01

About

During my bachelor's in Chemistry, a roommate once photographed me asleep in a thinking pose and showed it to me in the morning. "See?" she laughed. "You were thinking even while sleeping."

Maybe it was a coincidence. But I genuinely try to be mindful of every aspect of life. I'm a computational chemist interested in multiscale simulations and physics-informed ML — applying data-driven methods to accelerate materials discovery and catalysis.

Along with that, I challenge stereotypes fiercely. That doesn't mean I think I'm always right — if you have a counterargument, I'll make room for it. Either it expands my understanding or it sharpens how I express my own. Both are worth having.

interests.gnn — what I'm into, mapped as a little graph network

Psychology Politics Biographies Philosophy Sociology Documentaries Science fiction Cycling Hiking Reading Watching Outdoors F me input hidden output
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Contact Lab

Have a counterargument, a question, or just a thought worth thinking together? Pick a flask and pour it in — constructive criticism on any essay is always welcome.

// Discord copies its handle on tap · everything else opens in a new tab

The path so far

Education & milestones

The disciplines I've moved through, what each one taught me, and a little of the work I'm proud of. This page grows as I do.

Education

2023 – 2025

MSc · Theoretical Chemistry & Computational Modelling

University of Groningen, Netherlands · Erasmus Mundus scholarship

My master's degree, where I went deep into theoretical chemistry and learned to let data and code carry the heavy lifting in research — including my thesis in the Pollice Group on using automated workflows to design better catalysts.

PythonHigh Performance ComputingMultiscale ModellingQuantum Chemistry MethodsMolecular Dynamics
2024 – 2025

Master's exchange semester

Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier, France

A semester abroad as part of my master's, taking advanced coursework in electronic structure, molecular modelling, and machine-learning methods applied to biomolecules — including a module on quantum computing.

Advanced Electronic Structure MethodsMachine Learning & QSARPythonQuantum Computing
2018 – 2022

BSc in Chemistry

University of the Punjab, Pakistan

Where it began — a strong grounding in chemistry, and my first taste of computational research through a DFT study of materials for organic solar cells.

Chemistry foundationsFirst DFT researchComputational modellingScientific writing

Programs & recognition

2025

German–Dutch Quantum Future Academy

German Federal Ministry of Research & Quantum Delta Netherlands

Selected as one of just 15 participants from the Netherlands for this funded program — a week of hands-on workshops, lab tours, and hackathons across the quantum technologies.

Quantum computingQuantum sensingQuantum communicationPhotonics
2021

Amal Career-Prep Fellowship

Stanford-funded · Amal Academy — graduated with Honors

An intensive I completed with Honors, focused on communication and collaboration — arguably where my conviction about how ideas get shared first took root.

CommunicationTeamworkProfessional development

Skills Database

skills.db
> SELECT category, items FROM skills ORDER BY category;
categoryitems
Comp. chemistry
GaussianGaussViewORCAAMSxTB (GFNn)CRESTMultiwfnChemcraftAvogadroGROMACSPyMOL
ML & data science
Scikit-learnTensorFlow (Keras)RDKit (cheminformatics)pandasNumPyMatplotlibMySQLMongoDB
Programming & HPC
Python (automation, data analysis, ML pipelines)Bash (HPC scripting)LinuxC++ (basic)Fortran (basic)
Tools
GitJupyterVisual Studio CodeOpenBabelZoteroObsidian
Languages
English (C1)German (A1)Urdu (native)Punjabi (native)Hindi (B2)

Selected publication

Kalsoom, F., Farooq, U., Salman, M., & Hussain, R. (2023). A DFT Study on the Impact of Saturated and Conjugated Side Chains on the Optoelectronic Performance of Y-series Non-fullerene Acceptors. Journal of Computational Biophysics and Chemistry, 22(9), 947–958.

Read the paper →

Beyond the lab

Activities & community

The conferences I take part in and the causes I give time to. Staying connected to people and ideas matters as much to me as the research itself.

Conferences

2025

Chem AI 2025

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Took part in this conference at the intersection of chemistry and artificial intelligence — a chance to connect the computational thinking from my own research with the fast-moving world of AI, and to meet the people shaping it.

Volunteering & community

2024 – 2025

Program Representative — TCCM Master's

Erasmus Mundus Association, Belgium

Connected alumni and current students for academic and career growth, and represented my program in monthly cross-program meetings to share practices and collaborate.

Alumni relationsRepresentationCommunity building
2022 – 2023

Content Writer & Volunteer

Alkhidmat Foundation, Pakistan

Led the content-writing team during the 2022 Pakistan floods, driving fundraising, awareness campaigns, and relief drives — and was recognised as "Most Active Participant" in the volunteer training course.

Content writingFundraisingDisaster relief
2021

Ambassador & Honorary Intern

Amal Academy (Stanford-funded)

Led university outreach and marketing as a fellowship ambassador, earning an "Honorary Intern" recognition for the effort.

OutreachMarketingLeadership

The writing

Essays & arguments

Thinking out loud across four threads — professional growth, science, society, and the inner life. Filter by what interests you, and tap any piece to preview it.