Maha Yousuf became the first woman from Jhang to earn Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Stanford University on Monday.

She confirmed the development on Twitter thanking Johanna Weker, who is an expert in Synchrotron-based X-ray characterization of materials, and Mike Toney, a University of Colorado Boulder faculty member.

According to her bio at the University’s website, her research used advanced imaging diagnostic tools to understand the failure mechanisms of lithium-ion batteries during extreme fast charging (XFC).

She was advised by Prof. Michael F. Toney and Dr. Johanna Nelson Weker at SLAC.

Moreover, she specifically used high-resolution neutron and X-ray imaging to investigate Li plating characteristics on graphite anodes during XFC.

According to her, she won awards including the 2022 American Chemical Society CAS Future Leader; 2020 Stanford Distinguished Student Energy Lecturer; and 2020 and 2021 ECS and American Institute of Chemical Engineers Travel Grants.

Apart from that she holds an M.S. in chemical engineering from Stanford (2017) and a B.E. from the National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan (2013).

Prior to Stanford, she worked on oil and gas rigs as a drilling engineer in the Amazon rainforests in Colombia.

To date, she has published seven journal articles and holds two patents.

Apart from her academics, she also has a long list of honors and awards:

Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, Princeton University (2023)

ACS CAS Future Leader Fellow, American Chemical Society (ACS) (2022)

Edward G. Weston Summer Fellowship, The Electrochemical Society (2022)

AIChE Women in Chemical Engineering (WIC) travel award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) (2021)

ECS Battery division’s travel award, The Electrochemical Society (2021)

DARE fellowship Award, Stanford Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (2020-2022)

AIChE Women in Chemical Engineering (WIC) travel award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) (2020)

ECS PRiME Battery division’s travel award, The Electrochemical Society (2020)

Stanford Energy Distinguished Student Lecturer, Precourt Institute of Energy (2020)

Accel Innovation Scholar, Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) (2019-2020)

Grand Prize Winner, Micrograph Contest, Electron, Ion, and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication (EIPBN) (2019)

Faculty for the Future Fellowship, Schlumberger Foundation (2018-2023)

Token of Appreciation for my work as the Lab Safety Coordinator, Stanford School of Engineering (2018)

Stanford Graduate Fellowship, Stanford University (2015-2016)

Fulbright Scholarship (Awarded), United States Education Foundation Pakistan (USEFP) (2014)

Rhodes Scholarship Finalist, Rhodes Trust (Pakistan) (2014)

Emerging Leader Award, U.S. Embassy Islamabad (2013)

Global Shaper, World Economic Forum (2013)

Invited Panelist, United Nations Pakistan (2013)

Global Undergraduate Exchange Scholarship, U.S. Department of State (2012)

Scholarship for Global Summit on Entrepreneurship and Innovation (GES) in Turkey, U.S. Department of State’s GIST Initiative (2011)

Dean’s Honor List, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad (2009-2013)

First Place in National Chemistry Talent Contest Pakistan, Karachi University (2008)