Meet the editors

Dr. Mujtaba Ikram has a BS (Hons) in computational physics, an MS in materials and surface engineering, and a Ph.D. in material sciences and engineering. His research interests include nanotechnology, renewable energy, materials science and engineering. His work has been cited by scientists from all over the world. He has authored/co-authored a number of publications with 170+ cumulative impact factor in such pres-

tigious international journals as *Advanced Materials, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, Nanoscale Research Letters, RSC Advances, RSC New Journal of Chemistry, Chemcatchem, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Applied Nanoscience, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids,* and *Journal of Solid State Chemistry*. His research has taken him to the USA, Italy, Egypt, Germany, Slovenia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, UAE and many other countries. He has attended research training/conferences/workshops on industrial physics, renewable energy, advanced carbon materials and nanotechnology in various parts of the world. He is a frequent visiting scholar at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy. He was one of two young scientists from South Asia selected for TWAS Science Diplomacy, held in Trieste, Italy in 2013. He has frequently been invited as a lecturer by CAS-TWAS Beijing. He received a CAS-TWAS green technology award in 2015 and a CAS-TWAS green chemistry and technology award for his guest lectures in 2017. He has been awarded various prestigious fellowships, including CAS-TWAS presidential fellowship 2014, I-CAMP University of Colorado at Boulder (USA) fellowship 2012, ICTP Italy participant fellowship (thrice), UNESCO nano system workshop fellowship (Italy) 2013, inter-continental advanced materials and photonics participant fellowship, University of Cambridge (UK) 2013, Emerging Nations Science Foundation (ENSF) travel fellowship 2012 and NUST foreign research presentation grant 2012.

Professor Emerita Dr. Asghari Maqsood is an advisor to the Vice-Chancellor of Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan. She served as a founding Dean of the Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences at Air University from July 2015 to November 2022. She has over 48 years of experience in advanced materials research. She obtained her MSc in materials science from Oxford University, UK, a Ph.D. in materials science from Goteborg

University, Sweden and a diploma in experimental work from Uppsala University, Sweden. She has 285 research publications to her credit, including 214 journal publications and seven book chapters. She has received many national and international awards, including a Gold Medal and a Merit Certificate from the University of Punjab (1971-72), the INFAQ foundation prize and a Gold Medal from the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (2000), the President's Award and a cash prize for Pride of Performance, (2001), the Best University Teacher Award (2002) from HEC, Islamabad, the Prime Minister's Gold Medal and financial award on Salaam Teacher Day (2004), the President's Award, Izaz-i-Fazeelat for Academic Distinction (2005), a Civil Award Sitara-e-Imtiaz (2010), a PVS lifetime achievement award in recognition of her dedicated services in the field of vacuum science and

technology (2013), Top Woman Physicist of Pakistan Award (2013), PCST publication award (2013), Dr. Z. A. Hashmi Gold Medal on World Science Day for Peace and Development (2014), Quaid-e-Azam University Golden Jubilee Award (2017). She was named among the top 2% of world scientists by Stanford University, USA in 2019 and 2021/22, as well as a lifetime achievement in the year 2019.

Dr. Aneeqa Bashir has been associated with the Physics Department at the University of Punjab since 2001 and is currently working as Assistant Professor. She is also an MS coordinator and student advisor in the department. She received her Ph.D. from Imperial College London, and both her MPhil in solid-state physics and MSc in physics from Punjab University, with distinction. She completed postdoctoral studies at Glasgow University, UK. She

has over ten years of experience in advanced materials research and is a patent holder. She has authored/co-authored a number of publications with 150+ cumulative impact factor in such journals as Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, Applied Physics Letters, Journal of Applied Physics, ACS Omega, Energies, Coatings and Journal of Electronic Materials. She has been awarded research fellowships by the Schlumberger Foundation, the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, the National Science Foundation, and ICTP, Italy. She has participated in and presented her work at international conferences in the UK, France, USA and Pakistan.
