UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) at Penn State has named Muhammad Faryad the recipient of the 2020 Early Career Recognition Award.
The award is intended to recognize alumni who have graduated in the last 10 years and have distinguished themselves in academia, industry, government or the military. The involvement of alumni in their communities can also be considered. Individuals can nominate others or themselves for the award.
Muhammad Faryad received the 2020 Early Career Recognition Award from the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics. Credit: Image provided by Muhammad Faryad. All Rights Reserved.
Faryad, a 2012 ESM doctoral alumnus, currently serves as chair and assistant professor of the Department of Physics at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan. His research focuses on optics, with applications in optical sensors, solar cells and photonic crystals for controlling the movement of light. He joined the LUMS faculty in 2014 after a two-year postdoctoral appointment within ESM.
At Penn State, Faryad completed his doctoral and postdoctoral research under the mentorship of Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Evan Pugh University Professor and Charles Godfrey Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics. Faryad participated in the ESM Graduate Student Council and the Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) student chapter. He helped organize student research showcases and attended conferences and workshops.
“The support provided by ESM for attending technical trainings and conferences to interact with other students and leaders in their fields helped me to advance my career,” Faryad said.
Since leaving Penn State, Faryad has taken part in volunteering and outreach for the scientific community. He assisted in establishing SPIE chapters at Quaid-i-Azam University in Pakistan and LUMS. Faryad has also organized several workshops on physics, optics, electromagnetics and more for audiences spanning from primary school students to educators.
“Our goal as researchers should never just be to focus on our own work,” Faryad said. “It is part of our job to spread awareness of the area we’re working on and encourage others to approach it and excel in it.”
Faryad maintains professional and personal connections to Penn State. He meets virtually with Lakhtakia on a regular basis and collaborated with him to publish a book, “Infinite-Space Dyadic Green Functions in Electromagnetism,” in 2018. Faryad also provides guidance to students currently working on projects he contributed to at Penn State. He is a lifetime Alumni Association member and received the organization’s Dissertation Award, the highest distinction awarded to Penn State doctoral graduates, in 2012.
Faryad earned his bachelor of science in mathematics and physics from Punjab University in Pakistan in 2002 before moving on to earn a master of science in 2006 and master of philosophy degree in 2008 in electronics from Quaid-i-Azam University. He is a senior member of the Optical Society and SPIE as well as a section editor of the journal Optik.
College of Engineering Media Relations