So, women in different fields working their best are just a plain proof that whoever said women are any lesser, was a LIE. Yes. A LIE! A woman running the country like Benazir Bhutto, women climbing the mountains like Samina Baig, women in sports like Sania Mirza! Do you more? The world has seen women in law enforcement, women in research labs and doing the greatest work of all time; contributing to the world and making a better place to live for everyone.
Meet Maha Yusuf, a 26-year-old girl who was a student of NUST was recently awarded Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Fellowship Award for her Ph.D. at Stanford. She’s the one who’s very enthusiastic about her research. She wanted to bring her research work to real life so she could apply it and change people’s life.
Here’s what NUST had to say about her!
Maha’s story was shared on Facebook and people were amazed and happy altogether to see her growing
“I was 16 when I left home, and I’ve worked very hard to become the independent 26-year-old that I am today. I was born in a rural village in Pakistan called Jhang, and grew up in a conservative Muslim family. I’m the first woman in my family to go to college, and I’m lucky to have been able to attend high school. In a male-dominated society, where females are not encouraged to go to school let alone to pursue higher education, I decided to become an engineer.
After college, I worked as a drilling specialist on oil rigs in the Amazon rainforests in Colombia. Aged 22, with barely a word of Spanish except for ¡Hola!, and having lived in a protective environment all my life, I found myself working 16+ hours for 30-40 days at a time, sleeping in trailers on-site, and often the only woman on the rigs. It was hard work, but I was proud of myself and excited to be independent. During the year of rigorous fieldwork, I recognized the power of technology to solve real-world problems. I realized that solving problems was what I cared deeply about, and decided that I wanted to pursue advanced research in order to do this.
While in Colombia, I applied to graduate school at Stanford and got in. Currently, I’m a Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering. The primary focus of my research is to develop a high-resolution, fast-detection X-ray imaging system to improve traditional X-ray imaging. This work brings together multiple disciplines including optics, X-ray physics, microfluidics, chemistry and computer science. There are many applications, one being the potential to improve the diagnostic accuracy of early-stage breast cancer at a reduced radiation dose.
My mom is very proud of me. She keeps telling me that she didn’t live the life she wanted to, and she’s glad that I am pursuing my dreams. Hearing those words from her have motivated me to stay on my path. I was recently awarded the Schlumberger Faculty for the Future fellowship. The grant funds Ph.D. studies of aspiring female professors from developing countries. My dream is to one day have a research lab and commercialize technologies that the lab develops. I’m passionate about research, but I want to make sure it has real-world applications.
-Maha Yusuf, PhD candidate, Chemical Engineering “
Because the engineer is at work!
Maha’s research has a lot of application, the advanced X-ray imaging system that would diagnose breast cancer at the earliest stage. So, we wish all the luck to her for research and future work on building her research lab! May you prosper and get what you want in life! Cheers. 😉
