About Us

Mubashir, Mehya and Maryam are three siblings with a passion for computational and experimental materials science, with a focus on point defects in solids. All three of them are metallurgical and materials engineers from Istanbul Technical University (ITU), which is their main field of work. However, each of them chose a different second major during their undergraduate academic studies; Mubashir continued in applied physics, Mehya studies geology and Maryam is focused on mining engineering. Although their specializations seem to be in widely different worlds, there is a common denominator in all and that is gemology (the study of gemstones). After they started studying gemology in RBRU (Thailand), and having spent most of their youth in vicinity of the gem and jewelry industry and in some of the global ruby and sapphire trading capitals of the world, such as Chanthaburi and Rathnapura, followed by years of field gemology experience in Sri Lanka and East Africa, they soon became passionate about processes which are an overlap of gemology, materials science, geology, physics, and mining and a major focus of their attention has become defect chemistry of crystals as it is one of the most important contributors to what makes gemstones attractive (color). They have started studying solid state defects by using first-principles calculations in order to answer questions which are deeply rewarding in the gem and jewelry industry and beyond. Till now, they have contributed in fields of diamond related materials science, energy materials including Li-ion batteries, high entropy alloys, hydrogen embrittlement, and even sintering by UHS and SPS. They are passionately working at the frontiers of computational and experimental materials science and also hope to contribute towards making gemology a main-stream field of research within materials science and physics.