Atyia Hasan

Atiya was just getting started in her engineering career at SmithGroup when she was tapped for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams project at Michigan State University. “The rigors of FRIB—high process cooling loads, radioactive hazards, the scale of a $730-million facility—taught me early how to integrate creative thinking and disciplined analysis in my work,” she says. The idea of an engineering career also came early: Atiya was nine when her mother watched her assembling a toy and planted the seed, she says, “And I spent the rest of my education pursuing it with single-minded focus.” Atiya also professes a love for politics, “an influence of my immigrant parents who knew the impact of political leadership to our lives,” she explains. “I’m a big fan of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel—a woman who took an unexpected path from scientist to political leader. Every aspect of her life fascinates me.”