PhD student receives prestigious scholarship

Friday, June 19, 2020

A nanotechnology engineering doctoral student is a recipient of this year’s prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.

Asif Abdullah Khan was awarded the scholarship for his research that focuses on developing next-generation sustainable power sources for designing self-powered micro/nanosystems for aerospace applications.

"Specifically speaking, this research will help us to accomplish next-generation self-powered wireless sensing systems for aircraft structural health

Asif Khan
monitoring,” he says. “It can potentially implement the conceptual framework of the Internet of Things (IoT), where trillions of devices will be interconnected to each other."

Khan, who completed his undergraduate degree at the Khulna University of Engineering and Technology located in Bangladesh, says he came to Waterloo for his graduate studies because of the University’s reputation.

“The University of Waterloo is recognized throughout the world for its excellence in research especially for generating fundamental science and engineering it to make a real impact for our society," he says.

Asif Abdullah Khan, a nanotechnology engineering PhD student, will use his Vanier scholarship to pursue his research.

The Vanier scholarship will provide Khan with $50,000 a year for three years during his doctoral studies.

"Certainly, it is a huge motivation for my research that will be reinforcing the feeling of reaching towards my ultimate research goal,” he says. “At the same time, I believe it as an additional responsibility and opportunity for me to learn and contribute to science"

Khan is one of eight across campus awarded a Vanier scholarship this year.

Named after Major-General Georges P. Vanier, the first francophone Governor General of Canada, the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship program was launched in 2008 to help Canadian institutions attract highly qualified doctoral students.