Best Teacher-SCME

Dr. Zeeshan Ali received his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science from Peking University China. His Masters degree was in Surface and Materials Engineering from School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) in 2015. Moreover, he obtained his Bachelor degree (with honors and two gold medal awards) from Metallurgical and Material Engineering department of UET, Lahore, in 2012. He is an active young researcher in the field of energy storage materials. He joined NUST in August 2019 as Assistant Professor right after the completion of his doctorate degree. During PhD at Peking University (ranked 23^rd in QS ranking), he was granted the award of “Excellent Graduate” owing to his outstanding performance in research and academics. Overall, he has authored/co-authored 45 research articles in exceptionally reputed journals with a cumulative impact factor of over 500 in his brief research career. Additionally, he has two accepted patents and five published journal-cover-pages to his name as well. He has also won the Award for Scientific Research of PKU in 2018, PKU International Students Academic Award in 2019, NUST, award for Outstanding Performance as Researcher at NUST (2019-2021), and Best Teacher Award of SCME for 2021-2022.

As Pakistan’s first ever Electric Vehicle policy (PEVP) has recently been approved to mitigate climate changes, it will undoubtedly cause huge burden on the import-bill in the form of plentiful lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) import. Hence, it is necessary to enable the local industry of Pakistan to develop safe, clean, and sustainable LIBs manufacturing units for the continuous economic growth of our country. Dr. Zeeshan has specialties in the development of novel, efficient and commercialize-able electrode materials of batteries of various kinds. So, he has already submitted 25 different projects (7 of which have already been accepted), to various funding agencies (e.g. NESCOM, NUST, HEC, PSF, MoST etc.) as PI or Co-PI to pursue discoveries and developments in this necessitating direction of research. Eight Masters students (two of which has already graduated) and two PhD students have already joined him as supervisor for research.

Exceptionally high impact of research articles and patents, international award achievements, extremely demanding research field and systematic perusal of the research goals render Dr. Zeeshan Ali a competitive candidate for the award of best young researcher of HEC.

Dr. Muhammad Ahsan graduated from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan in 2008. He obtained his MS & Ph.D. degrees in 2010 and 2016 from the National University of Sciences & Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. His fields of interest include process modeling & simulation, computational fluid dynamics, and membrane gas separation.

For the last five years, Dr. Muhammad Ahsan has taught different UG and PG-level courses. Besides teaching, Dr. Ahsan is also involved in research and administrative duties. He has published 35 research papers in well-reputed journals. He is working as OIC (IT), in charge of the OBE team of the Chemical Engineering Department, Managing Editor of the NUST Journal of Engineering Sciences, Co-Editor of Star Magazine, faculty sponsor of NUST Digital Club, and many other academic and administrative duties.

Dr. Usman Liaqat completed his BS in Engineering in Metallurgy and Materials Science from the University of Punjab in 2009. Afterward, Dr. Liaqat joined a private industry in Lahore as an R&D officer and then as a Project Manager. During his time in the industry, he completed multiple projects at different Cement and Sugar Plants. In 2012, he went to South Korea for PhD on HEC merit based scholarship and completed his Ph.D. degree in 2017 in Engineering (Nanoscience and Technology) from Yonsei University.

Later, Dr. Liaqat joined NUST as an Assistant Professor and since then he has been teaching at both UG and PG levels along with active participation in research and administrative duties. Dr. Liaqat is passionate about his research in nanomaterials synthesis, characterization, and their applications in various fields i.e., drug delivery, biosensors, tissue regeneration, and many more and he has more than 25 Research Articles published in reputable journals.

Apart from that, no one can deny his managerial and leadership skills as he is also working as a Postgraduate Coordinator, Surface Engineering Laboratory in charge, lead of NUST Materials Advantage Chapter, and member of the OBE team at the Materials Engineering Department.

It is for his excellent teaching skills and hard work that he was awarded Best Teacher Award for the year 2019.

Dr. Sarah Farrukh has worked for more than six years in academia and research, with experience in some of the leading technologies key to the currently most mature renewable and clean energy and CO2 capture. More recently, her focus is on bringing significant new and evolving technologies to an advanced level regarding renewable energy, i.e., hydrogen storage, CO2 capture. She has authored/co-authored >60 indexed publications and >7 book chapters. Her work has been cited >700 times with an h-index of 16 and an i10-index of 23. Furthermore, she has submitted 3 national patents and published one book entitled “NanoTechnology and Generation of Sustainable Hydrogen”.  She has received “2019 Best Researcher Award and 2018 Best Teacher  Award”.

Engr. Dr. Erum Pervaiz is working as Associate Professor and Head of the department Chemical Engineering at SCME NUST. She completed her PhD in Materials and Surface Engineering in 2013 with research in nanotechnology. She is teaching core Chemical Engineering courses like Reaction Engineering, Thermodynamics, Kinetics & Reactor Design. She is a passionate teacher and believes in inculcating resentment and motivation for Chemical Engineering in her students. Her current research focuses on the diverse areas such as Catalysis, Reaction Engineering, functional nanomaterials for energy applications and water treatment.

Every day, we see students with tremendous potential, rekindling hope for the future of this country. To be able to contribute to this process is a great privilege and honour, one that I am immensely grateful for. I dedicate my award to all students, as I believe they are a continuous source of learning too.

Dr. Tayyaba Noor works as an Associate Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department, School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad. She holds a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway. Her research work is focused towards interconnected areas of electro catalysis for methanol oxidation fuel cells, OER, ORR, HER and adsorption studies for CO₂ capture and hydrogen storage. At SCME, Dr. Tayyaba Noor administrative responsibilities include Head of Training Unit SCME and PG research labs coordinator of Department of Chemical Engineering.

Dr. Muhammad Bilal Khan Niazi is working as Associate Professor (2018) and Head of Research of School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME) Since March 2021. He has also served as Head of Chemical Department from March 2018 to 2021. He has obtained his MS and PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Groningen, the Netherlands in 2013. Later in 2015, he has done Post Doctorate from The Norwegian University of Science and Technology is a public university in Norway.

Dr. Niazi research work is focused towards application of biopolymers in food packaging, membranes, hydrogels and fertilizer. He is also leading a research group named “Product Technology” at SCME. Dr. Niazi is passionate about his research work and published more than 100 Research Articles in reputable journals with an h-index of 30 and an i10-index of 68. Furthermore, two national patents are also submitted. He is also working as PI of three national grants i.e. Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan Science Foundation and Agricultural Linkages Program (ALP), one international grant i.e. Erasmus Global Mobility, and two industrial grants i.e. Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited and gourmet foods limited. He is teaching core Chemical Engineering courses like SHMT, Separation processes in chemical engineering and Product Technology. He has received “2015 Best Teacher Award of SCME” and “2020 Best Researcher Award of SCME”.