Adapted from this Berkeley Lab press release
Following an international search, Ashfia Huq has been selected to serve as the next director of the Molecular Foundry at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Her appointment is expected to begin March 24.
“I am delighted to welcome Ashfia as the next Molecular Foundry Director. Her extensive experience in national labs, deep understanding of user facilities, and strong connections with the Office of Science’s Basic Energy Sciences program make her an outstanding addition to our Energy Sciences Area leadership,” said Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell.
The Molecular Foundry, a Nanoscale Science Research Center national user facility, serves over 1,000 academic, industrial, and government scientists annually from all over the world through its user program. The user program grants researchers access to unique, state-of-the-art instrumentation, and affords the opportunity to collaborate with Molecular Foundry scientists with expertise across a broad range of disciplines.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the Molecular Foundry team, which has the international reputation of being one of the best research organizations for nanoscience,” said Huq.
Huq brings over 20 years of expertise in materials science research and scientific leadership to this role. She currently manages the Materials Physics Department at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, and at present serves on the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC), which advises DOE Basic Energy Sciences (BES) on priorities and the progress of its programs.
Previously, Huq spent 13 years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source user facility, where she led the successful construction of the POWGEN powder diffraction beamline and managed a diffraction group overseeing four neutron instrument teams. Her experience in the national lab system includes a detailee appointment at DOE in the BES Neutron Scattering Program. She also worked as a senior scientist and team lead at Apple Inc., focusing on battery materials R&D.
Her research centers on using X-ray and neutron powder diffraction to study energy storage materials, catalysts, and strongly correlated electron systems. She has co-authored over 170 peer-reviewed research publications and recently received the Barrett Award recognizing outstanding contributions to powder diffraction. Huq holds a PhD in Physics and Astronomy from Stony Brook University and a BA in Physics and Computer Science from Mount Holyoke College.
