Mustafa Mohammad Shaky, an M.Sc. graduate at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), is set to start his full-funded PhD scholarship at the University of Florida (UF), USA. The scholarship covers full tuition fees, health insurance, and monthly allowances. He is the first student from IUB to pursue a PhD at the UF.

Mustafa, who completed his M.Sc. thesis defense in May 2021 and graduated in the 23rd Convocation of IUB last year, is currently in the United States, preparing for his doctoral work, which will focus on "Cybersecurity of Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Applications."

At IUB, Mustafa’s Master’s thesis was titled “Investigation of the Efficacy of Novel Hybrid Multiparticle Bowtie-based Plasmonic Nanostructures to Enhance the Energy Conversion Efficiency of Thin-Film Solar Cells,” which utilized the FDTD Solutions and CHARGE software in the Ansys-Lumerical package.

It was conducted at the IUB Photonics Simulation Laboratory (IUBPSL), a research group in the Department of EEE, under the supervision of Dr. Mustafa Habib Chowdhury, Associate Professor and Head of the EEE department. The thesis led to several peer-reviewed publications in international journals and conference proceedings.

Mustafa’s advice to every student and academician is: “No matter how hard the circumstances are or no matter how late achiever you think you are, be persistent to your goals and never give in to those circumstances. Because, at the end of the day, ‘patience’ can be the most valuable key to your success. 'Luck' is just another word we use to justify our long hours of hardship and struggle, and therefore, to ascend. Down the road, it’s always You versus You.”

The University of Florida, Gainesville is well known for its academic excellence, research programs leading to major discoveries and technological inventions, life-saving health care, and community-building collaboration. It is ranked as the No. 4 public land-grant research university in the US. Additionally, UF is listed among the top 10 “New Ivy” schools by Forbes in 2024 and is ranked 132nd in the World University Rankings 2024 by Times Higher Education and 106th in Best Global Universities by US News & World Report.