Islamabad, March 27: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has set up four latest ‘state-of-the-arts’ brand new laboratories here at its main campus to introduce new trends in academic research. Such labs of international standard are only available with the AIOU, which are open even for the students of other Universities, said Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Shahid Siddiqui while addressing a seminar on ‘computational chemistry’, arranged by Department of Chemistry. While highlighting the recent achievements of the University in the research sector, the VC said they won 20 projects, 12 from Higher Education Commission and eight from international agencies. “ We are proud to say, that the AIOU is only University in the country that published 17 well-recognized academic journals, besides holding thirty-one national and international conferences, in a short span of time, three and half years. The University has emerged as a role-model in the field of research. It provides financial support to its Faculty for undertaking mini-research projects. The research has been linked with the society’s socio-economic issues, since we believe that the academic research must be helpful for improving the living conditions of the people. The seminar was also addressed by the Dean Sciences Dr. Zafar Ilyas and the chairman department of Chemistry Dr. Nagmana Rashid. They explained that computational chemistry that was the subject matter of the seminar, is a branch of chemistry that uses computer simulation to assist in solving chemical problems. Computational chemistry describes the use of computer modeling and simulation – including ab Initio approaches based on quantum chemistry, and empirical approaches – to study the structures and properties of molecules and materials. Computational chemistry is also used to describe the computational techniques aimed at understanding the structure and properties of molecules and material, they added. The resource persons who conducted the training program at the seminar included Dr. Farzana Latif Ansari and Dr. Romana Qureshi. INP/AK