JSU to take part in U.S.-Pakistani cooperative program

JACKSON — Jackson State University has been awarded more than $400,000 from the U.S. Department of State to establish a Biostatistical Consulting Center at a Pakistani university. The project is part of the State Department’s Pakistan-U.S. Science and Technology Cooperation Program.

“Pakistan and the United States have a long history of cooperation,” said the project principal investigator H. Anwar Ahmad, who is an associate professor of biology and manager of JSU’s Biostatistical Support Unit. “These projects increase contact on a person-to-person level.”

The grant will help create a new Biostatistical Consulting Center at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) in Lahore, Pakistan. Construction of the lab started in January, Ahmad said.

The project will also take Ahmad to Pakistan periodically to train faculty and other researchers in experimental design and data analysis. Participants will be selected from UVAS and other institutions in the country, with special emphasis given to qualified women. Researchers and graduate students who have already collected their research data will be identified for further training at JSU.

The funding is part of the State Department’s division of Development, Security and Cooperation, which engages developing, transitional and advanced industrial societies to promote social progress and reduce global conflicts and crises.

Source: JSU