Maha M O Khayyat received her PhD from Cavendish laboratory, University of Cambridge. She then worked as a collaborative researcher at Cavendish lab and was part of a joint project KACST/ IBM, undertaking research at T. J. Watson Research Center, USA. She worked closely with KAUST on the mechanical properties of GaN nanomembranes within the KACST-KAUST-UCSB Solid-State Lighting Institute. Dr. Khayyat’s main goal is working toward efficient gender integration in the workplace.