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Research Scientist and Pro Bono Attorney Honored

Two young alumnae whose promise and sustained achievement are consistent with the humane values Mary Lyon exemplified in her life received Mary Lyon Awards in February. The award honors young alumnae who graduated no more than fifteen years ago.

Ashfia Huq ’96 (above, left), a research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is an expert in neutron and X-ray powder diffraction. This technique allows scientists to characterize the structural properties of different types of materials used in both basic science and commercial applications. Huq is studying materials and mechanisms related to onboard-storage of hydrogen for cars, as well as the structures of pharmaceutical compounds, industrial catalysts, and superconducting compounds. Huq earned her doctorate in physics at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and received a postdoctoral fellowship at Argonne National Laboratory, where she developed her expertise in neutron diffraction methods. She has been assigned to a new neutron powder diffractometer at Oak Ridge, POWGEN3, which once completed will enable Huq to work with hundreds of researchers annually on basic and applied materials research. Huq has published numerous papers in major scientific journals, including Science, Chemical Physics Letters, and the Journal of Physical Chemistry. “We feel strongly that she will be a major contributor to the success of POWGEN and the Spallation Neutron Source,” said Bryan Chakoumakos, a senior research scientist at Oak Ridge.

Susan Baker Manning ’93 (above, right) earned her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. A patent litigator and partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP in Washington, D.C., Manning has had a career distinguished both by her expertise in the area of intellectual property and technology and by her extensive pro bono work. She has successfully defended clients in civil rights and domestic violence cases, as well as in cases of political asylum on behalf of those escaping oppression and violence in their home countries. She currently represents twelve Guantanamo Bay detainees who are Ughurs, an ethnic group of mostly Muslim people from far-western China. Picked up in Pakistan by bounty hunters, they were initially held at the military prison for three years without legal counsel. Their story has received significant news coverage from the Washington Post and PBS NewsHour, among other outlets. “It’s been the adventure of a lifetime,” says Manning, who has traveled to Cuba four times. “It’s the saddest place I’ve ever been … and an unbelievably worthy cause. What’s happening to them is not fair and not how the American system operates. Everybody deserves their day in court—including these guys.”—M.H.B.

Photo by Fred LeBlanc