairs of the conference. The chief patron was Mr. Azim Uddin Ahmed, Chairman, Board of Trustees, NSU. The organizing committee included the faculty members of the ECE Dept of NSU chaired by Dr. Rezaul Bari, Chairman, ECE, and co-chaired by Dr. Rashedur Rahman, Professor at ECE. The technical committee mostly comprised of international scholars chaired by Dr. Mohammad S. Alam.

The conference was inaugurated on the morning of 18 December with an online ceremony where Mr. Mustafa Jabbar, Honorable Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was the chief guest. “Digital Bangladesh is one of the pillars of 'Vision 2021' announced by the government to fulfill the dream of becoming a middle-income country within the 50th year of independence. The various initiatives taken to establish ‘Digital Bangladesh' have played an important role in the current achievements of Bangladesh”, said Mr. Jabbar. He further acclaimed the conference saying, “ICCIT works as a research forum for scientists and scholars from all corners of the world. The conference will certainly provide a platform for ambitious researchers to share their ideas and research outcomes.” The day continued with a plenary session with 4 keynote speeches, followed by a panel discussion on “Towards the Realization of Digital Bangladesh - Prospects and Challenges” and then another panel discussion on “The Importance of Accreditation in Engineering Education”.

Day-2, 19 Dec, will be started with the presentation of the accepted works in multiple sessions and a session by Robi Axiata Limited followed by lunch. Then there will be many workshops, invited sessions, and an IEEE Bangladesh Section workshop. Day 3, 20 Dec, will be continued with more workshops and presentation sessions. The day will be ended with the closing ceremony in the evening with Mr. N M Ziaul Alam PAA, Senior Secretary, Information and Communication Technology Division as the Chief Guest. The full program detail can be found at https://iccit.org.bd/2021/ .

North South University (NSU), the first private university in Bangladesh, was established in 1992. At present there are 17 departments under the 4 schools. NSU has been securing the number one position in private university in the QS World University ranking in Bangladesh 4 years in a row. Detail of North South University can be found at http://www.northsouth.edu.

Dhaka, 18 December (campuslive24.com)//AZ