A s a youth from Lahore, Pakistan, senior Nash Sultan originally looked at universities in the Atlanta area where his uncle lived. Then, he saw photos of Georgia College’s “beautiful” campus and learned of its “great scholarships” for international students.

Sultan applied for the dual-degree program that provides a 3-year physics degree from Georgia College, which he’ll receive in May, and an engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology that he’s on track to also get in Spring 2021.
 
“Initially, I wanted to study engineering, because I wanted to understand the phenomena behind different everyday objects and processes. However, when I started the physics program at GC,” he said, “I learned it was just what I was looking for.”

Sophomore year, Sultan got involved with Dr. Hasitha Mahabaduge’s “sputtering system” research to create thin film depositions of nano meters thickness. Once there, Sultan became further interested in solid state physics and Mahabaduge’s renewable energy projects.

One project was outfitting various campus golf carts with solar panels. Fascinating ventures like this is why Sultan lists Mahabaduge as his favorite professor—even though he never had a class with him.

“I just really appreciate how he wants to enable his students to follow their passion, even outside class, and succeed,” he said.

Sultan was one of two students who wrote the proposal to continue solar-powered golf cart research, and he helped add two more to the fleet. After getting money from MURACE’s summer program fund, he helped Mahabaduge’s research group purchase necessary parts and install them on golf carts. An honors student at Georgia College, Sultan was also part of a faculty/student REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) in 2017 with Mahabaduge at the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of Nebraska. This opportunity was fully funded by the National Science Foundation. Soon after this unique experience conducting research side-by-side with his research mentor, Nash obtained $15,400 from Georgia College’s Student Technology Fee Grant for instruments to set up a Magneto Optical Kerr Effect measurement system on campus.

Sultan misses the Georgia College campus and small-town experience. He always enjoyed events like Midnight Breakfast, getting free Chick-Fil-As and the annual International Dinner. It was great meeting students and making new friends from all over the world.

His advice to incoming first-year students is to “explore all the opportunities at your disposal” at Georgia College. There are various research groups and other campus organizations that help students make friends, gain experience and broaden perspectives. It’s important “to have a good balance of academics and social life in college,” he said.
 
In his spare time, Sultan does photography. He ran a professional photography business in Pakistan. It’s more of a hobby now, but he still does weddings or graduation photos for friends. It was difficult to adjust, when COVID-19 first occurred. Although Sultan missed interacting with faculty and students last spring, he said safety measures like online classes, masks and social distancing have become the “new norm.”

Like it did in so many areas of life, coronavirus disrupted the job market for physics and engineering majors, Sultan said. He spoke with one recruiter who said he wasn’t sure how many new hires they’d need in the coming year due to the pandemic. But Sultan hopes things will soon return to normal.

Currently, he’s working part time with a solar energy company in Atlanta. He hopes to go full time there after graduating from Ga Tech and stay in the renewable energy industry long term.